Congressional leaders announced an agreement Sunday on a short-term spending bill that will fund federal agencies for about three months, averting a possible partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. 1 and pushing final decisions until after the November election.
Temporary spending bills generally fund agencies at current levels, but an additional $231 million was included to bolster the Secret Service after the two assassination attempts against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and additional money was added to aid with the presidential transition, among other things.
Now? This can has been kicked down the road for years now.
There’s no reason that congress couldn’t approve funding for the next 20 years, pegged to inflation, with an option to increase if necessary.
But they don’t because that would mean they couldn’t play political football over it.