Senate plots permanent end to government shutdowns with bipartisan push

FIRST ON FOX: The Senate is taking another step to prevent government shutdowns, this time to stop them from happening altogether. 

It’s a move that comes after Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., successfully changed the Senate rules to prevent lawmakers in the upper chamber from being paid during shutdowns — a play designed to ensure that senators feel the same pain as federal workers during future closures. 

But Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., are taking things a step further to outright prevent government shutdowns from ever happening again. 

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Lankford has long been pushing his Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, and was nearly successful in passing it years ago. Now, with momentum still fresh from Kennedy’s rule change, he plans to reintroduce the legislation and fast-track it to a floor vote.

Lankford contended in a statement to Fox News Digital that Americans had grown wary of “worthless government shutdown drama and Congress using federal workers and government services as pawns in political standoffs.” 

“The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act ends government shutdowns forever with a simple idea: if Congress doesn’t do its job, Congress doesn’t get to go home,” he said. “We shift the pressure off the American people and onto the people they elected. We came within three votes of passing this before, and it is time to finish the job.”

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In the event of another shutdown, the legislation would automatically trigger a short-term funding extension to keep the government open for 14 days at a time. It would also install strict limits on lawmakers and their staff by preventing them from embarking on taxpayer-funded travel outside of Washington, D.C.

It would also nix congressional delegations overseas and prevent lawmakers from taking a recess, a key point of criticism against both chambers during the 43-day and 76-day government shutdowns that happened during this Congress. 

Given the unanimous support for Kennedy’s rule change, there’s optimism that Lankford and Hassan’s bill will have the same result. 

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Hassan said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the bill “incentivizes Congress to fund the government on time and ensures that there is a plan in place to protect families and our economy if Congress cannot come to an agreement.”

“Government shutdowns are costly, avoidable, and make people in New Hampshire and across the country pay the price for the failures of Congress,” Hassan said.

Lankford’s last attempt to advance the legislation in 2023 narrowly failed, with nearly every Senate Democrat voting against it while nearly every Senate Republican — save for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. — supporting it. 

Lawmakers are still dealing with the ripple effects of the latest shutdown, which saw the Department of Homeland Security and its tens of thousands of federal workers go without pay for months. 

Republicans are deep into the budget reconciliation process to finish funding immigration operations at the agency and are expected to advance the package from the Senate by week’s end.