Updated September 20, 2013 http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/federalbudgetprocess/a/Government-Shutdowns.htm

This article is about the history and effects of government shutdowns resulting from the failure of Congress to enact an annual federal budget within the time frame established by law. The article is not about the politics that lead to government shutdowns.

The Cause of Government Shutdowns

The U.S. Constitution requires that all expenditures of federal funds be authorized by Congress with the approval of the President of the United States. The U.S. federal government and the federal budget process operate on a fiscal year cycle running from October 1 to midnight September 30. If Congress fails to pass all of the spending bills comprising the annual federal budget or “continuing resolutions” extending spending beyond the end of the fiscal year; or if the president fails to sign or vetoes any of the individual spending bills, certain non-essential functions of the government may be forced to cease due to a lack of congressionally-authorized funding. The result is a government shutdown.

See More About

• federal budget process
• government spending
• appropriations
• earmark spending
• pork barrel spending

Also See: The Federal Budget Process

Since 1981, there have been five government shutdowns. Four of the last five government shutdowns went largely unnoticed by anybody but the federal employees affected. In the last one, however, the American people shared the pain.

• 1981: President Reagan vetoed a continuing resolution and 400,000 Federal employees were sent home at lunch and told not to come back. A few hours later, President Reagan signed a new version of the continuing resolution and the workers were back at work the next morning.

• 1984: With no approved budget, 500,000 federal workers were sent home. An emergency spending bill has them all back at work the next day.

• 1990: With no budget or continuing resolution, the government shuts down during the entire three-day Columbus Day weekend. Most workers were off anyway and an emergency spending bill signed by President Bush over the weekend has them back at work Tuesday morning.

• 1995-1996: Two government shutdowns beginning on November 14, 1995, idled different functions of the federal government for various lengths of time until April of 1996. The most serious government shutdowns in the nation’s history resulted from a budget impasse between Democratic President Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress over funding for Medicare, education, the environment and public health.

Health law separates potential field of GOP 2016 contenders

By Thomas Beaumont

Associated Press http://rochesterdemocrat.ny.newsmemory.com/

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. — A clear divide over the Affordable Care Act separates the emerging field of potential GOP candidates the 2016 presi­dential race, previewing the battles ahead as they try rebuild their party and seize the White House.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says he will fight “with every breath” to stop President Barack Obama’s signa­ture domestic achieve­ment, even if that means shutting down parts of the federal government. It’s an approach that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush calls “quite dicey” politi­cally for Republicans.

Allied on other side are, Cruz, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and oth­ers who say they are mak­ing a principled stand, willing to oppose the law at all costs. Then there are those taking what they call a pragmatic approach by accepting the law, if grudgingly, and moving on. This group includes Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who says a shutdown would vi­olate the public trust.

The Republican-con­trolled House passed a short-term spending plan Friday that would con­tinue funding govern­ment operations through mid-December while withholding money for the health law.

Some GOP lawmakers also advocate holding back on increasing the na­tion’s borrowing limit, which could result in a first-ever default, unless the law is brought down.

Obama used his weekly radio and Internet ad­dress Saturday to scold those “a faction on the far right” of the Republican Party, and he said he would not allow “anyone to harm this country’s reputation or threaten to inflict economic pain on millions of our own peo­ple, just to make an ideo­logical point.”