C.3. Mandatory Government Funding

Congress must enact all spending bills funding the operations of the federal government for the subsequent fiscal year, no later than September 30 of each year.

Failure to meet this requirement shall result in the immediate and permanent disqualification of every sitting Representative and Senator from election or appointment to any federal office, whether legislative, executive, or judicial.

Bills funding the government for the fiscal year are not subject to a Presidential veto.

This is all made worse by the fact that it is also usually performative. A small number of “hardliners” will drag their feet, holding the entire country and our economy hostage. Sometimes they get a symbolic win like a minor policy concession, sometimes they shrug and say, “We tried.” But it’s never anything that moves the needle. And shutdowns are expensive. They don’t save the government money.

So what to do about it? The answer is simple. Make Congress accountable to its core constitutional duty to fund the government. This clause does just that. It sets a clear deadline. Then it establishes a very clear and severe consequence for failing to meet that deadline. Didn’t get it done? Every single one of you just committed career suicide. If Congress wants to play games that affect real people’s lives, then they can put their own skin in the game.

The final sentence serves the purpose of taking away a potential avenue for Presidential abuse of this clause. If the President has veto power over a budget, but failing to pass the budget means all the members of Congress are disqualified from seeking future office, the President suddenly has a tool of extortion. That’s a concentration of power that undercuts the purpose of a veto, which is to be a check on Congress. In this scenario, it would not be Congress that needs to be checked. So, spending bills can’t be vetoed. The people can still initiate a Challenged Review if the budget is out of line, but that wouldn’t trigger the penalty. In that circumstance, Congress acted, but the people overrode them.