How Trump Could End the Shutdown on His Own

"President Donald Trump's theory of executive power does not lend much weight to the views of his predecessors-especially those who happen to be Democrats. But as the government shutdown enters its second month, Trump is showing an odd degree of respect for legal guidance first adopted under a president he has mocked: Jimmy Carter. Government shutdowns are a relatively modern phenomenon."

"For most of America's nearly 250-year history, a lapse in congressional appropriations forced federal agencies to limit their spending, but not to close entirely. That changed only under Carter. In 1980, his attorney general, Benjamin Civiletti, wrote a memo in which he argued that according to federal law, the government could not operate once funding bills expired. The era of shutdowns had begun, and from that point on, legislative impasses over spending have put hundreds of thousands of federal employees out of work."

"The way the United States handles these spending gaps-deeming many workers essential while furloughing the rest -is unusual, Philip Wallach, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies the separation of powers, told me. "It's a very strange practice," he said. "It's not like shutdowns are a feature of governments everywhere." Read: The missing president Not even Civiletti realized how significant his memo would become."

President Trump is adhering to a legal interpretation of the Antideficiency Act originating in 1980 under Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti. Civiletti's memo concluded that federal agencies must stop operations when appropriations lapse, initiating the modern practice of government shutdowns. Since then presidents of both parties have followed that interpretation, producing recurring furloughs and the designation of essential workers. The United States treats funding gaps unusually by deeming many employees essential while furloughing others. Scholars note that shutdowns are not common in other countries. Civiletti later acknowledged that he could not have predicted prolonged shutdowns becoming political gambits.

Read at The Atlantic