Poison pill? What poison pill?

Maybe I’m cynical. As I read that, if this were to become law, all an opposition party would have to do to cut funding for a “program, project, or activity” whose funding is protected by such an automatic continuing resolution is simply slip any other provision of law granting authority for it to continue into any other bill having nothing to do with either the program, project, or activity or funding for it.

You may have heard that some Republican senators are rolling out a bill to end all future government shutdowns. That’s a great promise. I would love it and support it, so long as I know there are no poison pills.

Good luck with that. Here’s a sample of the coverage of this story. Any media outlet that even bothers to mention that this is S.104, A bill to amend title 31, United States Code, to provide for automatic continuing resolutions, well, they’re an outlier. Typical of our media stream of mind-numbing garbage, mostly what is being reported could be summed as as follows:

GOP Senators issue press releases. Stay tuned for facts as they become available.

Good luck finding the news source that would be so honest.

So, about that poison pill…is there one? Who knows? As far as I can tell, the text of the bill is nowhere to be found. If I’m correct, it’s because it is still in committee.

There is nothing to fact-check. What we have are the claims of those oh-so-eminently-trustworthy DC politicians who wear red ties and lick the president’s boots daily lest they upset the base.

On the bright side, we can count on the Democrats to call attention immediately to this farce, right? Oh, right. Of course not. What on earth was I thinking?

Where does that leave us? Well, if prior attempts at this legislation from either House or Senate are any indication, and they are not, they might at least give us pause for concern.

Here’s S.2339 from last year’s GOP 115th Congress. As I read it, I can’t help but wonder if the poison pill is in Sec. 1311. (d):

“(d) This section shall not apply to a program, project, or activity during a fiscal year if any other provision of law (other than an authorization of appropriations)—

“(1) makes an appropriation, makes funds available, [blah blah] or grants authority for such program, project, or activity to continue for such period; or

“(2) specifically provides that no appropriation shall be made, no funds shall be made available, or no authority shall be granted for such program, project, or activity to continue for such period.”.’

Maybe I’m cynical. As I read that, if this were to become law, all an opposition party would have to do to cut funding for a “program, project, or activity” whose funding is protected by such an automatic continuing resolution is simply slip any other provision of law granting authority for it to continue into any other bill having nothing to do with either the program, project, or activity or funding for it. What could be easier or look more innocent?

I hope some legal eagle will come along and prove me wrong. I really do.