Chris Towner: The Social Security and Medicare Funding Problems Are Real

Chris Towner is the policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. He recently wrote an op-ed for the Washington Monthly, an excerpt of which is below: 

September in Washington means lawmakers scrambling to keep the government’s doors open. On-time funding has become a pathological exercise in procrastination. This annual show of Congressional dysfunction is both a reflection of a broken budget process and a symbol of our dismal fiscal situation.

This will likely mark the 29th year Congress failed to pass all its appropriations bills before the fiscal year begins on October 1. Instead, lawmakers will likely approve a “continuing resolution”—an extension of last year’s funding level—or perhaps will even shut the government down.

If the past is prologue, it will take until December or January—already one-quarter into the fiscal year—before there’s an agreement to set federal funding levels. Congress may even forgo the task of budgeting for this upcoming fiscal year altogether (as they did for fiscal year 2025) by passing a continuing resolution for a year. 

Read the entire piece here.

Published works by members or staff of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget do not necessarily reflect the views of all members or staff of the Committee.