Automatic Continuing Resolutions: A Curse Worse than the Ailment

Abstract

James Madison suggested that the interdependencies between branches of government would serve to check and balance power, and that the structure of such relations is an auxiliary control to democratic accountability. He may not have expected the routine administrative functions of government to demand such control, but apparently some do. This essay examines a statutory proposal to mitigate the costs of a dysfunctional routine federal process and concludes that Madison is right: Shortcutting the interdependencies by removing “their mutual relations” would be more costly than accepting the inefficiency.