No budget, no pay

In Washington today, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to hear testimony on the No Budget No Pay Act, proposed by the bipartisan congressional No Labels group.

The idea is to withhold congressional pay from Oct. 1 of each year — starting in 2013 — if members fail to pass spending bills and a budget by that date, which marks the beginning of the federal fiscal year.

Pay would be restored if appropriations are completed.

Scheduled to testify are co-sponsors Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.

Congress has passed its spending bills on time only four times since 1952, the sponsors complain.

Instead, Congress relies on temporary spending measures called “continuing resolutions,” which provide the money federal agencies need to operate based roughly on what they spent the previous year. But what continuing resolutions don’t provide, sponsors point out, is “any chance for Congress to debate the most fundamental question of all: Why are we spending this money?”

Yes, the No Budget No Pay Act risks being seen as an election-year gimmick. A far more effective approach might be a requirement that failure to adopt a budget by Oct. 1 completely halts the flow of money to executive branch departments. That would send Congress scurrying.

Certainly, the inability of Congress to do its most basic job of annually formulating a balanced budget, in advance, is beyond exasperating. Despite the risk that it could prove largely symbolic, enacting the No Budget No Pay Act is worth a try.