One Easy Way to Improve Government Efficiency
As we move into the season of potential government shutdowns and continuing budget resolutions, think how much easier it would be for everyone if Congress and the President simply passed the federal budget on time (September 30). Or better yet, a couple months before the fiscal year deadline, as many responsible organizations do.
Not only would meeting the annual deadline spare us the needless hours of political bickering and brinksmanship by our well-compensated elected officials and their enormous staffs, it would give federal supervisors time to realistically plan their year and expenditures. Imagine what it’s like for managers not to receive a budget until approximately halfway through their fiscal year. That is what happens when Congress punts on their September 30 deadline with a continuing resolution lasting into early December. ‘Gosh, it’s September 30 already! Who saw that coming? Next, it’s ‘uh-oh, with the holidays and all, we can’t possibly pass a budget now!’ So it’s C.R. until February (five months into the fiscal year). Leading to, ‘Good Golly, we haven’t had near enough time to read all these pieces of paper with all these big numbers on them. Just look at all of them! Why, you shouldn’t just ram something this important down our throats!’ Continuing resolution for another 10-14 days.
Or worse, a 5-25-day “partial government shutdown” or two. For national parks, this means either shuttering the parks and devastating the region’s tourism economy, or keeping the parks open with a skeleton crew. In the latter scenario, thousands of hapless visitors are allowed to run amok in America’s fragile and treasured landscapes without basic park information, adequate search and rescue or law enforcement personnel, and facilities such as restrooms. It’s like intentionally leaving the front doors of the National Gallery of Art open all night. What could go wrong?
Adding insult to injury, a partial government shutdown forces park officials to make a Sophie’s Choice of dividing their staff into binary classes: essential or nonessential. The former have the privilege of working long hours with only the hope of someday receiving a retroactive paycheck if and when a favorable budget is passed. The nonessentials have the shame of being so labeled and are required to sit at home wondering when they will be called back, while visualizing the work piling up in their districts. Question for aspiring supervisors, would you consider this a positive team building exercise? Question for taxpayers, does this fit your definition of “efficient.”
If there is a partial government shutdown, it’s interesting to watch the outsized role the national parks play in the poker match. The players who want a long, drawn out shutdown will push to keep the parks open (with minimal staff). This is because the one thing our citizens absolutely demand from their federal government is the ability to take a hard-earned vacation in one of their beautiful national parks. The players who want the shutdown to end asap will maneuver to lock up the parks. When the evening news shows rangers closing the gates at Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, and Yosemite, and lines of perturbed motorists piling up on the outside, you can bet the end of the standoff is near. (And with this in mind, wouldn’t you expect our elected officials to understand the importance of adequately funding our national parks?)
Year after year after year, finally receiving their annual budgets in February, March, or April, puts supervisors who are earnestly trying to run an efficient operation at a perilous disadvantage. As frequent park visitors know, a healthy portion of the boots-on-the-ground “real work” in national parks is accomplished by eager beaver seasonal staff, interns, and enrollees in programs like Americorps and the Student Conservation Association. These folks generally need to be hired over the winter so they can report for duty in spring or early summer. When a supervisor doesn’t get the green light to hire until March or April, you can imagine that the cream of the crop has already committed to employment with more serious organizations. Since Covid, not only is the cream gone by late winter, so is the silage, leaving managers with work to do and no workers to do it.
Passing the federal budget on time would take less time, energy, and fewer taxpayer dollars than passing it five months late. It would also make it more feasible to pass the next year’s budget on time. States do it all the time. So do CEOs. They think of it not as a game, but as the responsible way to run an efficient organization.