Short-term fixes abound in Congress

WASHINGTON – When senators left town early Saturday after approving a brief extension of the nation’s highway and transit aid, they were following a well-worn path.

If a program is about to expire and the two sides are stymied over what to do, Congress often keeps the program alive temporarily and revisits the problem later.

The two-month rescue of the highway trust fund is Congress’ 33nd short-term patch of that program since 2008, the Transportation Department says. Lawmakers have approved another 101 measures temporarily keeping federal agencies open since it last completed all its spending bills on time in 1997, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Lawmakers have also used short extensions to address expiring tax breaks, avoid federal defaults and keep agriculture and other programs from grinding to a halt, frustrating government agencies craving stability.

“If we were a company, we’d be bankrupt,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

The fallback, short-term strategy has been used by both parties and draws plenty of critics, who say it lets lawmakers postpone making uncomfortable choices.

“Members find it easier to put off decisions rather than make decisions,” said Thomas Schatz, president of the conservative-leaning Citizens Against Government Waste. “There are no consequences for failing to act.”

Leaders argue that while no one prefers short-term legislation, it buys time to seek longer-term solutions while keeping popular programs afloat.

Congress’ recent history of relying on short-term solutions to problems includes:

• Frequent renewal of expiring tax breaks. More than 50 of them, including the research and development credit for businesses, lapsed in January 2014. Congress renewed them retroactively for 2014 in December, allowing them to be claimed in returns filed in 2015 but perpetuating the problem for next year’s filers.

• In December, lawmakers enacted a giant bill financing most of government through September. They only funded the Homeland Security Department through February, with Republicans hoping to use that as leverage to force Obama to relent on liberalized immigration restrictions. The GOP-run Congress narrowly averted shutting down that agency when Obama stood firm.

• Congress has voted 14 times since 2002 to temporarily renew the government’s ability to borrow money.