White House Outlines Steps if Budget Fails
If Congress and the President let appropriations lapse during a budget dispute, Social Security checks will still go out, air traffic controllers and meat inspectors will stay on the job and the FBI will continue to pursue criminals, the Clinton Administration said Wednesday.
But most government functions that cannot be considered vital to averting imminent threat to human life or property would stop.
The fiscal year ends Sept. 30, and Congress and President Clinton remain at odds over a variety of spending issues. That raises the possibility that a new fiscal year will start Oct. 1. without congressional approval for 1996 spending.
Alice Rivlin, director of the Office of Management and Budget, released a memo Wednesday advising the heads of federal agencies to prepare contingency plans for the new fiscal year. Her memo came in the wake of a Justice Department memo--also released Wednesday--that outlines government operations in the event Congress and the President fail to agree on spending.
Lapses in funding, ranging from three hours to several days, have occurred several times since 1980.
Legally, activities that must continue must relate to safety of life or protection of property.
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