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According to Google, there are about 10600 entries on "government shutdown" on HN: https://www.google.com/search?q=government+shutdown+site:news.ycombinator.com

by aries1980 7y ago

According to Google, there are about 10600 entries on "government shutdown" on HN: https://www.google.com/search?q=government+shutdown+site:news.ycombinator.com https://www.google.com/search?q=government+shutdown+site:new... When I submitted this article, I thought about the similarity and the direct effect of the tech companies in the UK and Europe.

twic 7y ago
It's worth noting the difference. The UK parliament passes annual budgets well in advance of the year in which they authorize spending: the autumn budget passed in 2018 authorizes spending for the 2019/20 fiscal year. A prorogation, recession, dissolution, or stringing-up of parliament in the UK won't stop the government spending that money. Parliament will need to be back in action before the 5th of April 2020, though. The US congress seems to leave budgets much later (or perhaps, ends up taking longer over them because of the brinksmanship), and uses continuing resolutions to extend the deadline. As i understand it, the US fiscal year starts on the 1st of October; congress didn't pass a budget for 2018/9 until the 15th of February 2019, so the funding from 2017/8 was extended by a couple of continuing resolutions (one in September 2018, extending it to the 7th of December, and one in early December 2018, extending it to the 21st of December), still leaving a shutdown before a budget was finally passed. Before the passage of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act in 2011, and the general fading of constitutional certainty which has occurred in the last several years, the UK mechanism for maintaining funding was that if the government failed to get a budget through parliament, they would resign and dissolve parliament. There would then be an election, and the new government and new parliament would have a fresh shot at getting a budget through. Now, though, the FTPA does not allow a government to unilaterally dissolve parliament, many people think a government would not have to resign after failing to pass a budget, and elections often don't produce a majority anyway!

twic 7y ago

It's worth noting the difference. The UK parliament passes annual budgets well in advance of the year in which they authorize spending: the autumn budget passed in 2018 authorizes spending for the 2019/20 fiscal year. A prorogation, recession, dissolution, or stringing-up of parliament in the UK won't stop the government spending that money. Parliament will need to be back in action before the 5th of April 2020, though. The US congress seems to leave budgets much later (or perhaps, ends up taking longer over them because of the brinksmanship), and uses continuing resolutions to extend the deadline. As i understand it, the US fiscal year starts on the 1st of October; congress didn't pass a budget for 2018/9 until the 15th of February 2019, so the funding from 2017/8 was extended by a couple of continuing resolutions (one in September 2018, extending it to the 7th of December, and one in early December 2018, extending it to the 21st of December), still leaving a shutdown before a budget was finally passed. Before the passage of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act in 2011, and the general fading of constitutional certainty which has occurred in the last several years, the UK mechanism for maintaining funding was that if the government failed to get a budget through parliament, they would resign and dissolve parliament. There would then be an election, and the new government and new parliament would have a fresh shot at getting a budget through. Now, though, the FTPA does not allow a government to unilaterally dissolve parliament, many people think a government would not have to resign after failing to pass a budget, and elections often don't produce a majority anyway!