The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) issued a scathing indictment on Wednesday following the reported end of America’s longest government shutdown. Maya MacGuineas, president of the CRFB, said the political stalemate “accomplished nothing and caused significant harm to many individuals, not to mention our reputation around the world.”
MacGuineas, leader of a bipartisan budget watchdog, had a bipartisan rebuke for Congress. “Policymakers gave new meaning to fiscal irresponsibility,” she said, since the previous standoff was over a deficit-busting $1.5 trillion in health-care subsidies and the current reopening package locks in what the CRFB calculates as $3.4 trillion of new borrowing by wiping the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) scorecard, a favorite policy of the CRFB.
“Lawmakers should stop papering over their fiscal recklessness and face the tough decisions head-on,” MacGuineas argued, “or at the very least, follow their own rules.”
The resolution to end the shutdown, which had been ongoing since before October 1, came as the Senate approved an amended version of a Continuing Resolution (CR) on November 10. The House is now preparing to vote on this CR-Minibus appropriations bill.
While the reopening package provides full-year appropriations for Agriculture, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and extends current funding for the remaining appropriations bills, the CRFB warns the true cost of reopening the government is massive fiscal negligence.
The CRFB stressed that while the government may reopen soon, the underlying fiscal instability remains acute, describing the nation’s fiscal path as “increasingly unsustainable.” Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show the 12-month federal budget deficit totaled $1.8 trillion between November 2024 and October 2025, with the federal debt now approaching 100% of GDP (it was 99.8%)
Even with the immediate crisis resolved, lawmakers must still find agreement on nine appropriations bills for the rest of the fiscal year by the end of January. They are cautioned to do so without further increasing the debt and are urged to reestablish enforceable discretionary spending caps.
The CRFB insists that any extensions must be fiscally responsible, requiring reforms and offsets so the resulting package is “fully paid for – ideally twice over in accordance with Super PAYGO, given how bad things have gotten.”
The watchdog concluded by stating that “it’s hard to imagine the bar for dysfunctional government getting any lower than it is right now.” The CRFB called on both parties to work together to lower health care costs and reduce the debt, urging lawmakers to reopen the government without delay, and “without writing off trillions in recent borrowing or providing themselves a blank check for future borrowing.”
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
