Don Wolfensberger asked why shutdowns are more dominant now than in the middle of the 20th century?
The short answer… is that Congress was more bipartisan and amenable to compromise in those days. But there was structural change going on as well. With enactment of the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, Congress tried to make the expiration of a fiscal year less susceptible to blame for not finishing action on all 12 of the regular (annual funding) appropriations bills. It simply altered the Hill’s budget calendar by changing the start of a new fiscal year from July 1 to Oct. 1, thereby giving Congress an extra three months to complete its work.
But that ploy ran up against Parkinson’s law: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” And sure enough, Congress expanded its workload by making spending bills bulkier and more complex. When the old fiscal year expires, Congress is often still left running on fumes with little or no new money in the tank.