The Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a government shutdown and fund the government through the 2026 fiscal year has both Republicans and Democrats scrambling.
Continuing resolutions have become far too common. The White House pushed for a four-month continuing resolution, which was mostly ignored. The House voted for a seven-week continuing resolution, which was subsequently voted down in the Senate. All such efforts do nothing more than “kick the can down the road” and delay hard decisions.
Given the forecasted deficits resulting from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” financial waste is something that our nation can ill afford. With more than $37 trillion of accumulated government debt, independent of who owns such debt, the fiscal time bomb continues to tick, with budget hawks remaining as the lone voices expressing any concern.
If there is any hope that our nation will be able to climb out of its current fiscal quagmire, money spent by the government should have some positive return on investment. Of course, this does not mean that every expenditure must provide an immediate positive payback; expenditures related to healthcare and national security, for instance, are necessary investments in the well-being of the country. What it does mean is that across a swath of the population, the nation should be better for spending taxpayer dollars.
Examples of such investments in the past are ubiquitous.
In 1956, President Eisenhower signed legislation that created the interstate highway system. This investment has benefited every person who has traveled on our nation’s road transportation system. The economic benefits of this investment have been immeasurable. Not only did the construction of the system create jobs, many companies built systems around it, including hotels, restaurants and shopping venues. This investment continues to pay dividends across the economy.
The same holds true with the national airspace system, which the Federal Aviation Administration oversees. Ensuring safe and reliable air travel creates economic value that a large swath of the population benefits from. That is why not making the necessary investments to upgrade and enhance the air traffic control system are ill-conceived, risking a lost trust in what is a national benefit for most people.
Another investment that enjoys a positive return on investment is higher education. An educated population creates wealth. It has facilitated our digital economy, encouraged entrepreneurship and permitted our service economy to grow at a pace that produced a $293 billion trade surplus in 2024, with nearly 20 percent of this due to international education. College training will continue to be required for many new jobs created in the future. Higher education is indeed a national treasure — a model for excellence that is emulated across the globe.
At the same time, attacks on higher education are suppressing their freedoms and effectiveness. Given that education produced a $50 billion trade surplus in 2023, cutting the very industry that provides a positive return on investment is nonsensical.
The president may be measuring return on investment based on his ideological likes and dislikes. His disdain for DEI in higher education appears to be a driver for his attacks on higher education. Moreover, his style in negotiating “deals” with countries on tariffs gives each of them the motivation to flatter his ego and appease his every whim.
Then there is the cost of servicing the accumulated government debt. Uncertainty surrounding the president’s on again, off again, changes in tariff rates created uncertainty in the economy, pushing the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates steady, rather than dropping them as the president wanted. A slowing economy prompted the recent one-quarter point drop in the Federal Reserve benchmark interest rate, the first such rate decrease in nine months. Note that each one-point drop in interest rates would save the government no less than $6 billion in monthly debt service payments just on short-term debt alone.
In an era with out-of-control government spending, persistent budget deficits and a Congress whose actions seem only to serve to help them get reelected and retain their own power, something has to give. Spending more because it is easy is not a sustainable path forward.
This time around, lawmakers have their hands full to avoid a government shutdown. History suggests that some compromise will be reached at the 11th hour, though some believe this time may be different. Recall that the most recent government shutdown occurred during the first Trump administration. It remains to be seen whether history will repeat itself.
When DOGE was created to root out government waste, it needed look no further than how Congress funds the government. As someone who spent time in the federal government, continuing resolutions and the threat of a government shutdown create more financial waste than anything the 2.3 million federal employees can ever imagine squandering on their own.
In an ideal world, a simple concept like return on investment should be the foundation for how the government sets and funds budget priorities. With ubiquitous government dysfunction in Washington today, however, continuing resolutions that dodge difficult decisions and steer clear of reasonable compromises continue to be the path taken, all paid for by taxpayers.
Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a computer science professor in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. A data scientist, he uses his expertise in risk-based analytics to address problems in public policy.
