A judge appointed by Barack Obama ordered the federal government to pay Americans who don’t work (state-sponsored PBS), i.e., those who receive SNAP (“food stamps”). At the same time, we’re informed that it is illegal for the federal government to pay Americans who do work (air traffic controllers who drew the short draw and are required to work every day for the same delayed paycheck that government workers who are on vacation will receive).
Could the Founding Fathers have imagined a day when people who don’t work for the federal government and who mostly don’t work at all (see “The Role of Full-Time and Part-Time Work in SNAP” from AEI, 2023) have a superior claim on the fruits of taxpayer toil than do people who actually work for the federal government?
Separately, I’m pleased to see that the answer to Why won’t rich states fund SNAP and other welfare programs during the federal shutdown? is “some will”! Connecticut’s governor says that he will step in with other people’s money (from his taxpayers/subjects) and pay the SNAP royalty with state funds:
It is tough for me to understand why SNAP is a federal program, actually. Don’t state and local governments have a better idea of who might be hungry in their corners of the U.S.? And of what food costs in their corners of the U.S.? Also, the farther away from the average taxpayer these decisions are being made the less personal satisfaction a taxpayer can take in helping his nonworking brothers, sisters, and binary resisters (see Immigration kills pride in paying income tax?). Think of the righteous satisfaction that will now be available to the rich taxpayers of Connecticut (the 10th richest state).
Given that the FAA is primarily funded by user fees, i.e., taxes on airline ticket and on fuel purchased from Bill Gates to fuel private jets, why can’t it keep paying air traffic controllers from these fees, in the same way that that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office continues to pay patent examiners? ChatGPT explains:
1. Different legal frameworks for how “fees” are held and spent
🏛️ USPTO — Fees go into a revolving fund that stays available
- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office operates under a Permanent Appropriation — the Patent and Trademark Office Revolving Fund (31 U.S.C. § 42).
- Fees collected from patent and trademark applicants do not go to the Treasury’s general fund. They are kept in the USPTO’s own account and are “available until expended.”
- That means USPTO has multi-year, no-year spending authority: it can use fee revenue (and any surplus) during a lapse in appropriations.
- As a result, the USPTO can continue operations — including paying employees — even when Congress hasn’t passed a new budget, as long as its revolving fund has sufficient balances.
🛫 FAA — Ticket and fuel taxes go into a trust fund, but still need appropriations
- Airline ticket taxes, fuel excise taxes, and other aviation fees are deposited into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF), established by 26 U.S.C. § 9502.
- Crucially, those funds are not automatically available for expenditure.
- Congress must appropriate money out of the trust fund every year to specific FAA accounts (Operations, Facilities & Equipment, etc.).
- When there’s a lapse in appropriations (a shutdown), FAA legally cannot obligate or spend AATF money — even though the Treasury is still collecting ticket taxes daily.
2. Anti-Deficiency Act — the key legal barrier
- Under the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341), federal employees can’t volunteer or be paid without an active appropriation unless they’re performing “excepted” duties (like safety-of-life).
- Air traffic controllers are “excepted” — so they must report to work — but cannot be paid until Congress authorizes the expenditure.
- The FAA’s hands are tied: even though tax revenue is flowing into the AATF, no one has authority to draw from it.
Maybe we need a new law that says that the FAA can draw on the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to fund its operations any time that there is a shutdown?
Related:
- “The government shutdown is delaying an assistance program families use to heat homes” (NPR): “… LIHEAP, a program that helps about 6 million households nationwide pay their heating or cooling bills, buy fuel or fix broken heaters. … Around this time each year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sends most of the annual LIHEAP funding to states to run the program.” (another example of a situation where states agree that Resident A should work extra hours to pay for Resident B’s heat, but only if the transfer of funds happens at the federal level)
- How to get free museum admissions for life: sign up for food stamps (SNAP/EBT)