Americans, federal employees and politicians know budget shutdowns to be a near annual fixture of governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The threat of one, at least, has become standard operating procedure, and agencies by now are used to expending more effort than they\u2019d like planning for a lapse in appropriations, whether it happens or not. Data from 2013 <\/a>shows at least $2 billion worth of work-hours were lost during a two-week shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To prepare for what is often an up-to-the minute change, agencies are expected by the White House to have shutdown contingency plans at the ready<\/a> that are updated regularly, not just when a funding gap seems imminent. Even short-term continuing resolutions require agencies to divert attention from their normal business and have a predetermination of what, and who, is affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt requires a lot of manpower and hours and time to actually prepare for either the possibility of a shutdown or the likelihood, based on recent historical experience of a CR,\u201d said Andrew Lautz, a senior analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center. \u201cThere\u2019s an opportunity cost to that, too, in the weeks and months leading up to Oct. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, federal agencies have good practice operating under CRs at this point, Lautz added, and so the planning that goes into this time of year is not paranoia, but preparedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\t