Stop That Check

It was beyond a libertarian's wildest hopes for minimal government. As Congress and President Reagan wrangled over the budget last week, many federal agencies faced the prospect of halting or curtailing their activities because after midnight Friday, they would no longer have the right to spend money. The major and imprecisely defined exception, according to the Anti-Deficiency Act of 1870: "Emergency [activities] involving the safety of human life or the protection of property." As interpreted by the White House, that would include the armed forces, diplomacy, veterans' hospitals and the air-traffic control system. Social Security payments would continue because they are funded apart from the annual budget.

The Administration was in disarray over what would face suspension. Likely candidates: federal disability payments, food stamps (as of Dec. 1, when the latest monthly allotment runs out), most government research and regulatory programs. As many as 400,000 federal employees could be laid off immediately.

So close a brush with chaos seems incomprehensible, but for parts of two days last year, on Oct. 1, and again on Dec. 16, the Government was nominally shut down. Congressional leaders have long maintained that such confrontations are needless: day-to-day functions should go on, they argue, because there is plainly no "legislative intent" to abolish Government.

But President Carter's Attorney General, Benjamin Civiletti, then insisted on a stricter interpretation of the law, which forbids unauthorized expenditures. While Civiletti's "opinion" did not legally bind Reagan, the President took it seriously enough to have his Office of Management and Budget draft contingency plans. So, apparently, did Congress. Well in advance of the deadline, it authorized one branch of Government to continue functioning, and with a spending increase: itself.

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