Is there a connection between government shutdowns and the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974?

Yes

The current budget process was established by the landmark Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, also called the Congressional Budget Act (CBA). Understanding the successes and failures of the CBA can inform a way forward toward achieving a more effective budget process. The CBA established new institutions in Congress, including the CBO and the Budget Committees in the House and Senate. It dramatically curtailed the power of the president to withhold federal funds once Congress has appropriated them. It improved the availability of information to inform decision-making and established an annual process for developing and approving the federal budget.

The results of the 1974 CBA have been mixed, however, in terms of both its stated goals and the budget process that evolved. In hindsight, it succeeded most where it improved the information and analytical capacity available to Congress and enhanced congressional authority over the budget. It has been less successful in ensuring that Congress enacts timely budgets. While the budget process at first worked largely as intended, adherence in Congress to the CBA’s processes and deadlines has eroded, and today, the budget process has been warped by brinkmanship and partisan posturing, as members of Congress increasingly use budget chokepoints to try to extract policy concessions from the other side.

The third major accomplishment of the CBA was the elimination of impoundments. As early as Thomas Jefferson,15 presidents had asserted this privilege of withholding funds from congressionally appropriated programs. This power was rolled back by the CBA in an effort to re-establish the congressional power of the purse and return budget authority to Congress.16 The CBA required the president to seek congressional approval in canceling appropriated funds, through a process known as rescission.

Under the act, if the president wishes to deny funds for congressionally approved activities, he may request that Congress rescind the funds. However, if Congress does not approve this request or fails to take any action within 45 days, these funds are required to be released.17 The elimination of impoundments successfully shifted an important budget authority from the executive branch to the legislative branch.

Congress sought to impose a measure of order on itself by establishing a budget process in the CBA. But in recent years, factions within Congress have increasingly sought to use budget-related chokepoints to demand their desired policy outcomes. Since 1977, Congress has shut down the government or allowed funding to lapse 19 times by failing to enact timely appropriations bills or by using continuing resolutions (CRs), and it now brings the government to the brink of shutdown on a regular basis.43 Worse, in 2011, House conservatives used the approaching need to raise the debt ceiling as a weapon in their budget fights with President Barack Obama—and the United States came dangerously close to defaulting on its obligations for the first time in its history.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/re...

Ever since a 1980 interpretation of the 1884 Antideficiency Act, a “lapse of appropriation” due to a political impasse on proposed appropriation bills requires that the US federal government curtail agency activities and services, close down non-essential operations, furlough non-essential workers, and only retain essential employees in departments covering the safety of human life and/or protection of property.[1] Voluntary services in these respective essential areas may only be accepted during emergencies.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns...