On September 28, Congress passed a stopgap spending bill to avoid a federal government shutdown as we enter the new federal fiscal year on October 1, 2016. The House vote in favor of the Continuing Resolution (CR) was 342-85, and the Senate vote was 72-16. The President signed the CR on 9/29. Federal agency funding will continue at FY’16 levels through December 9, 2016 (with some exceptions, e.g., response to Zika virus and funding to address flooding in Louisiana, Texas and Maryland). There was also a very modest .05% (one half of one percent) across-the-board cut. Congress is due back in mid-November, and will take up the annual appropriations bills in an attempt to finalize FY’17 funding. It is more likely that the 11 remaining appropriations bills will be combined into an Omnibus Appropriations bill for FY’17 (or divided into some smaller bills).
If you have any questions, please contact NASEO’s counsel, Jeff Genzer (jcg@dwgp.com). To read the text of the CR, click here. It also includes the full-year appropriations for the Military Construction and VA appropriations for FY’17.