Friday, February 18, 2022: A Third “Stop Gap” Continuing Resolution Keeps the Federal Government Alive through March 11th
Down to the wire on Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Senate passed “H.R. 6671 – 117th Congress: Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act,” sending the bill to the President, who in turn signed it just hours before an otherwise federal government shutdown. The bill provides a Continuing Resolution (CR) that extends funding, but only for three weeks, through Friday, March 11, 2022.
Although the CR unanimously passed in the House last week, that was not the case in the Senate. Last-minute “Hail Mary” efforts by a few members of the Senate to add amendments to the bill all failed, but only after much drama on the floor of the Senate. These failed efforts included an attempted prohibition of any funding for COVID-19 vaccine mandates and specifically for schools and early childhood development facilities that enforce COVID-19 vaccine mandates on children. The Senate majority ultimately shot down these amendments as well as an amendment seeking to require balanced budgets in all future Continuing Budget Resolutions.
What’s Next?
The CR funds most programs and activities at the FY 2021 levels with several exceptions which provide flexibility in financing or additional appropriations for various programs. Because leaders of both Houses are now confident that they are only days away from a full and final agreement on a complete budget for the last almost seven months of the 2022 Fiscal Year (ending September 30, 2022), the parties agreed to this very short CR so the negotiators could finish.
In fact, the Chairs of both Appropriations Committees (Senate and House) even announced a bipartisan agreement for the fiscal year 2022 appropriations. Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patrick Leahy (D-VT) had this to say:
“The alternative – a full-year continuing resolution – is untenable and far too onerous on the American people. Our government is not meant to run on autopilot, and American taxpayer dollars should not be spent on outdated priorities. We have the responsibility to make the hard choices about how to invest in the American people.”
When asked on Wednesday when the President would send his FY 2023 budget to the Hill, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded that she did not know. However, Shalanda Young, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget, recently reported it was expected to be after the President’s annual State of the Union address (March 1st).