Overview -

On Jan. 16, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) introduced a continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the federal government until Feb. 16. Congress has until Jan. 19 to agree to a proposal to extend funding for the government. Provided Congress sends an agreement to the President for his signature by the Jan. 19 deadline, Congress would then have less than 10 legislative days between both chambers to either draft an omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government through the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 or draft and pass another CR to temporarily fund the government at slightly less than current levels to conform to spending caps under current law.

The current CR legislation introduced in the House also includes six years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), funding for which was extended in the previous CR to March 31,and further delays several tax provisions authorized under the Affordable Care Act. The inclusion of six years of CHIP funding was greatly aided by a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessment indicating that due to the repeal of the ACA’s individual mandate in the tax legislation that passed late last year the cost of a five-year extension of CHIP would be reduced from $8 billion to $800 million. However, the CBO calculated that a six-year extension would be budget neutral, thus shifting CHIP funding from a five- to a six-year renewal.