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Another deadline to fund federal agencies is coming up in just two weeks, with no movement of legislation since Congress enacted the current stopgap funding authority late last year.
The funding measure that expires February 18 was enacted in early December just before the expiration of a prior stopgap measure that in turn had been enacted just before fiscal year 2021 funding expired September 30. Those measures generally have continued funding at that year’s levels, with some add-ons.
As in past years, enactment of year-long agency budgets has been held up by a differences over both funding levels and policy issues. In the latter category this time is a potential move by Republicans to add language barring the government from spending money to carry out Coronavirus vaccine mandates. That presumably would include the one for federal employees that has been stopped by a court order – one that is under appeal.
That issue and others could result in another round of brinksmanship threatening a partial government shutdown that would require hundreds of thousands of federal employees to continue working without pay while others would be put on unpaid furloughs. Laws enacted since the last shutdown in late 2018-early 2019 guarantee that both groups will later receive back pay and provide some additional protections regarding insurance benefits.
While passing another stopgap is possible, there also is pressure to enact a wrapup appropriations bill carrying agencies through September 30. By remaining at fiscal 2021 levels for another eight months, numerous federal programs that have taken on added responsibilities could run short of funding; the White House warned of damaging impacts as long ago as last November in areas ranging from defense to pandemic response and from education to services to the public.
Also, the budget cycle for fiscal year 2023 which begins in October is set to start within a matter of weeks with the release of the annual White House proposal, creating pressure to resolve the 2022 budget beforehand.
The annual budget process did get off to a later start last year due to the presidential transition, but Congress made only limited progress toward enacting regular appropriations bills. The House cleared most of them but none of those measures progressed beyond the committee level in the Senate.
Among those is the general government appropriations bill, which commonly includes policy riders affecting federal workplace issues; no such provisions have been in the temporary funding measures. The House-passed version would discontinue a general ban on coverage for abortions and related services in the FEHB program while continuing a long-standing ban on “Circular A-76” studies that can lead to contracting out of federal jobs; and prod OPM to speed up federal hiring and processing of federal retirement applications.
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