The House has tentatively scheduled to take up during the week of July 22 the general government bill, the key measure for federal workplace matters - that would allow a 2 percent federal raise. Image: Jakub Zajic/Shutterstock.com
Congress returns next week from a one-week recess intending to push ahead with agency funding bills for the fiscal year starting October 1, but with time already running short for enacting them before then.
Both chambers plan to be in session for only two weeks before recessing again until the week of September 9, then spend only three more weeks in session before recessing until the week of November 11. In order to prevent a funding lapse and partial government shutdown, at least a stopgap measure would have to be passed in September.
Those continuing resolutions in past similar situations typically have continued agency funding at current levels until sometime in November, leaving final decisions to be influenced by the outcome of the elections. For the meantime, the bills are serving as statements on funding and policy priorities.
The House is farther ahead, having passed all 12 of the appropriations bills through the committee level and four through the full chamber. However, those bills passed on largely party-line votes because Republican leaders there inserted various policy riders and set funding levels in most below levels agreed to last year. The White House has threatened vetoes of each.
The Senate has passed only three bills through the committee level, but they are more bipartisan in nature than those of the House; Senate leaders additionally have reached a bipartisan agreement on overall spending levels.
Whether the House will achieve its goal of passing its remaining eight bills before the recess is questionable, especially since one of the least controversial bills, covering Congress itself, failed in a recent floor vote. However, the House has tentatively scheduled to take up during the week of July 22 the general government bill, the key measure for federal workplace matters.
That bill among other things would allow the 2 percent January 2025 federal employee raise proposed by President Biden to take effect by default, while barring funding for carrying out his DEI initiatives in the federal workplace and requiring reporting on telework and a plan for shedding office space that is less than 60 percent occupied on average.
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