Stopgap Funding Moves Apparently Ahead

With the end of the current fiscal year ahead on Friday (September 30), budget leaders on Capitol Hill are sorting through various options to keep the government funded in the absence of regular appropriations bills. Only two of the needed spending bills (12 in the Senate and 11 in the House) have been enacted into law: those covering the legislative branch and Interior-Environment. It appears that others will have to be wrapped up into a “continuing resolution,” a stopgap measure that has been used often in the past in similar situations. However, it remains to be determined how long such a measure would last and at what levels it would fund agency operations. There apparently is little to no risk of a funding lapse such as has occurred several times in the past that put many federal employees on temporary unpaid furloughs.