The Senate Appropriations Committee is working on a framework for a stopgap funding resolution to keep the federal government through Dec. 11.
The government’s fiscal year is scheduled to end on Sept. 30. Unless a bill codifies that funding is rolled over into the next fiscal year up to a certain date, the government will run out of money Oct. 1 and will shut down.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a Sunday statement that the continuing resolution (CR) draft it released is “straightforward” and includes “necessary adjustments” for various programs.
These include some programs under the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. Some adjustments listed in the CR were the 17-D -640 U1a Complex Enhancements Project at Nevada National Security Site and 21-D-401 Hoisting Capability Project at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The CR seeks to authorize enough funding to make sure that these vital programs will not be disrupted or demobilized, according to the bill.
“This measure gives Congress the time we need to continue our work on bipartisan appropriations bills, which are always my strong preference for handling annual government funding,” Collins said.” I am grateful for the work of my colleagues; this CR is a major step toward averting a damaging shutdown that only harms vital programs and federal workers.”
While the House has already gone into its August recess for a time, it recently passed a short-term extension for government funding that, if made law, would extend federal programs through Dec. 4.