By Gloria Larkin
Both houses of Congress sent the short-term government funding bill to President Biden who signed it on November 16, 2023, avoiding a potential government shutdown and pushing into next year the next showdown on funding the government. Biden’s approval came a day after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the stop-gap spending bill. The unusual measure, designed by new House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., funds only four federal agencies until January 19, 2024, and the rest until February 2, 2024. The goal is to give Congress more time to negotiate long-term spending bills.
However, these steps to extend continuing resolutions in drips and drabs affect the nation, citizens, federal employees, our military, and government contractors.
“The continual stopgap funding disrupts the cycle of life within the budget realm,” John Polowczyk, an executive director at Ernst and Young and a retired Navy Rear Admiral, said in an interview with Federal News Network. “I just think about how we held off doing something over here to allow the money to be over here, because they weren’t all in the right pots until the actual appropriation got authorized and signed into law by the president. The disruption to work and holding off on something so you can take care of these emergent issues just adds to the force. I just think about training events, things that the force needs to buy to keep readiness prepared. So this up and down leads to behavior that’s not conducive to running an organization.”
For federal contractors, it is critical to include in your business strategy a process to handle all of the issues beyond our control (IBYC), whether they include continuing resolutions, presidential elections, natural or man-made disasters or wars. For more assistance in planning for profitability even with IBYC, contact TargetGov or call 866-579-1346 x 325.
Above links if needed: https://www.npr.org/2023/11/15/1213338118/senate-passes-stopgap-spending-bill-avoiding-the-threat-of-a-shutdown
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-shutdown/2023/11/how-are-crs-impacting-agencies/