The possible federal government shutdown that had us all concerned last week has been “paused” for another 45 days. Negotiations can now continue on the new proposed federal budget in hopes of passing something permanent.
The “mechanism” to do this is what is known as a “Continuing Resolution”(“CR”) This was passed by a combination of Democrat and Republican votes. Not all Republicans voted for this. A number of them voted against it. At least one Democrat voted against it, too
The CR continues Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations levels to November 17, 2023. — which is being called “45 days” from passage of the Continuing Resolution.
Unfortunately the history of federal budget showdowns in recent years has occasionally had an actual shutdown take place…and OFTEN seen Continuing Resolutions passed for “short term relief.”
ACL and its members understand both sides of these debates — the need to fund our own programs (the Forest Service, the Farm Bill) versus the need to try to make necessary cuts to bloated government spending.
As with other groups in our industry, ACL felt the need last week to “take the possible shutdown seriously” and warn our members of how to deal with it. It is too bad that this proved a “false alarm” of sorts, but we have to treat our members fairly with the information we receive.
NEXT STEPS:
President Biden and his agencies; the House of Representatives; and the US Senate now have another 45 days to negotiate and pass a federal budget bill.
Here’s hoping that “political shenanigans” are kept to a minimum going forward..