Funding Bill Faces Uncertain Future

Government Shutdown Possible Over Differences of Opinion about How to Defund Obamacare  This week, the House Appropriations Committee introduced a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the daily activities of the federal government, from the start of the fiscal year (FY) on Oct. 1 through Dec. 15, 2013.  The CR will fund the government at current post-sequestration levels of $986 billion, which is nearly $20 billion more than House-passed budget levels for FY 2014 and nearly $70 billion lower than the budget levels passed in the Senate for FY 2014.  The CR is necessary because the House and Senate have failed to enact any of their 12 annual appropriations bills.  The length of the bill is intended to allow congressional leaders and the president to deal with the need to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and other budget issues without the threat of a government shutdown. House Republican leaders had planned on bringing up the CR for a vote this week, but when they determined that they did not have sufficient support from rank-and-file Republican members, they postponed the vote.  The issue is not so much about the funding levels in the bill; it is the insistence from a small, albeit vocal, group of Republican House members that funding the government past Sept. 30 be directly tied to a specific method for defunding the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Since Republican leaders have included a provision that will for the first time force the Senate to vote on defunding Obamacare, no Democrats will support the legislation.  Both approaches face defeat in the Senate and a veto threat from the president. The path forward on the CR is not clear.   As it stands, House Democrats oppose references to Obamacare and are unlikely to support the funding levels in the CR. Without enough Republican votes to pass it as is, Republican leaders may be forced to drop the Obamacare language and negotiate with Democrats on the spending levels to win enough votes to keep the government open. This is quite a predicament for congressional leaders and without a compromise, the chances of a government shutdown become greater. For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at (202) 547-8892 or oneills@agc.org.