The Senate, early Saturday morning, passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the federal government operating until March 27, 2013. Due to procedural hurdles, the Senate was forced to vote in the middle of the night on the final must-pass measure before returning home in advance of the election.
As you will recall from our blog on the House-passed measure, the CR will fund federal programs at a rate of $1.047 trillion, consistent with the spending cap set forth in the 2011 Budget Control Act, which is an $8 billion increase over FY 2012. This increase would be used as a government-wide 0.6 percent across-the-board increase for all programs, however, it is unlikely that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would actually distribute those funds. The President is expected to sign the measure shortly, as the end of the fiscal year is quickly approaching September 30.
Congress is now in recess until after the election. Once the House and Senate return to DC in November, they will have a hefty agenda of must pass legislation to grapple with before the end of the 112th Congress. This long list of business includes the looming sequester, which as detailed in a previous blog, would have a large and negative impact on Health Center funding in FY 2013. We don’t anticipate Congress will address the sequester until after the election, but we will keep you updated as we move forward. Please stay tuned for more information.