© Kristoffer Tripplaar
The conservative Freedom Caucus forced the government to shut down for 16 days in 2013 over members’ opposition to the Affordable Care Act.
The conservative Freedom Caucus forced the government to shut down for 16 days in 2013 over members’ opposition to the Affordable Care Act.
How that battle will affect agencies is anybody's guess at this point.
Ed Lorenzen, senior advisor at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said "I'd be extremely surprised to see Congress finish the appropriations process before the election." He thinks lawmakers may send one or two appropriations bills to the president's desk this fall, but then will pass a stopgap spending bill to fund the government through December.
"We might get one or two bills that pass, but there will have to be a continuing resolution," he said. Lorenzen also expects lawmakers to use various budget gimmicks—such as channeling funds through the Pentagon's Overseas Contingency Operations account or other "emergency" accounts—to blow through the spending caps established by the 2011 Budget Control Act. That's something both Republicans and Democrats are amenable to if it advances their own priorities. For Republicans, that's to increase defense spending, especially given troop increases in Afghanistan and Iraq; for Democrats, it's to boost spending on domestic programs such as efforts to combat the Zika virus.
Because members of both parties want to increase spending—albeit on different things—lawmakers would be reluctant to pass a long-term CR [Continuing Resolution] that would carry over into 2017 because that would lock in current spending levels, Lorenzen said.
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