Last night, Congress was unable to reach an agreement on continuing funding for the federal government into the next fiscal year forcing a government shutdown today. While federal agency staff will work this morning to shut down all but the essential activities of their agencies, Congress will meet again later this morning but with no clear path to resolve this matter.
Yesterday, the House and Senate bounced a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government temporarily back and forth: the House, inserting language to delay and modify the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to the funding measure, and the Senate, stripping that language out to pass a clean CR. Last night ended with the Senate rejecting another House version around 9:30 pm and the House meeting near midnight to request a conference on the CR. Senate leaders have indicated they will come into session this morning and are not likely to agree to a conference, urging instead quick approval of the clean funding extension to put federal workers back to work temporarily as a longer term funding measure is worked out.
Agencies are in shutdown mode this morning, with non-essential staff reporting just for a half day to clear their desks. Each agency has a contingency plan that it will be following — general guidance is to continue activities necessary to safeguard life, health and federal property, along with those activities specifically mandated in statute. At Harvard, we anticipate there will be no interruption in federal student aid. However, there may be delays in processing research funds and it is likely no new federal awards will be announced. Each agencies’ plan provides more specific details and they can be accessed here.
Many in Washington predict the shutdown will be fairly short-lived, but thus far there has been little flexibility and willingness to compromise displayed. Members will no doubt be gauging the impact of the shutdown generally and in their districts; hopefully, this will motivate early action to extend government funding quickly.
As always, we will continue to keep you informed as events unfold. If you have any questions, please contact Suzanne Day or Jon Groteboer in Harvard’s Office of Federal Relations at (202) 863-1292.
