#  Buying Time: The Six-Month CR for Federal FY13 

 





August 03, 2012

 

 

On July 31, just days away from Congress’s annual August recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner announced a deal to fund the government for the first six months of fiscal year 2013. While work on the details will continue over the next several weeks, the agreement provides for a six-month “continuing resolution” (CR) at the top line level of $1.047 trillion – the level set for FY13 in last year’s [Budget Control Act](http://ofr.harvard.edu/site/news/washington-update/federal-relations-update-august-12-2011-moving-forward-under-the-budget-control-act/) (BCA) – and would provide funding for all federal discretionary programs over the first six months of FY13 without program eliminations, policy riders, or contentious prohibitions. All indications are that this agreement will become law when the Congress returns in September.

A departure from last year’s all too-frequent brinksmanship and eleventh-hour agreements, this CR dismisses any talk of a possible shutdown well before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. It also effectively delays final decisions on FY13 spending until the 113th Congress, giving Democrats and Republicans more time to focus on averting the “[fiscal cliff](http://ofr.harvard.edu/site/news/washington-update-looking-ahead-to-the-end-game/)” by removing at least one item from the lengthy legislative agenda of the post-election lame duck session that will include, among other things, efforts to address sequestration and the expiration of the 2001/2003 Bush tax cuts. House Republicans, for one, certainly hope to push for lower FY13 spending levels, like those they adopted with the House-approved FY13 Ryan Budget, after the expiration of the six-month CR and are betting they can get them if they win the White House and majorities in the House and Senate. However, in the short term, this agreement avoids this fight for now by acquiescing to the agreed-upon funding level in the BCA. Interestingly, this level is $4 billion above FY12 funding (although without any accounting for the potential sequester).

Continuing resolutions most often provide funding at current or lower levels, so this CR’s increased top-line is causing much speculation in Washington as to how the extra funding will be allocated. Clearly, this will be an issue we will be following in August. Also, with the CR cleared and the clock ticking toward the potential January 2 sequester, it is likely that the White House Office of Management and Budget and other federal agencies will begin some planning in the event Congress is unable to act to avoid the sequester. A likely scenario is for OMB to have agencies spend out FY13 funds at a slow pace until after January 2 and a final fiscal 2013 spending deal is reached sometime next spring.

As always, we will stay in touch as these issues continue to develop. Please feel free to contact Suzanne Day or Jon Groteboer in Harvard’s Washington office (at 202 863-1292) should you have questions or concerns.



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Budget and Appropriations ](/issues/budget-appropriations)
 
 

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