On September 8, FMA National President Craig Carter wrote a letter to all members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, urging them to fund Fiscal Year 2024 and avert a government shutdown. Funding for the federal government expires on September 30. You can read a full copy of Carter’s letter to Congress here.

We at FMA grudgingly support a CR in lieu of a shutdown,” Carter wrote. “However, if we, as federal workers, never completed our work on time and had to continually ask for a four-to-six-week extension, we would probably be seeking employment elsewhere. By not appropriating funds, and working under a CR every year, this causes extra costs to agencies having to work under the previous year’s budget, and does not allow agencies proper planning opportunities, including being able to buy equipment and supplies in bulk to save money.”

“Working under a CR also adds stress to federal workers. In addition to performing our regular duties, as each deadline approaches, we have to create furlough lists and contingency plans in case we have a government shutdown, even if that shutdown is ultimately averted. This results in lost resources and man hours we can never recover, and billions of wasted taxpayer dollars. There is no excuse for such wastefulness. We urge you to come together and provide full FY24 appropriations for the good of the country,” Carter concluded. FMA also joined colleagues on the Federal-Postal Coalition, in a letter to Capitol Hill on the issue. You can read that letter here.

In August, congressional leaders in both chambers forged a tentative deal on a continuing resolution (CR) to allow time for additional consideration of FY24 appropriations bills. There are significant roadblocks and complications to that, however. The first is the duration – how long a CR would last. House Republicans are reportedly seeking a more short-term CR, with a duration of three or four weeks. Negotiations in August appeared to settle on a CR that would extend into December. Another complication is over what would be included (or not) in the CR. House leaders intend to offer a measure that would not include aid to Ukraine nor $16 billion in disaster relief the White House is pursuing, instead intending to include funding for those items in regular FY24 appropriations bills.

Legislators’ primary disagreement with FY24 appropriations levels is a $72 billion gap in overall spending between the House and Senate. Members of Congress agreed to topline spending levels as part of the debt ceiling bill in late May. House legislators seek funding below the early-summer deal, while the Senate has boosted funding.

Meanwhile, the Senate is working on an appropriations “minibus” in an attempt to pass FY24 funding bills for Transportation-HUD (S. 2437), Military Construction-VA (S. 2127) and Agriculture (S. 2131). The White House offered general support for this effort, which the full Senate is expected to vote on during the week of September 18.

As the clock ticks toward the end of Fiscal Year 2023, FMA will continue to monitor developments and advocate for full FY24 funding. Stay tuned to FMA’s website for breaking news.