Congress Passed a Continuing Resolution Today, But What the Heck Is It?

On Friday morning the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government for a week, until May 5, in an attempt to avert a partial government shutdown. The Senate approved the continuing resolution before the Friday night deadline as well, though there continues to be wrangling around what Democrats call "poison pill riders" at the 11th hour.

That wrangling will continue throughout next week as Congress strives to agree on a spending bill to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, but let’s stop here for a moment and get clear on what a continuing resolution is.

What is a continuing resolution?

A continuing resolution is one of three types of appropriations (spending) legislation — regular appropriations bills, continuing resolutions, and supplemental appropriations bills. Regular appropriations bills are the twelve standard bills approved by Congress to enact the budget for the full fiscal year, October 1 - September 30. Each bill provides funding for a specific government function or group of functions, such as defense or transportation. Supplemental appropriations bills add funding for projects not originally included in the annual budget. Disaster relief is a good example.

A continuing resolution continues existing federal spending at levels established in the last approved regular appropriations bill for a finite period of time. They get used when a funding deadline is reached and a regular appropriations bill has not yet been passed, or funding does not exist to cover previously approved regular appropriations. If, for instance, the president and Congress have not approved a regular appropriations bill by October 1, then they can approve a continuing resolution to fund the government according to levels specified in the previous year’s budget until they come to an agreement.

With this latest continuing resolution, Congress has bought themselves another week to negotiate over spending through the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Lawmakers will either need to pass an omnibus appropriations bill — basically all twelve appropriations bills rolled into one — to rearrange spending priorities or they’ll be faced with passing another continuing resolution that funds the government at current levels before they reach their deadline at midnight on May 5.

Assuming they can reach an agreement by the new May 5 deadline then they approve another continuing resolution to fund the federal government at already approved levels until September 30 or use what is called an omnibus appropriations bill to rearrange spending priorities.

Should Congress approve a continuing resolution by the new May 5 deadline to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year or attempt to re-prioritize spending through an omnibus bill? Use the "Take Action" button to tell your reps what you think!

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— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: pixabay / Creative Commons)