On September 30, the last day of fiscal year (FY) 2023, Congress averted a government shutdown by enacting a temporary stop-gap funding bill. The bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) was passed by the majority of both chambers and maintains current FY23 funding levels through November 17. Congress now has several more weeks to continue negotiating the FY24 spending bills before there is another standoff to avoid a lapse in federal appropriations.
The bipartisan CR does not include deep cuts to domestic spending or some policy provisions on immigration that the House Freedom Caucus had demanded. It also does not include a bipartisan request for more emergency aid to Ukraine. The bill, however, does include $16 billion in funding for disaster relief.
While the CR was passed by both parties, the bill sparked considerable infighting within the House Republican caucus. As a result, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been voted out of his speakership. Legislative activity is on hold until the House can determine new leadership, even as Congress finds itself needing to act on many priorities. For example, the House has yet to consider the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill – which provides funding for AmeriCorps – despite expectations that a vote on the House proposal would occur in September. As of now, the House Labor-HHS bill has still not been marked up by the full Appropriations Committee.