Contracts may be extended or modified, and timely communication with contracting officers becomes essential to ensure smooth operations. The twinned letters on the Capitol’s collective lips this month are C and R. Together they stand for “continuing resolution,” the colloquial name for legislation that keeps money flowing to federal programs whose regular spending bills are unfinished. A shutdown does NOT mean a complete lack of government operations. Instead, non-essential services are cancelled, layoffs and furloughs may happen for these employees, and the day to day business of the government is negatively affected in these areas. When the deadline passes without a budget or a continuing resolution to temporarily fund government operations until a budget deal can be made, a shutdown is required until one or the other can pass.

What’s a Continuing Resolution and Why Does It Matter?

This means members may be compelled to vote for a package that funds programs they oppose or fails to adequately fund programs they support, simply to ensure the government remains open and funded for the remainder of the fiscal year. CRs become necessary when the October 1 deadline is missed for one or more of the 12 regular appropriations bills. The U.S. government’s method for deciding how to spend taxpayer money, known as the appropriations process, directly impacts countless services Americans rely on daily. This process determines funding for everything from national defense and infrastructure to healthcare research and environmental protection.

After this date, if Congress does not reach an agreement on the new budget, the risk of a government shutdown resurfaces. CRs are not new; they have been a recurring feature in U.S. budget policy. They help avoid the disruptive and costly effects of a government shutdown, but they also come with limitations. Under a CR, no new programs can start, and existing programs cannot expand their budgets. This status quo approach can limit a contractor’s ability to plan and execute long-term projects effectively. Military pay can be affected unless there is legislation or some other provision to prevent a delay in pay for troops.

A measure of prices paid for goods and services excluding food and energy; the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. Measures the change in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households.

This entire process allows Congress to thoroughly assess federal programs, make informed decisions about resource allocation, and clearly communicate its spending priorities. Increasing the debt ceiling allows the Treasury to borrow funds to pay for government obligations that have already been incurred as the result of laws and budgets approved by the President and Congress. Government contracting is inherently unpredictable, but with the right strategies and a proactive approach, you can minimize disruptions and continue delivering value to your government clients. Stay tuned for further updates, and don’t hesitate to reach out to experts in government contracting for additional support and guidance. During a CR, contractors must remain vigilant about compliance and reporting requirements.

What Is a Continuing Resolution?

Changes to the structure of these committees in the early and mid-2000s eventually brought the number of subcommittees, and in turn the number of stand-alone appropriations acts, down to 12. Congress has not enacted all 12 appropriations acts since fiscal year (FY) 1997, however. Instead, Congress has relied on CRs to keep agency operations funded. Since FY1998, Congress has enacted 125 CRs to keep federal agencies funded.

Lawmakers’ dependence on CRs to fund the government on a short-term basis undermines the budget process and introduces uncertainty to government agencies. By enacting full-year funding bills on time, lawmakers can focus their attention on other important legislative duties, and government agencies can operate more efficiently. In simplest form, a CR merely references expiring appropriations what does cr stand for in government acts for the relevant agencies and essentially extends them. Sometimes the extension can include a percentage increase, or it could simply hold the funding rate steady, as was the case in the most recently enacted CR.

Who is the Roman Emperor prior to Caesar?

• Master list of the most frequently used government contracting acronyms.
• Please consult a qualified professional for financial, legal, or health advice specific to your circumstances.
• If you mean Julius Caesar, he was not an emperor and there never had been an emperor before him.
• Processing new applications, requests, modifications, new accounts, etc. is generally much harder during a government shutdown period.
• Contractors should review their cash flow projections and ensure they have sufficient reserves to manage any delays in payments.

Ensure that all project documentation is up to date and readily accessible. Accurate and timely reporting can help maintain a positive relationship with contracting officers and reduce the risk of audit issues. Contractors should review their cash flow projections and ensure they have sufficient reserves to manage any delays in payments. Consider negotiating flexible payment terms with subcontractors and suppliers to maintain liquidity.

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The basic unit of an appropriation bill is an account, and while funds are often consolidated, specific amounts for activities within an account may be directed, with further details typically found in accompanying committee reports. General provisions can apply to all accounts within a bill or even across multiple acts. This level of specificity allows Congress to guide, and to some extent micromanage, the use of funds, ensuring closer alignment with legislative intent. These bills provide the legal authority—known as budget authority—for federal agencies to spend money from the U.S. This funding typically covers a single fiscal year, running from October 1 to September 30. Master list of the most frequently used government contracting acronyms.

The Standard Procedure: Regular Appropriations

The day-to-day operations of most federal agencies are funded on an annual basis by appropriations. When those appropriation bills are not enacted by the start of the fiscal year on October 1, Congress uses a continuing resolution, or “CR,” as a temporary measure to fund government activities for a limited time. Continuing resolutions are temporary “stopgaps,” often employed to avoid a partial government shutdown and to give lawmakers more time to enact appropriations for the full year. However, programs deemed essential services, such as those related to public safety, often continue to operate even without a CR.

The twelve appropriations bills then appropriate the funding for the federal government to use for the next budgetary year. The appropriations bills must be signed into the law by the President, although the budget resolution itself is not subject to his or her approval. The modern Congress serially fails to abide by the federal budget process set forth in the Congressional Budget Act, and instead often relies on stopgap legislation to avoid (more) federal government shutdowns. While CRs serve a useful purpose in providing Congress with an expeditious avenue for keeping agencies funded, they fall short of the detailed and deliberate policy choices that full agency appropriations acts contain. A continuing resolution (CR) is the legislative equivalent of cruise control – it sets spending levels for federal agencies by essentially just referencing past spending levels and adjusting them, or simply maintaining current spending levels. CRs typically serve as stopgap legislation to keep agencies funded while Congress debates full-year appropriations acts.

• Avoid making hasty hiring or layoff decisions until there is more clarity about long-term funding.
• However, if Congress fails to pass legislation to fund the government before a new fiscal year begins, they can pass legislation to keep federal operations going at the current spending levels.
• She served as a Congressional aide and trusted senior advisor for a decade on Capitol Hill, developing a nuanced understanding of the legislative process with an emphasis on budget and appropriations strategy.
• The “stopgap” measure effectively becomes an expected, almost routine, part of the annual budget cycle.

These consist of 12 distinct annual spending bills, each covering different sectors of the government, such as defense, education, energy, and homeland security. Anywhere from two to 21 of these stopgap measures have been required in each of the previous 19 years to maintain regular operations for some time in most, if not all, agencies and departments. The last time not a single CR was needed was two decades ago, in 1996, because Congress had enacted every one of the regular spending bills by the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1. The persistent threat of government shutdowns has become an almost ever-present feature of the modern U.S. budget process, largely due to the difficulties in enacting timely appropriations. Understanding the fundamental differences between regular appropriations and continuing resolutions is key to deciphering the complexities of federal funding.

How Often Does Congress Pass a CR?

Conversely, the development and increasing use of CRs as a “stopgap” measure implicitly acknowledges that this ideal process frequently falters. This duality is not accidental but a systemic adaptation to the intricate challenges of governing within a diverse democracy. If you mean Julius Caesar, he was not an emperor and there never had been an emperor before him. The first five emperors all carried the family name Caesar, either by blood or by adoption.