On September 20, the House approved, 230-189, a continuing resolution (CR) (H. J. Res. 59) to fund the government until December 15. Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 ends on September 30, but Congress has yet to clear any of the appropriations bills that would fund the various federal departments and agencies into FY2014. See The Source, 8/2/13, 7/26/13, 7/19/13, 7/12/13, and 6/21/13, for details on the status of the following appropriations bills – Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies (Agriculture); Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS); Defense; Financial Services and General Government; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHSE); Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (Mil Con-VA); and State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (State-Foreign Ops).
The CR would provide $986.3 billion in funding to keep the government running through mid-December. This amount, according to the House Appropriations Committee summary, represents a slight decrease below the FY2013 spending rate enacted by the Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25), also known as the sequester. The measure would continue FY2013 spending levels based upon P.L. 113-6, which funded the Agriculture, CJS, Defense, Homeland Security, and Mil Con-VA spending bills, while covering the remaining bills – Energy and Water; Financial Services and General Government; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; LHHSE; State-Foreign Ops; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies – with a CR (see The Source, 3/8/13). The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program would be extended through December 15.
The resolution also would prohibit the use of mandatory or discretionary funds to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (P.L. 111-148), or any of its modifications contained in P.L. 111-152.
