Government Shutdown Averted – for Now - March 2, 2011

On March 2, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for two weeks, until March 18. The measure, crafted by House Republicans, passed the House on March 1. The CR will reduce federal spending over the course of the year by $4 billion below FY 2010 levels by targeting cuts already proposed by President Obama in his FY 2012 budget proposal. A list of cuts is available on the House Appropriations Committee website. While the short-term CR buys Congress time to negotiate, the two sides are still far apart on how to fund the government through the end of FY 2011 on Sept. 30. The House has passed a full-year CR that reduces spending by more than $60 billion across the next seven months. The Senate has yet to take up a full-year CR, but the Democratic-controlled chamber’s proposal is likely to include much smaller cuts.