Appropriations: Progress, but More to Go

November 20, 2001

As Congress takes a break for Thanksgiving, the fiscal year is well underway but much of the government is still operating under a stopgap "continuing resolution" to fund agencies that have yet to receive their annual appropriations. Some additional funding bills may be signed by the time lawmakers return for a session that is expected to last well into December, including the agriculture appropriation, which got final Senate approval Thursday after earlier action by the House of Representatives.

Of the 13 appropriation bills, Congress has completed its work on eight. Five of these have been signed into law, while three – including the USDA bill – are awaiting action by President Bush. The President is expected to sign the agriculture bill, which also provides money for the Food and Drug Administration, the Farm Credit Administration and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Since September 28, Congress has passed five separate continuing resolutions to keep the government open. Each agency's appropriation is supposed to be enacted into law before the fiscal year begins on October 1, but that has been more the exception than the rule in recent years. This year, the pace has been even slower than usual. In part, of course, that reflects the disruption and reassessment of spending priorities that followed September 11 and the subsequent anthrax contamination of Congressional buildings. The delays are also related to the changeover in Senate party control this summer, and the delays earlier in the year when the two parties' Senate membership was equal.