Spending: Two-Month Stopgap Measure Signed Into Law

Federal agencies will keep operating through Dec. 3 under a short-term spending bill President Obama signed on Sept. 30. The continuing resolution funds programs for about the first two months of fiscal 2011, generally at 2010 levels.

One exception is the current Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round, a big multiyear construction program that’s nearing its end. The continuing resolution funds BRAC at the annual rate of $2.35 billion, the amount the White House requested for 2011 but a 68% cut from 2010.

The stopgap’s Dec. 3 expiration gives Congress little time to pass regular 2011 spending bills when it returns in November for a lame-duck session. It also makes another short-term measure likely.

Pam Hunter McFarland was a Senior Editor of ENR and her expertise was: Sourcebooks, Environment, Labor

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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