Congress Extends Funding to Avoid a Government Shutdown

Congress voted last night to avoid a partial government shutdown by extending the current stopgap funding measure (continuing resolution). Six federal agencies, including HUD, will be funded for an extra week through Friday, March 8, when the President signs the measure. Congressional leadership says they have reached an agreement on budgetary bills to fund the government for the remainder of the year, but they need more time to move them through the legislative process without initiating a partial government shutdown. Congress expects to publicly release the bills on Sunday and move to pass them before President Biden’s State of the Union Address on Thursday. The remaining federal agencies will have their funding extended through March 22.

While Congress avoided a shutdown this week, there could still be some hurdles to full fiscal year (FY) 24 funding. There are still extensive disagreements around funding and policy provisions in the remaining six bills extending funding to March 22. If all twelve spending bills are not passed by the end of April, there will be a broad 1% funding cut due to measures in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Most members of Congress want to avoid those potential cuts, however, and are working toward enacting final FY 24 bills.

Continuing resolutions and government shutdowns cause uncertainty in government funding that negatively impacts HUD programs. Visit NAHRO’s Action Alert Center to urge your members of Congress to quickly pass final FY24 spending bills with adequate funding for affordable housing and community development.