Congress Averts Partial Government Shutdown
To buy time to get a long-term budget deal, Congress passed a short-term continuing resolution that will keep the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and about 20% of the rest of the government funded an additional week through March 8. In addition, lawmakers agreed to extend funding for about 80% of the rest of the government — which also includes funding for the National Flood Insurance Program — for an extra two weeks through March 22. Absent government action, funding for HUD would have expired at 12:01 a.m. on March 2.
House and Senate leaders have decided on a topline budget for fiscal year 2024 — $1.7 trillion in discretionary spending. The hard work is deciding how to allocate this total figure among the 12 individual spending bills that provide the full-year budget for the federal government.