Stopgap keeps federal government running

On Sept. 19, President Barack Obama signed a $1 trillion stopgap spending measure that averts a federal government shutdown that would have negatively impacted the operations of many state agencies and local government programs.

Congress passed the measure in the form of a continuing resolution before recessing until after the November elections. Without congressional action, the federal government would have run out of spending capacity on Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year.

The $1 trillion measure will allow the federal government to continue normal operations until Dec. 11, by which time a longer-term spending bill is expected. The continuing resolution was passed only after the attachment of unrelated language authorizing military training assistance in Syria.

Several federal programs received funding increases in the measure, while the majority of agencies were level-funded.

Last year, Congress was unable to pass a budget or a continuing resolution by Oct. 1, resulting in a 16-day federal government shutdown. During that time, all non-essential federal employees were furloughed and most government business ground to a halt.

Last year’s shutdown had an estimated cost to the national economy of $24 billion. In Massachusetts, all 19 national parks were shut down, the development of 1,500 units of affordable housing was delayed, and the capacity of programs such as low-income home energy assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and unemployment insurance were threatened.

Congress subsequently set a two-year spending cap and began work on allocating funds among the 12 individual bills that together make up the omnibus budget, but negotiations ultimately failed and the omnibus budget was not enacted.

The federal government has operated without an annual budget since 2010 due to disagreements between the House and the Senate. It has instead been funded by a series of short-term spending resolutions.