House Passes Three Week Funding Bill

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed - by a vote of 271-158 - a three week continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the federal government through April 8.  The vote on the latest CR was much closer than the three previous with the number of no votes increasing by 67 (48 Republicans 19 Democrats). The CR now awaits action in the Senate where it is expected to be voted on and pass by this Friday when the current CR expires.  The new CR contains $6 billion in cuts, which is consistent with House Republicans’ pledge to cut $2 billion in spending per week from FY 2010 levels, bringing the total of discretionary spending cuts from the FY 2011 budget to $10 billion.  The majority of these cuts come from the elimination of dollars earmarked in FY 2010 and the reduction or elimination of programs that President Obama requested to eliminate.  The impact of these cuts on federal construction accounts has been minimal. This CR is likely to be the last non-controversial extension of federal funding.  Conservatives in both the House and Senate are starting to become more vocal in their opposition to these short-term CRs.  This poses a potential problem due to the fact that Republicans and Democrats remain about $50 billion apart in how much spending they would like to cut for the remainder of FY 2011 and do not appear to be close on a deal to address that difference.  If a deal is not struck and opposition to another short-term CR strengthens, it leaves the door open to a possible government shutdown on April 9. AGC will continue to advocate that now is not the time to make severe cuts to construction spending. For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at (202) 547-8892 or oneills@agc.org.