House-Senate Impasse Putting FY 2012 Funding at Risk; OMB Warns of Government Shutdown

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) announced on Dec. 13 that the House and Senate have come to agreement on a roughly $900 billion FY 2012 spending plan.  However, numerous disputes between House and Senate leaders have put the deal on hold and a government shutdown is now looming.  The current continuing resolution is set to expire at midnight on Dec. 16.  AGC has advocated for this measure to come together to ensure the vast majority of the federal construction programs are well funded for the next fiscal year, as this legislation includes the remaining nine appropriations for FY 2012. The reported outline of the deal is $915 billion, with an extra $115 billion in war funding for the Department of Defense and $11 billion in war funding for the Department of State. The deal is under the agreed-to spending rate of $1.043 trillion per the Budget Control Act of 2011. The Conferees report that they also provided funding at levels “proportionate to the effectiveness of the program, the quality of the service and the importance to the taxpayer.”  Congress previously approved the Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science, and Transportation/Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bills – also known as the “Mini-bus” – in November before the Thanksgiving holiday. If there is a shutdown, those agencies would continue operating as they have their full funding for FY 2012. In preparation for a possible government shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to begin shutdown preparations on Dec. 14. No agencies have posted new information at press time. However, AGC was able to successfully obtain shutdown information from the federal agencies last April and posted that information on the AGC Federal Government Shutdown Resource Center.  Much of this information is still relevant for contractors should there be a shutdown and AGC encourages its members to check back on the center for updates. AGC is closely monitoring the situation to determine what the final outcome of this deal means for the federal construction programs and will continue to keep members informed on the final numbers. For a detailed summary of the agreement, please click here. For more information, please contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.