Congress Passes Full Year Continuing Resolution

Congress Passes Full Year Continuing Resolution  

Facing a March 14th decision deadline, Congress opted to pass a full year Continuing Resolution to fund the government for FY 2025 largely at last year’s levels. The measure provides federal agencies with budgetary certainty through September 30th, the remainder of the current federal fiscal year, but may complicate agency operations and limit their ability to initiate new activities.   

While Congress usually passes a ‘clean’ CR to extend current funding levels on a temporary basis, this full-year package also included several additional provisions that increase or decrease funding for various programs compared to FY2024 levels. These exceptions, known as anomalies in the CR, included cuts to the Department of Defense’s Research, Technology, Development and Evaluation (RDT&E) and Defense Medical Research accounts, as well as recission of all Congressionally directed spending intended for 2024. Overall non-defense research cuts are estimated to average 3.7% compared to final FY2024 funding. The bill also rescinded funding from the IRS, while boosting funding for certain defense, security, veterans’ affairs, and air traffic activities.  

To learn more, read the House Appropriations Committee summary and section by section analysis of the CR, visit: https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-passes-hr-1968-full-year-continuing-appropriations-and-extensions-act