March 19, 2018

By Jamie Naughton, Associate Director of Survivor Issues, MOAA Government Relations

Congress is poised to vote this week on a $1.3 trillion spending package. The deal would fund the government through Sept. 30, 2018, the end of the fiscal year. Current funding runs out March 23.

Until now, the government has operated under a series of continuing resolutions. Absent a spending deal, the government will shut down for the third time this year.

Congress has wrestled with what to do about defense funding since passing a $700 billion defense bill in December. However, that bill exceeded previously agreed upon budget caps by almost $150 billion.

Since then, lawmakers have struggled with finding an agreement on how to lift defense and non-defense spending. Congress has spent the first half of the fiscal year passing five short-term funding measures while they've tried to find a solution.

DoD needs the budget flexibility to properly spend the money it has on its national security objectives.

While Congress has worked on a compromise, DoD has been forced to operate at 2017 funding levels. An agreement last month helped remove a major stumbling block as Congress agreed to partially lift DoD's budget caps for 2018 and 2019.

Whatever Congress agrees to, DoD will have little time to spend the money it's been authorized. Earlier this month, a bipartisan group of senators urged appropriators to exempt DoD from statutory limits on spending appropriated money before the end of the fiscal year.