Congress Continues to Kick Appropriations Can.

• Author: Carberry, Sean
• Position: BUDGET MATTERS

As the saying goes, the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Well, another certainty is Oct.1. The day occurs the same time every year, predictably after Sept. 30 and before Oct. 2.

Despite this temporal reality, Congress consistently fails to complete one of its most important duties: pass the 12 annual appropriations bills before the beginning of each fiscal year on Oct. 1.

Yet again, the federal government will ring in the fiscal new year under a continuing resolution--the device Congress uses to paper over its persistent failure to appropriate. And it likely means starting 2023 with 2022 funding levels--no inflation adjustment and no money for new programs, or "new starts."

According to the Government Accountability Office, Congress has issued continuing resolutions in 43 of the last 46 fiscal years. During that time, there have been 21 funding lapses and 10 shutdowns implemented. To call that dismal performance would imply there has been performance.

The GAO's June 2022 report, "Selected Agencies and Programs Used Strategies to Manage Constraints of Continuing Resolutions," noted that federal agencies have developed coping mechanisms after years of practice with continuing resolutions.

However, the report states that these funding mechanisms cause a range of harm: delaying hiring new staff, freezing the issuance of new contracts and grants, forcing rapid execution of funding after long continuing resolutions and making agencies waste time figuring out how to prepare for and operate during them rather than carrying out their regular missions.

And while Congress dithers on appropriations, adversaries continue funding and building their military capabilities.

Both the House and the Senate acknowledged the pacing threat from China when they authorized a big boost in defense spending for 2023. The House passed its version of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act in July and increased the Biden administration's defense funding request by $37 billion. The Senate version added $45 billion.

Participants in a legislative and budget discussion at the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium in August said that Congress might pass the final 2023 NDAA during its lame duck session. However, it will probably be at least February 2023 before the new Congress passes a defense appropriations bill, they said at the event organized by the Michigan chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association.

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