Congress Passes Continuing Resolution Through December 9

On September 28 — just two days before the government would be forced to shut down for lack of funding — Congress approved a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through December 9. The CR will fund all federal agencies at Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 levels with a 0.5 percent reduction to stay within the spending limits imposed by the budget agreement Congress reached last year, which applied to FY 2016 and FY 2017 spending. The CR passed in the Senate by a vote of 72 to 26 and in the House by a vote of 342 to 85.

In addition to funding at FY 2016 levels for HUD programs, the CR includes $500 million of Community Development Block Grant funds for disaster flood relief in Louisiana and other states. It also includes a provision allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay ongoing debt service for rental assistance contracts under the Section 514 and Section 516 multifamily direct loan programs.

Congress now has until December 9 to either pass an omnibus or a series of “minibus” bills funding federal programs for FY 2017 or another longer-term CR at FY 2016 levels. For more information, please contact NCSHA.