Congress and administration come to short-term funding agreement

After several tense days of negotiations, Congress and the administration came to an agreement on a short-term funding deal for fiscal year 2021 (FY21). The continuing resolution (CR) will hold government funding steady until December 11. The lame duck Congress will have to make the final funding decisions or punt until the new Congress has been seated. Our prediction is a CR until March 2021.

While the House Appropriations Committee moved at a breakneck pace this summer, moving all twelve funding bills, the Senate Appropriations Committee does not plan to release any spending bills until after the election. The House gave most research funding programs modest increases (see the Funding Chart for full details), but with a pandemic and an election looming between now and the December 11 deadline, the future of these increases is murky at best.