Category: Congress

Short-term funding delays Army investments, stalls key space programs

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While the broader debate over government spending has been postponed until after the presidential election, defense officials are detailing the consequences of another short-term funding plan on military readiness, training, contracting and modernization efforts. President Joe Biden signed a three-month government funding bill on Thursday, averting a government shutdown at least till December. DoD officials frequently sound the alarm over operating under a continuing resolution — Congress’ inability to pass appropriations on time is hardly new. The 2024 appropriations legislation, for instance, was passed six months into the fiscal year.…

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Congress has a 3-month CR, but it’s not all good news for contractors

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Now that the three-month continuing resolution looks like what we’re going to get, contractors wonder whether that’s good news or bad news. Relative to a lapse in appropriations, it’s probably good news, but delayed regular appropriations still have consequences. Federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss more. Interview transcript:  Tom Temin Now that the three month continuing resolution looks like what we’re going to get, contractors wonder whether that’s good news or bad news. Relative to a lapse in appropriations, it’s…

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House lawmakers advance bills on acquisition security, IT procurement

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House lawmakers have advanced a raft of bills aimed at bolstering supply chain security efforts, streamlining technology purchases and increasing cross-agency sharing of software code. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday advanced 13 bills to the full House floor. Among them was the unanimously passed “Federal Acquisition Security Council Improvement Act,” which would bolster the council’s ability to ban products from federal supply chains. The council was created as part of the SECURE Technology Act of 2018. It currently has the authority to issue recommendations for removing or…

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The ticking sound you hear is the final days of the fiscal year

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Indecision mixed with turmoil and partisan politics. That’s the familiar brew on Capitol Hill this week. With precisely two weeks until the fiscal year ends, there’s no clear path to any budget deal at the moment. So it’s a busy week as we heard from Bloomberg Government deputy news director Loren Duggan on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Interview transcript: Loren Duggan Here we are. Every September, we have to do this dance where we figure out if the government will stay funded going into the new fiscal year.…

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Social Security Administration urging budget anomaly to avoid ‘devastating’ impacts

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The Social Security Administration is ringing alarm bells over what would be “devastating” impacts of flat agency funding, as Congress looks to hammer out a continuing resolution by the end of the month and avoid a government shutdown. During a hearing Wednesday, SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley urged lawmakers on the Senate Budget Committee to include the White House’s full fiscal 2025 budget request of $ 15.4 billion for SSA operations as a budget anomaly in the case of a stopgap spending agreement. Currently, SSA is operating under a budget of…

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House Republicans lead $3B VA supplement to fix year-end budget shortfall

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House Republicans are leading a supplemental funding bill to address a multi-billion-dollar budget crunch at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Leaders of the House Appropriations and House VA committees introduced a bill Friday that would give the VA $ 3 billion to ensure the department can keep paying benefits to veterans for the rest of the fiscal year. The Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act would ensure the VA has enough funding to keep paying veterans’ compensation, pension and readjustment benefits for the rest of fiscal 2024. The…

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