On January 25, President Donald Trump signed a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) into law ending the partial government shutdown. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved by voice vote a CR which will expire February 15. The CR ended the longest government shutdown in our country's history, lasting 35 days.

Since December 21, the Department of the Treasury, Department of Agriculture, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, Department of State, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce and Department of Justice had been under shutdown procedures with workers either being furloughed or required to work without pay. More than 800,000 federal employees did not receive their first two paychecks of the year. Following the shutdown, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history cost our country more than $11 billion.

FMA was relieved the shutdown finally came to an end after Congress and the administration finally agreed to put the welfare of federal employees before partisan politics. Please review our press release from FMA's National President, Renee Johnson.

Congress and the administration have until February 15 to reach an agreement on funding or else another partial government shutdown will begin. The primary obstacle for passing a spending bill stems from the administration and Congress being unable to reach a deal on border security and immigration. There are other factors, such as disaster aid for Puerto Rico, that need to be addressed as well. As a non-partisan organization, FMA maintains a position that we should never play politics at the expense of millions of hardworking federal employees, especially when it severely hampers both our national security and economy. FMA has strongly cautioned Congress against its overreliance on short-term continuing resolutions to fund the government, and shutdowns have all too frequently become the end result.

Please check out FMA’s Government Shutdown Hub for all the latest news regarding last month’s shutdown and the developing negotiations ahead of the February 15 deadline.