When Congress returns from the August recess, it will have 11 legislative days prior to the end of Fiscal Year 2023 with which to pass the 12 appropriations bills to fund the new fiscal year. Given the unlikelihood of that scenario, it was not surprising to learn leaders in both the House and Senate are working toward a continuing resolution (CR), potentially through December 2023, to give them more time to pass FY24 funding bills.

“A CR until early December provides time for consideration of these bipartisan bills. We urge our House colleagues to emulate the Senate,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “The only way we're going to avoid a government shutdown is by bipartisan support in both Houses.” At present, the full Senate has not passed any appropriations measures, while the House has passed one – funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

If Congress is unable to reach a deal on all appropriations bills by January 1, 2024, all agencies would automatically receive a 1 percent across-the-board cut, thanks to a provision included in the debt ceiling deal earlier this summer.

FMA is watching the appropriations process closely, as it has serious impacts on General Schedule pay. As we reported last month, the House and Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government funding bills have stayed silent on the subject of federal employee pay, effectively endorsing the 5.2 percent pay raise for 2024 as proposed by President Biden. While there are several potential hurdles that could still block the proposed raise, which would be the largest boost since 1980’s 9 percent, there is still optimism for the 5.2 percent raise in 2024 in the final package. Contemporaneously, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2024 includes a 5.2 percent boost in pay for the uniformed miliary and Department of Defense employees, further evidence pointing toward that figure for feds at other agencies.