Shutdown Showdown (Again)
“CR?”
That abbreviated question is common on Capitol Hill each fall, when the government is about to run out of money and there’s no new budget in sight.
The initials stand for Continuing Resolution, a.k.a. Kicking the Can Down the Road. In other words, we’ll continue spending the same amounts until we can agree on a new budget. Since September 30 is always the deadline, a CR always happens just before then, and then often afterwards as well.
November 17—two weeks from now—is the next deadline, and once again a government shutdown looms. The last CR resulted in former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) losing his job, which now belongs to the relatively new and unknown Mike Johnson (R-LA). So far, things are not looking very promising, so a potential shutdown looms as a real possibility. In order to avoid that, the House, Senate, and White House all have to agree on a new CR which would simply maintain the status quo. Not likely.
As mentioned in prior editions of this newsletter, if you need label approvals get them into TTB now or it could be months of delay. In addition, a shutdown would halt virtually all government services and activities, and legislation which we support would be stalled. Government inaction.
