Today marks the beginning of the 2011 fiscal year. Neither the House nor Senate passed into law any of the twelve FY 2011 appropriations bills prior the end of FY 2010, so this week each arm of Congress passed into law a continuing resolution (CR), a “stop-gap” measure to allow the federal government to operate by continuing funding at the enacted FY 2010 levels despite the passage of a FY 2011 Appropriations bill. The President will sign the CR, set to expire on December 3rd, into law today.
Notably, the CR does NOT include funding for programs appropriated and expanded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) which was not part of FY 2010 appropriations. As such, Head Start & Early Head Start expansion funds are excluded from the CR.
Congress will reconsider FY 2011 appropriations after the November election recess. At that time, they can either pass a FY 2011 appropriations bill prior to the CR’s expiration on December 3rd, extend the current CR through a later date, or table the bill until the new Congress convenes in January by passing a second short-term CR.
