{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr719-114/featured_continuing-appropriations-act-2016-1454547317.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr719-114/featured_large_continuing-appropriations-act-2016-1454547317.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr719-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-02-04","title_override":"A Clean Bill to Keep the Government Open Through December 2015","summary_override":"

This resolution would fund the federal government through December 11, 2015. If Congress fails to authorize spending for fiscal year 2016 by the September 30, 2015 deadline, the federal government will enter a partial shutdown beginning on October 1, 2015.

This bill, originally the TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2015, has been changed through the Senate amendment process to serve as the \"legislative vehicle\" for FY2016 Continuing Appropriations.

Looming deadline situations like these often lead Congress to pass a continuing resolution, essentially keeping the government running at the same funding levels from the previous year.

Funding for the federal government would be capped to comply with the spending limits imposed by the Budget Control Act (a.k.a. the sequester) for fiscal year 2016 — a cool $1.017 trillion. Of this, $74.75 billion would be available for Overseas Contingency Operations (like military deployments). $700 million in emergency funding would also be set aside for wildfire suppression to help the western U.S.

Several expiring authorizations would be extended for the duration of the continuing resolution, including:

The Internet Tax Freedom Act: preventing the taxation of internet access by all levels of government;
E-Verify: a program used to verify whether workers are legally authorized to work in the U.S.;
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): authorized for a total of six months — about four months longer than the continuing resolution.

There are other unique circumstances that this continuing resolution addresses related to programs that would have lapsed in the absence of funding, including:

Support for veterans’ disability claims processors to maintain the processing level necessary to address the backlog of claims;
Keeping up with the launch schedule for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS);
Paying ongoing rental assistance contracts through rural housing programs;
Accommodating increased demand for 7(a) small business loans.

Read a section by section analysis of the continuing resolution from the Senate Committee on Appropriations here.

","official_title":"To require the Transportation Security Administration to conform to existing Federal law and regulations regarding criminal investigator positions, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Continuing Appropriations Act, 2016","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"(This measure has not been amended since the Senate agreed to the House amendment with an amendment on September 30, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)\n\nHighlights:\n\nThis bill provides continuing FY2016 appropriations to federal agencies until December 11, 2015, or the enactment of specified appropriations legislation. It is known as a continuing resolution (CR) and prevents a government shutdown that would otherwise occur when FY2016 begins on October 1, 2015, because none of the twelve FY2016 regular appropriations bills that fund the federal government have been enacted.\n\nThe bill funds most projects and activities at the FY2015 levels, with the inclusion of an across-the-board reduction of less than 1% to most programs. The bill also includes a number of exceptions which provide funding flexibility and additional appropriations to various programs.\n\nThe bill extends several programs and laws that are scheduled to expire at the end of FY2015, including the E-Verify ...","summarized":true,"cost":1016582000,"cost_commentary":"This bill would authorize spending levels from FY 2015 — with the addition of a $700 million addition for wildfire suppression. 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A Clean Bill to Keep the Government Open Through December 2015