A tentative deal for a six-month continuing resolution would, if approved, avert the threat of a government shutdown until March — but it also would set back plans for new and expanded programs/.../
CRs consign agencies to an all-too-familiar budget limbo. Under a CR, new programs are generally taboo; hiring and procurement are restricted; and agencies may even be stuck with funding programs at levels they think are unnecessarily high.
“It’s inefficient,” said Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a defense policy think tank. While Congress routinely relies on continuing resolutions to buy time for passage of full-year appropriations legislation, a six-month CR is unusual. And because lawmakers typically operate from “crisis to crisis,” Harrison said, it’s unlikely they will pass any of the dozen annual spending bills needed to fund government operations before March.