discretionary spending | The Contracting Education Academy

August 13, 2020 By cs

Annual government spending approaches historic territory

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the federal government into emergency spending mode, agencies — including the Defense Department — were on pace to blow past the single-year contract spending record of $598 billion set in fiscal 2019.

As of Aug. 5, the federal government has obligated $438 billion in spending, with agencies expected to unload almost $200 billion more before the close of the 2020 fiscal year on Sept. 30, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis. The government typically spends about one-third of all money appropriated by Congress in its fourth quarter — July, August and September — since most money unspent is returned to the Treasury.

“We’ve been saying at the end of fiscal 2020, total government spending is likely to be around $630 billion,” Daniel Synder, director of government contracts analysis at Bloomberg Government, told Nextgov. “That was before we factored anything related to the CARES Act or COVID-19 spending.”

Synder said the $2 trillion stimulus package passed in March could add another $10 billion to $20 billion to the government’s total discretionary spending in fiscal 2020 — much of it on networking capacity, bandwidth and telework services — which would put the government’s total discretionary spending to $650 billion or more.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/08/annual-government-spending-approaches-historic-territory/167474/

October 28, 2019 By cs

Congress mulls spring continuing resolution to avoid government shutdown

With impeachment proceedings looming and budget talks stalling, Congress will likely need a stopgap spending measure for February or March, the Senate’s top appropriator said last Thursday.

A continuing resolution, or CR, would avoid a government shutdown when the last funding patch expires Nov. 21, just before Congress takes its Thanksgiving recess.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said that if the House passes a resolution to impeach President Donald Trump, it will indefinitely dominate the the Senate’s business, forestalling budget talks.

“It takes a lot of oxygen out of the air, and some business is transacted, but it will slow everything down,” Shelby told reporters, adding that a continuing resolution could be needed into February or March.

The Senate last week voted to advance the a package of fiscal 2020 domestic spending bills passed by the House, which would include nearly one-third of all nondefense discretionary spending. The Senate is set to resume consideration of the package today.

That package excludes Department of Defense appropriations, which has been snagged in a fight over border wall funding. Democrats are likely to withhold support for defense spending until a larger spending deal is reached.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2019/10/25/congress-mulls-spring-cr-to-avoid-government-shutdown/

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the federal government into emergency spending mode, agencies — including the Defense Department — were on pace to blow past the single-year contract spending record of $598 billion set in fiscal 2019.

With impeachment proceedings looming and budget talks stalling, Congress will likely need a stopgap spending measure for February or March, the Senate’s top appropriator said last Thursday.

Search this Website