After years of absorbing cuts or flat spending levels, most federal agencies will soon face a novel dilemma: spending a massive influx of money with only a few months to get it out the door.
A recent agreement struck by congressional leadership and signed into law by President Trump boosted non-defense discretionary spending for agencies by $63 billion in fiscal 2018. The measure also included a continuing resolution through March 23 to buy lawmakers time to write line-by-line appropriations, meaning a forthcoming omnibus bill will give agencies only about six months to spend the new funding before it expires Oct. 1. Such a tight timeline could prove problematic for agencies and put pressure on many areas of their operations, according to former federal budgeters.
“This will tax grant making, contract professionals, hiring professionals,” said Robert Shea, a former associate director for administration and government performance at the Office of Management and Budget in the George W. Bush administration. “This is going to tax every facet of the agencies just to make sure they’re spending wisely.”
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In the PB 2018 request, the Trump administration asked for a total of $125.2 billion in procurement funds, with $115 billion in the base discretionary budget and an additional $10.2 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). This is $9.04 billion (or 7.8 percent) more than anticipated for FY 2018 in the PB 2017 request.
On Sept. 6, 2017, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he supported a Democratic plan to keep government open through a continuing resolution that would expire Dec. 15. He said he also supports a plan to attach a three-month increase in the debt limit to Hurricane Harvey relief. The comments came after the president met with congressional leaders Wednesday morning.
