The federal government reopened Tuesday following a three-day shutdown, after Senate Democrats largely dropped their opposition to a stopgap budget bill to keep agencies open through Feb. 8.
President Donald Trump signed the bill late Monday evening after it quickly passed through both chambers of Congress. The measure funds the Department of Energy (DOE) at fiscal 2017 levels, but allows the agency’s Inspector General’s Office to exceed prior-year spending to maintain its current headcount.
Under the stopgap, the fourth of the 2018 fiscal year that began Oct. 1, DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) again received the annualized equivalent of $13 billion. The Trump administration requested $14 billion for the agency in fiscal 2018, and Congress appeared willing to grant the request before budget negotiations broke down this summer and forced legislators to use bridge funding bills known as continuing resolutions to keep the government operating.
Last year, the government ran on stopgap budget bills until early May: more than half of the fiscal year. Continuing resolutions are potentially disruptive for agencies because they freeze all spending levels, even those due for long-projected increases for scheduled construction or operations ramp-ups. Agencies also may not start new projects under a continuing resolution.
The Energy Department did not clarify whether it had instructed any civil servants or contractors not to report to work Monday because of the shutdown. An agency spokesperson in Washington told Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor the agency had been “open for business,” despite the shutdown.
Senate Democrats forced a government shutdown last week after Republicans refused to allow any vote on legal protection for young people brought into the country illegally. Most of those same Democrats on Monday voted to reopen the government after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised a vote on that very issue before the current spending measure runs out.
