Government Funded Until December 16th

Last week the House and Senate approved a continuing resolution to keep the government funded until December 16. The legislation, which also included fiscal 2012 appropriations bills for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, is expected to be signed by President Obama.

Once signed by the President, three of the regular nine appropriations bills will be enacted for fiscal 2012 which began October 1. But the other appropriations bills – including funding for the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) remain unfinished, and appropriators in both chambers expect to roll the remaining nine bills into one large omnibus spending package that moves in December.

The effort will be difficult given the lack of consensus, especially on the Labor-Health and Human Services and Education bill which funds the USDOL’s workforce programs and is the largest domestic discretionary spending bill. In particular, there are sharp differences between the House and Senate on funding levels for workforce programs described below.

Difference Between House and Senate on Workforce Programs:

While the Senate appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of Labor would fund the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) formula programs at fiscal 2011 levels, the House Committee on Appropriations released a draft bill that would make significant cuts to WIA Adult, Youth and Dislocated Workers programs.

Under the House draft bill, funding for WIA formula programs effectively ends December 31, 2012 and at sharply reduced levels. Given the precarious nature of the appropriations process, this would create considerable uncertainty for states near the end of calendar year 2012 on whether the WIA formula programs will be funded.