September 3, 2024

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is reportedly preparing to bring a continuing resolution (CR) to the floor next week to keep the government funded past the end of the current fiscal year on September 30. Under discussion now is a CR that would extend current funding until March 2025 and attach to it the “SAVE Act” to require proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote in a federal election. While such a proposal would be dead on arrival in the Senate, offering the CR early gives ample time for negotiators to hammer out a deal to avoid a government shutdown on October 1.

Relatedly, the White House transmitted its “wish list” of spending items and add-ons to be attached to the CR. The requested list of “anomalies” includes, among others: (1) language to amend the definition of grant recipients eligible for funding in the Airport Infrastructure Grants (AIG) program. The White House notes that the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2024 expanded the definition of primary airports in title 49 to include airports in use by an air reserve station, but did not otherwise amend the primary airports eligible for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) AIG program funding. Without the anomaly, which would clarify the definition of primary airports in the AIG program, the White House stated that some airports may not be eligible for BIL funding; (2) $1 billion for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to support refugees from Cuba, Haiti, and Ukraine, without which “ORR would not have sufficient resources to support states, communities, and new arrivals in facilitating successful resettlement and achieving economic self-sufficiency”; (3) language to address the unobligated construction account balances remaining from the BIL, without which the Corps of Engineers would only be able to use these balances in FY 2025 only for projects that were designated in the FY 2024 spending bill; (4) language to extend a provision in the FY 2024 MilCon-VA spending bill to ensure funding is available for military construction projects that first received appropriations in FY 2020 but were deferred; and (5) language to authorize the Treasury Department to obligate funding in the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) account at a rate for operations necessary to maintain operations of the Beneficial Ownership program during the CR period, without which FinCEN “would be unable to provide support to roughly 42.6 million small businesses that are required to report Beneficial Ownership information by January 1, 2025."

In a separate document, the White House requested a series of authorization extensions be included in the CR if separate authorization legislation is not passed in the meantime. This includes an extension of the E-Verify Program, “Raising the H-2B Cap,” the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program which expired in July 2023, and the National Flood Insurance Program.

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