HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The end of the federal fiscal year is September 30, and both Congressman Tracey Mann and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran spoke to Hutch Post on the subject while they were at the Kansas State Fair over the weekend.
"We go back to Washington on Tuesday," Mann said. "First priority will be the fiscal year. There's talk about it being a continuing resolution for a couple of months. We'll see what happens once we get into it."
Moran agreed with Mann's assessment that current levels of spending will be held for a couple of months, but said a lot of the groundwork for the overall budget has been laid.
"We've already done the budget and appropriation process for last year, although we did it this year, earlier this year," Moran said. "Now, we're going to see if we can get this year's done by the end of the year, in between now and December 31st. I think you're going to see a continuing resolution until we can get our work done. I would expect that to pass sometime on or about September 30. I'm opposed to a government shutdown. We need to make certain that we get that work done."
For both Moran and Mann, it's waiting on leadership to figure out the big picture before they can drill down into the details.
"Our job is really dependent upon the leaders of Congress reaching a top line number about how much money is going to be spent," Moran said. "Of course, there are differences. Democrats generally want to spend a lot more money. Republicans are interested in spending more money, but only on defense and national security. Those two things have to be resolved so we can fill in the spaces. In the meantime, we've worked those 12 appropriation bills to be in a place in which we're ready to pick them up, once we get that total amount."
The White House put out a 50-page memo earlier this month on what it believes is necessary in a continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown. The estimate on that approximately three month stopgap alone is $47 billion.