On March 6, the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government at current spending levels through the end of the fiscal year. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the CR would avert a government shutdown set to occur on March 27.
The $984 billion bill (H.R. 933) would institute an across-the-board rescission of 0.1 percent to all federal programs, projects, and activities. This would result in a lower budgetary baseline in FY2013 than the previous year.
Specifically, the CR would slice $9.46 million from the FAA’s operations budget, and $15 million from the agency’s overall budget in addition to the $630 million sequestration cut. The Transportation Security Agency’s (TSA) aviation security budget would lose more than $200 million due to the rescission in addition to specific adjustments made in the law. Combined with sequestration, the aviation security account would be slashed by more than 9 percent.
The Senate is working on an alternative version of the bill, where many details regarding possible cuts are still unknown. Stay tuned to ARSA for updates as the story progresses.
