Issue Brief 13-36
December 4, 2013
Summary 

With the end of the calendar year fast approaching, Congress has a number of budget issues and program expirations on its plate. Specifically, Congress has yet to finalize the fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget, and questions remain as to whether the congressional budget conference committee can reach an agreement to establish overall FY 2014 discretionary funding levels by the mid-December deadline. Apart from the FY 2014 budget, Congress has allowed some programs to lapse and several others are operating under short-term extensions until the end of the calendar year or when the current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on January 15, 2014. To receive funding, these programs will require further congressional action.

The House and Senate are scheduled to be in session for only two weeks before adjourning for the year. The House is currently in session and expects to adjourn by December 13. The Senate is in recess until next week and has a tentative departure date of December 20. Given the limited schedule, the timeframe for resolving these pending issues remains unclear. This Issue Brief identifies expired or expiring programs and highlights important deadlines for those programs as well as the FY 2014 budget. The table below summarizes the key deadlines.