It was just March 2 when Congress passed a short-term spending measure to keep the federal government from shutting down.
But that bill provided funding to keep government operating for only a couple of weeks. So this week, Congress was back where it started: Democrats and Republicans were trying to reach agreement on what to fund and what not to fund in the federal budget for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Once again, they could not agree. So once again, the House and Senate passed a stop-gap measure to keep federal agencies functioning at full capacity – but only for three weeks more.
That means sometime before April 8, members of Congress will have to try yet again to fund the operations of government for the rest of the current budget year – while also reining in wasteful spending.
There were a few cuts in the latest stop-gap spending bill. They come to $6 billion – which sounds like a lot until you consider the fact that this year alone, our government will run up a more than $1.5 trillion deficit.