Archive for April, 2011
A Few Thoughts on the CR
This week Congress will vote on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government for the remainder of the current fiscal year. I’ve been looking at the proposal and noticed a few things that might be of interest to grants professionals.
First, while the theme of transparency and accountability grow, Congress is planning to slash funding for electronic government initiatives by about 75 percent. This would impact sites such as USAspending.gov where the public has access to information about federal aid recipients. With only $8 million to spend on e-gov, federal officials would have to make some tough choices about which transparency sites to maintain and which ones to shut down or scale back.
The second interesting tidbit is that the funding proposal would implement an across-the-board cut for all non-defense programs, but agencies would still have discretion over the funding levels for many of their individual programs.
Finally, one of the federal government’s innovation efforts is being de-funded. The Partnership Fund for Program Integrity Innovation would be zeroed out, with only enough funding to cover the projects OMB already committed to. This initiative, originally funded $34 million, was intended to support innovative programs that promoted efficiency and cooperation among federal agencies and states, local governments , and nonprofit organizations.
So, those are my first thoughts on this massive spending package for FY 11. Anyone else have comments they would like to share?
OMB Shutdown Guidance
Just about an hour ago, OMB issued guidance to agencies about how to prepare for a federal government shutdown. I haven’t had a chance to read through the whole thing yet, but I thought it important to let everyone know as soon as possible.
The memo is available here.
I’ll pass along any other information I come across as soon as possible.