President Obama Signs Continuing Resolution for FY 2017

On Sept. 29, 2016, President Obama signed into law H.R.5325 – Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act. This legislation, referred to as the short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, will keep the government agencies and programs funded through Dec. 9. The resolution will require lawmakers to return to Washington after the November elections to pass full-year appropriations for 11 of 12 of the normal appropriations bills.

The measure also includes $1.1 billion to respond to the Zika virus outbreak, $500 million for flood relief in Louisiana and other states, and full-year FY 2017 appropriations for military construction and veterans’ programs. The CR also includes an across-the-board reduction in “rate for operations” for agencies of 0.496 percent.

The CR for FY 2017 keeps funding and allocation for the housing programs administered by Rural Development (RD) and HUD at the same level as in FY 2016.