WASHINGTON — While the government will not be shutting down for the holidays as some feared, some members of the military said the short-term funding bill signed Thursday by President Joe Biden still creates uncertainty and hinders the military’s ability to prepare for missions.
“The continuing resolution just kind of kicks the can a little further down the road for us. We’re still always worried about, you know, in two months, am I going to come to work? Am I going to get the parts that I need at work?” said Brandon Cejka, a helicopter crew chief for the Oklahoma Army National Guard.
“It’s always just being pushed a little further down the road, and you’re never getting a definite answer,” he said.
The continuing resolution, which passed by an 87-11 vote in the Senate Wednesday, finances agencies at the same levels as the previous year, buying Congress more time to pass a new federal budget. This time, however, the bill uses a “laddered approach,” which staggers expiration dates for the funding.
Under the bill, funds for military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development departments would expire Jan. 19. Funds for the State, Defense, Commerce, Labor, and Health and Human Services departments, among others, will expire two weeks later on Feb. 2.
But while the military is funded for the time being, the budget doesn’t account for price increases due to…
