Earlier today, the House and Senate voted in favor of a short-term continuing resolution (CR) funding the government until next Friday, May 5. The decision to pass a short-term extension is likely a good sign that Congress is closer to a bipartisan agreement on an omnibus bill. If Congress is able to pass a full funding measure, it is likely to include funding for MCSAP at the full 2017 FAST Act level.
Because of the short nature of the CR and in order to assure passage and prevent members from offering controversial policy provisions, Congressional leaders kept the CR clean of any changes, no matter how small or practical. This means that the MCSAP funding anomaly was not included. However, the week-long CR is intended to be a stopgap measure giving lawmakers more time to complete an omnibus funding bill. If a full bill is not possible and Congress passes a long-term CR through the end of the fiscal year, we remain confident that the MCSAP issue will be addressed.