Fiscal 2014 Federal Budget Delayed

Amid harsh, partisan disagreements with Congress over federal spending, the nation’s debt ceiling, and other pressing fiscal issues, the White House last week announced a delay in the rollout of its proposed 2014 federal budget.

By law, the President’s budget proposal is due in the first week of February. But the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB), in a letter to the House of Representatives Budget Committee earlier this month, indicated that the budget would be delayed on account of the fiscal uncertainty.

The delay isn’t a surprise for R&D budget watchers. “It’s been clear for a while that OMB was going to miss its deadline,” says Matthew Hourihan, director of the R&D Budget & Policy Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Some of the fiscal issues have been settled. A New Year’s deal between Congress and the White House halted automatic tax increases for most people, for example. But a host of other problems still hang over the economy.

The U.S. will likely reach its debt ceiling in mid-February, requiring action by Congress for the country to avoid defaulting on its loans. Next, across-the-board federal budget cuts, called sequestration, are scheduled to go into effect on March 1 unless Congress acts to delay them. And Congress has yet to finalize a budget for the current fiscal year.

The uncertainty, specifically the sequestration issue, has forced OMB to warn federal agencies to prepare to “operate with reduced budgetary resources.” OMB says agencies should look for ways to cut costs, including hiring freezes, furloughs, and early retirement packages for federal employees as well as cost savings in grants and contracts.