U.S. Congress Averts Government Shutdown

At the very last minute, the U.S. House and Senate approved a continuing resolution to avert a federal government shutdown and provide short-term funding for agencies. President Joe Biden signed the legislation just before midnight on Saturday, September 30. The government would have shut down nonessential services on Sunday, October 1 if Congress had not acted.

The fiscal year 2024 funding crisis is far from over, however, since the bill only provides money into November. Congress will need to approve another continuing resolution or a full year deal in order to avoid a shutdown at that point.

Last week, Connecting the Dots discussed the broad impact a government shutdown would have on the U.S. economy. The law firm Venable, LLP added to that analysis by examining how a shutdown would affect exports and imports. These experts noted:

• Trade enforcement will continue, but there will likely be longer waits for — or even the suspension of — reviews of voluntary disclosures at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, license applications, and petitions for removal from the specially designated nationals list;
• Import-related services such as tariff-exclusion request processing and antidumping duty and countervailing duty investigations will likely come to a halt;
• The Federal Maritime Commission will likely suspend almost all activities; and
• Customs and Border Protection will be deemed essential because it is considered law enforcement so trade processing at ports of entry will continue normally.

MSCI will continue to report on this issue until Congress has agreed to a long-term funding plan.