As
we predicted in this space just a few hours ago, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader
Reid just announced a deal for a six month long continuing resolution
maintaining federal government agency spending at the $1.047 trillion level for
the first six months of federal fiscal 2013, which begins October 1, 2012. The
announcement averts the spectre of hundreds of thousands - or even millions – of
WARN Act notifications of impending layoffs to employees of government
contractors whose businesses might have been affected by loss of revenue from
federal contracts should an election eve budget battle in Congress have raised
the possibility of a government shutdown a month before Presidential and
Congressional elections.
While
drafting of the actual continuing resolution could take a few more weeks,
announcement of the deal should dry the sweat on the brows of dozens of
government contractor employment lawyers who were facing a fish or cut bait
decision deadline under the WARN Act in two days. Whew!! In their desire to
take off for their six week recess, Congressmen and Senators have finally
realized that the fallout from failure to act on this important matter would
likely have resulted in a pox on both their houses in the forthcoming campaign
season. The citizens can only hold out faint hope, though, that this
announcement is a harbinger of any significant increase in the level of
responsible leadership we can expect from Washington, D.C. politicians.
