Shutdowns Harm Small Business

Economic Development

Congress must work together to compromise on solutions to avoid government shutdowns.

The federal government is running out of time to avoid a government shutdown before the funding deadline of September 30. Republicans and Democrats have introduced competing short-term funding measures to extend the deadline while negotiations continue; GOP lawmakers introduced a "clean" seven-week continuing resolution (CR) bill that would simply extend current funding levels, while Democrats put forth a four-week extension that also contains several policy provisions (which Republicans will not support). While the Republicans' seven-week CR passed out of the House, the bill ultimately failed to secure passage in the Senate. Averting a shutdown will require Senate lawmakers to come to a compromise solution before the end of the week.

Congress must work together to compromise on solutions to avoid government shutdowns.

Working solutions

Congress should pass a clean stopgap funding bill to give congressional appropriators more time to negotiate the twelve fiscal year (FY) 2025 government funding bills. NSBA also encourages Congress going forward to come to more timely solutions to provide certainty for pivotal government operations.

In the event that a shutdown is not averted, NSBA urges lawmakers to:

Support measures similar to those extended to federal employees to “make whole” any federal contractor impacted by a shutdown.
Similarly seek to mitigate the adverse impact of delays to critical smallbusiness lending programs like those administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

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