Like a groggy man unwilling to come out from underneath the covers and ready himself for work, Congress has once again hit the proverbial snooze button on funding the federal government and gone back to bed. In what has become a year-end tradition, Congress waited until the 11th hour to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that prevented a possible government shutdown. Passed by a vote of 63-36 in the Senate late last Friday night and promptly signed into law by President Obama, the CR funds the federal government through April 28, 2017 and was the last major act of the 114th Congress. 

Just 10 weeks after their last short-term funding bill, many members of Congress, including the House and Senate leadership, were initially hopeful that they might pass an appropriations package that covered all of Fiscal Year 2017. However, amidst the uncertainty and political jockeying that followed an unexpectedly successful November for the Republican Party, the hopes for a catch-all omnibus bill that would fund the government for the rest of FY17 went up in smoke., House Republicans spent much of the lame-duck session of Congress pushing for a short-term CR that was eventually passed. A short-term CR appealed to the President-elect, and was accepted by the House GOP leadership, because it allows the Trump administration to establish its spending priorities in its first 100 days, a full four months earlier than they would have in the event of a year-long CR or omnibus bill. A FY 2017 omnibus spending bill, signed by President Obama, would have meant the new president’s spending priorities could not be in place until the new fiscal year, October 1. 

For the already underfunded programs that support people living with HIV, maintaining current spending levels is far from a perfect solution. However, protecting existing funding so that people living with HIV can maintain access to health care and coverage in the near term vis á vis the Ryan White Program, Medicaid, and Medicare is an advocacy imperative. All the while sacrificing the opportunity to make critical new investments in HIV programs, including additional funds to adequately support the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS program. 

Looking forward, the first 100 days of the incoming administration and any future budget dealings are incredibly uncertain right now. There are reports that Trump may not even submit a budget for FY 2018. In that event, Congress will still proceed with the FY 18 appropriations process, beginning in March or April, but there is no telling how Trump’s public statements around spending and debate among congressional leaders might shape or stall the process. For planning purposes, HIV/AIDS advocates should proceed with funding requests for domestic HIV programs in January so that congressional allies can submit our requests.

The budget negotiations during the lame duck weren’t perfect. They weren’t pretty. They weren’t even particularly productive. But, at the very least, a shutdown of the federal government was postponed for another 4 months, programs that serve people living with HIV were spared being singled out for drastic cuts, and Congress got to go home for the holidays early.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the next two to four years will be fundamentally different than those that preceded them. As we enter the 115th Congress, advocates who support funding for critical programs that provide care and support to people living with HIV must be ever vigilant. A business as usual approach will no longer suffice because there is nothing usual about the business at hand for people living with HIV and their allies. It is vital that we all rise to the challenge of these times and engage our representatives in Congress like never before. Call them, e-mail them, visit them when they’re back home in your states and your districts. If we want to hold out any hope of preserving the hard-won benefits of the Affordable Care Act and to protect the Medicaid program that serves more than 40%of people living with HIV in care, then we must make our voices heard.