Ron Henry Shares Opinion on Status of Federal Budget After the Sequester in ThomasNet News

ThomasNet News reports that a majority of government administrators expect to have bigger budgets in the second half of 2014 than in the second half of 2013, part of an overall more optimistic sentiment from officials regarding this upcoming fiscal year. The Congressional Budget Office forecasted an increase in government revenues into 2015, numbers that coincide with other predictions of rises in federal funding and spending. This monetary growth is due to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which mitigated budget cuts that came as a result of the sequester though the 2015 fiscal year.

However, according to Kaye Scholer Partner Ron Henry, Leader of the firm’s Government Contracts Practice, just because an agreement was reached to alleviate the sequester’s impact over two years doesn’t mean it can be completely ignored. “The sequester created a starvation budget for everyone. That still exists, but Congress has said, ‘We won’t squeeze you quite so hard during fiscal-year 2014 and 2015,’” he said. “The pressure has been relieved, but not removed — and it will return as the sequester reactivates at the end of fiscal-year 2015.”

Henry noted that although federal government officials will see their budgets somewhat more stable, “the fact remains that entire programs are still in danger of elimination.”