Happy New Year!

October and a Happy New Year wish??? Well, for the federal government, more specifically the federal budget, October 1st begins the new year. And for the second time in 35 years, The Department of Veterans Affairs will have a budget immediately. Generally speaking, the budget isn't signed for months. Here is a little piece of trivia....Typically fiscal years end either December 31st or June 30...Anyone know why the federal government's fiscal year ends at the end of September? Well, many many years ago the budget was so difficult to get passed through Congress that even though the fiscal year ended at the end of June, spending was limited to emergencies only. Generally speaking, the budget wasn't signed until late September. So, Congress made the decision to make a change. October 1 would be the beginning of a new fiscal year.

Now, when I joined the Federal Government some 29-1/2 years ago we generally were on emergency spending (we call it a continuing resolution) for about the first 2 to 3 weeks of the new fiscal year. About 15 years ago that changed. When President Clinton first came into office he worked hard to balance the budget...there was a power struggle and the federal budget was not passed until the second week of January. I remember this period well....many employees were laid off and others continued to work but received no pay checks...I was part of the latter! Each year has been a repeat of that ugly year without all the drama or the layoffs. Last year the federal budget wasn't signed until March. We continued to operate into the negative...makes it hard to know where you stand when you are always operating in the red!

My understanding is that only portions of the budget has been signed and the Department of Veterans Affairs was one of the lucky departments to be signed....then again...it is not politically correct to send our sons and daughters to war and not have a veterans program for them when they returned!

More to come later!