Here we go again folks. Fiscal year 2014 begins at midnight and once again there is no budget agreement. Normally when this happens, Congress votes to temporarily continue operating the federal budget at the levels from the previous fiscal year, as they continue to duke it out over funding issues. But this year, Obamacare has stirred up so much bipartisan animosity that a shutdown appears increasingly likely.
As I have written previously, I know only too well what happens during a government shutdown, as it happened in my first month of being a federal employee many years ago. All non-essential federal employees are furloughed. They may not work or travel for work, therefore all imminent trips planned by federal employees must be canceled. At NIH, the clinical center continues to operate and, for better or worse, we can still submit those R01s for the October 5 deadline. However, NSF has issued an announcement that while grants.gov may be operational, “FastLane proposal preparation and submission will be unavailable”.
And while NIH will be accepting those Oct 5 new R01 submissions, no doubt we can look forward to hideous delays in funding decisions in the upcoming months. Read more in an article posted this afternoon, on the eve of a likely government shutdown, from Science Insider.
