MOAA Newsletter Template - Whitelabel Template Aug-24 - 5 Reasons Why Short-Term Budget Fixes Are Failing Our Military and Our Nation

Aug 31, 2026

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Newsletter template content focused on providing a chapter news layout and sharing MOAA advocacy messaging. It includes fill-in sections for two chapter news items and a main feature explaining why short-term federal continuing resolutions (CRs) are harmful to military readiness and the nation. The piece outlines five reasons, then adds a “Budget Basics” overview of the federal budget timeline and a “Making a Difference” call for members to contact lawmakers and use MOAA action resources.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatDOCX

Pages4

Reading Time2 min

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Chapters – enter title of your first news item here

Chapters – enter title of your second news item here

5 Reasons Why Short-Term Budget Fixes Are Failing Our Military and Our Nation

Budget Basics

Making a Difference

In this issue: Chapter item 1 Chapter item 2 From National MOAA HYPERLINK "https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2024-news-articles/advocacy/5-reasons-why-short-term-budget-fixes-are-failing-our-military-and-our-nation/" 5 Reasons Why Short-Term Budget Fixes Are Failing Our Military and Our Nation HYPERLINK "https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2024-news-articles/member-spotlight/moaa-chapter-honors-its-namesakes-d-day-legacy/" MOAA Chapter Honors Its Namesake’s D-Day Legacy HYPERLINK "https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2024-news-articles/finance/report-shows-spike-in-scam-type-that-frequently-targets-veterans,-servicemembers/" Report Shows Spike in Scam Type That Frequently Targets Veterans, Servicemembers Chapters – enter title of your first news item here You can use the first part of this newsletter template for your Chapter news to include any meeting recaps or agendas, local news, state legislative issues, and other matters for your members. Please replace “Chapter item 1” above with an applicable topic title. Chapters – enter title of your second news item here You can enter your second news item here and if you have any additional items you can copy the formatting and style for any other information you would like to share. 5 Reasons Why Short-Term Budget Fixes Are Failing Our Military and Our Nation By: Mark Belinsky We are on the road to another fiscal year without a full federal budget … just like last year, and the year before, and every year HYPERLINK "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46595" since 1997. In the absence of a signed budget at the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year, Congress has two options: Letting appropriations lapse, resulting in a shutdown, or passing a stopgap spending measure known as a continuing resolution (CR). A CR provides temporary government funding at current-year levels while lawmakers work on a budget for the remainder of the new fiscal year. CRs are, to be blunt, awful. Ask any lawmaker and they will agree. Yet Congress can’t seem to find the intestinal fortitude to set partisan politics aside and keep to the schedule. Why are these resolutions so bad for our nation in general, and our national defense in particular? Here are MOAA’s top five reasons: 1. Wasted Tax Dollars. Every CR costs taxpayers billions in misaligned money, stalled or delayed projects, and unnecessary planning to combat the shutdown threat and ever-changing funding availability. The top Pentagon official estimated the 2019 CR, for example, HYPERLINK "https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2019-news-articles/advocacy/the-last-continuing-resolution-cost-dod-$19-billion.-congress-is-on-track-to-do-it-again/" cost DoD $19 billion. 2. A Poor Example. Servicemembers are trained to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and to uphold high standards of property accountability through inspections and measures enforced through the Uniform Code of Military Justice. We have all stood in formation and heard a leader state: “No one is going home until we find this lost piece of property.” Maybe Congress needs to have a formation on our budget. 3. Major Disruptions. CRs force changes to training schedules. They delay operations, construction, maintenance, and congressionally mandated modernization projects. They cause civilian hiring freezes, and they increase contracting costs. As one DoD official put it: “The longer a CR lasts, the more damage it does.” 4. Erosion of Trust. Placing the importance of good governance over political issues is warranted, especially when CRs add to our national debt. We would never run our own personal finances by paying late fees over and over to avoid dealing with our bills. Congress can restore some trust in the institution by sticking to the schedule. 5. Simple Scheduling. Speaking of the schedule: Congress never misses its summer August recess. It’s re

FAQs

What are continuing resolutions (CRs) and why are they used at the start of a fiscal year?

When no signed federal budget exists at the Oct. 1 start, Congress can either let appropriations lapse (risking a shutdown) or pass a continuing resolution (CR). A CR provides temporary funding at current-year levels while the full budget is developed.

What are MOAA’s five main reasons CRs are harmful?

MOAA highlights five reasons: wasted tax dollars, a poor example for service standards, major disruptions to schedules and projects, erosion of trust due to added debt, and Congress’s tendency to manage timing through breaks rather than adhering to the full schedule.

How does the document describe the standard federal budget timeline?

It outlines key steps: presidential budget priorities in the State of the Union (often late), submission of budget requests to Congress, committee views and estimates, passage of a budget resolution, budget hearings, summer recess, and completion of appropriations work by Sept. 30.

Aug 31, 2026

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