DOL Takes Rare Budgetary Haircut

President Trump today signed into law a "minibus" federal funding measure that keeps the full government running through Dec. 7 while finalizing budgets for some agencies, including the Department of Labor (DOL), which lost $128 million in budgeting from FY 2018. In addition to the DOL and its $12.1 billion FY 2019 budget, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Department of Defense (DOD) and Health and Department of Human Services (HHS) were all funded at current or higher levels. The Trump administration had sought a deeper budget cut for the DOL, targeting it at $10.9 billion, and also a cut for the NLRB from $274 million to $249 million. The remaining unfunded federal agencies will be kept open through Dec. 7 under terms of the minibus legislation, giving Congress time to agree on budget terms for FY 2019.