What Does CR Mean in Court Proceedings?

It went to the President’s desk on Dec. 11, 2020, and was signed into law in the nick of time. GAO’s mission is to provide Congress with fact-based, nonpartisan information that can help improve federal government performance and ensure accountability for the benefit of the American people. GAO launched its WatchBlog in January, 2014, as part of its continuing effort to reach its audiences—Congress and the American people—where they are currently looking for information. If some bills are covered in a CR but others are not, the government could continue operations for those departments and programs covered under the CR but shut down for departments and programs not covered under the CR. For instance, in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), which established the Miranda rights, lower court records would use the “CR” designation to indicate the case’s criminal nature.

• “The current budget process symbolizes all that is wrong with Congress right now.
• It went to the President’s desk on Dec. 11, 2020, and was signed into law in the nick of time.
• Processing new applications, requests, modifications, new accounts, etc. is generally much harder during a government shutdown period.
• GAO launched its WatchBlog in January, 2014, as part of its continuing effort to reach its audiences—Congress and the American people—where they are currently looking for information.
• The use of “CR” in court reporter notation can vary depending on jurisdictional practices.
• In our government, the legislative branch holds the power of the purse, which means Congress is responsible for passing legislation to fund the government.

Is a government shutdown going to happen?

Congress then goes through the appropriations process by holding hearings, creating and modifying the bills, and then passing those bills. This week, the House and the Senate passed a CR that funds the government based on FY 2014 appropriations levels. With the President’s signature, temporary funding to keep the government open was approved until a full budget could be agreed upon at a later time. The federal budget is a proposal by the President outlining spending goals and priorities during a given year. Congress debates this funding, and then votes to appropriate funding. However, Congress has only completed this process before the beginning of the fiscal year 3 times in the last 47 years, most recently for FY1997.

But the fight over the continuing resolution is just an extension of a deeper fight over the budget. Much to the dismay of Republicans, the Senate in recent years has failed to pass even a simple budget, a precursor to spending bills. Since 2011, they have used budget battles – and taken the country to the edge of government shutdown – to extract $2.3 trillion from federal spending. Recipients of both Social Security and Medicare would continue to receive their benefits, which are part of mandatory spending that’s not subject to annual appropriations measures. Doctors and hospitals would also continue to get their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. But national parks and monuments would close, and while troops would stay at their posts, many civilian employees in agencies like the Department of Defense would be sent home.

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Congress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government, or federal agencies will shutter. At that point, Congress will try again to reach a budget agreement that will fund the government for the remainder of FY2015. And before 1977, they were so common that Congress changed the start of the fiscal year from July to October to give lawmakers more time to pass the spending bills. That worked for a few years but then Congress settled into the new schedule and, like any high school student – or journalist on deadline – it procrastinated.

This helps legal professionals quickly identify relevant precedents when preparing for trial or crafting legal arguments. In court proceedings, “CR” often stands for “Criminal” and is used as a docket reference to categorize cases within the criminal justice system. This abbreviation helps organize and manage court records, ensuring cases are easily identifiable. Docket numbers, which include the “CR” designation, serve as unique identifiers for each case, allowing court personnel and involved parties to track the progress and status of criminal cases. These docket numbers typically include the year the case was filed, a sequential number, and the “CR” prefix. Understanding legal abbreviations is essential for navigating court proceedings, as they often carry specific meanings.

Federal Budget: Selected Agencies and Programs Used Strategies to Manage Constraints of Continuing Resolutions

• When the deadline passes without a budget or a continuing resolution to temporarily fund government operations until a budget deal can be made, a shutdown is required until one or the other can pass.
• While not the easiest task, the budget process has been successful for over 75 years.
• A government shutdown happens when Congress doesn’t pass legislation either temporarily or more permanently funding the government, and such a measure isn’t signed by the president.
• The discretionary funds need to be approved year to year with a budget or extended with a CR.
• Republicans abandoned a bipartisan plan Wednesday to prevent a shutdown after President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk came out against it.
• While CRs serve a useful purpose in providing Congress with an expeditious avenue for keeping agencies funded, they fall short of the detailed and deliberate policy choices that full agency appropriations acts contain.

Some sources report that prior to 1980 there was no shutdown used, the government just kept running anyway. Since the Clinton era, there have been four of what the Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget (CFRB.org) describes as a “true” shutdown. In some cases, such as the IRS, services didn’t shut down completely, but “newcomer services” were the most difficult to come by in such cases. Processing new applications, requests, modifications, new accounts, etc. is generally much harder during a government shutdown period. The blog format allows GAO to provide a little more context about its work than it can offer on its other social media platforms. They keep our government running until the CR expires or when final appropriations are enacted, whichever comes first.

What is a “CR,” or continuing resolution?

Instead, a continuing resolution was enacted on September 26 to avoid a government shutdown and provide temporary funding for government operations (plus some supplemental funding for other purposes) through December 20. Because legislators still had not reached an agreement on the appropriation bills for fiscal year 2025, a second CR was enacted to extend government funding through March 14, 2025 (plus some supplemental funding for other purposes). The majority of federal spending is governed by permanent law and generally not constrained by the appropriation process. All of those activities are funded through the 12 regular appropriation bills that are supposed to be enacted into law each year by the Congress and President.

One such abbreviation is “CR,” which appears in various contexts within the judicial system. Its significance can vary depending on its application, making it important to understand its usage. “Typically these appropriations bills are not that partisan,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. There is often a scramble on Capitol Hill to put together a last-minute funding package to keep the government open just before a deadline, at least temporarily. But shutdowns have happened, most recently six years ago, when Trump demanded funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. During a government shutdown in 1996, thousands of Medicare applicants were turned away daily.

The twelve appropriations bills then appropriate the funding for the federal government to use for the next budgetary year. The appropriations bills must be signed into the law by the President, although the budget resolution itself is not subject to his or her approval. An appropriations bill is a bill that appropriates (gives to, sets aside for) money to specific federal government departments, agencies, and programs. The money provides funding for operations, personnel, equipment, and activities.1 Traditionally, regular appropriations bills are passed annually, with the funding they provide covering one fiscal year.

Missing the October 1 deadline to enact all 12 appropriation bills is not unusual; in fact, that deadline has not been fully met since fiscal year 1997. Instead, lawmakers have come to rely heavily on CRs — temporary, imperfect solutions that avoid the difficult but necessary work of allocating funding. Lawmakers often enact multiple CRs in a single fiscal year before deciding on full-year funding levels.

For example, “CR” might be used alongside other letters or numbers to indicate whether a case is at the trial or appellate level. This layered approach enhances the efficiency of case management and tracking. The interpretation and application of “CR” can differ significantly across jurisdictions, reflecting the diverse approaches courts take in managing legal processes.

President Obama submitted a budget to Congress that provides a roadmap for accelerating economic growth, expanding opportunity for all Americans, and ensuring fiscal responsibility. His budget shows the choices he would make within the spending levels that Congress agreed to in the Bipartisan Budget Act. One type is called Discretionary Spending–these are “appropriated funds” and they have to be agreed upon year-to-year. Non-discretionary spending is either authorized permanently what does cr stand for in government or in multiple years depending on the nature of the funding or other variables. The discretionary funds need to be approved year to year with a budget or extended with a CR.