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Washington, D.C. — The bipartisan agreement setting government spending levels for the rest of the fiscal year avoids massive across-the-board cuts and provides federal agencies some short-term stability but does not resolve the National Treasury Employees Union’s (NTEU) concerns about underfunding and staffing shortages at many agencies.

“This deal relieves some of the anxiety in the federal workforce by giving their agencies a budget to operate for the next five months,” said NTEU National President Tony Reardon. “And while lawmakers did not impose some of the most draconian cuts proposed by the administration, the spending package fails to recognize acute budget and staffing needs at many agencies.”

For example, the omnibus agreement cuts the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 1 percent from 2016 funding levels and holds the agency at 15,000 employees, the fewest since 1989. EPA’s research and regulatory functions are essential to its mission of protecting the environment and public health and budget cuts imperil that mission.

At the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), funding would remain at 2016 levels and not allow the agency to recover from several prior years of cuts during which the agency lost nearly 18,000 permanent employees.

“Again, level funding is better than massive cuts, but it is insufficient to allow the IRS to meet its taxpayer service and enforcement challenges and to begin rebuilding its decimated workforce,” Reardon said. “This is not a sustainable budget situation for the agency that is responsible for bringing in 93 percent of the money needed to fund the entire government.”

 NTEU is also concerned about how this agreement treats the staffing shortage at Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The agency is set for a funding increase of $137 million over the fiscal year 2016 enacted level, but none of it is for hiring frontline personnel to work at the air, sea and land-based ports of entry, where employees are forced to work overtime and regularly put on involuntary duty assignments far from home.

“Requiring a report on recruitment and retention strategy is a good start, but that doesn’t guarantee we will have enough CBP Officers, Agriculture Specialists and Trade Enforcement Specialists to do the job immediately,” Reardon said.

Elsewhere, NTEU is pleased to see a $42 million increase for the Food and Drug Administration and $80 million more for the National Park Service.

“To enforce health and safety standards in our food and medicine and maintain the treasures that are our national parks, this funding is critical,” Reardon said.

Also, NTEU supports the $1.1 billion increase for the Department of Energy over 2016 levels, including more investment in science and research.

“Considering the recent talk of slashing federal science programs, this budget proposal shows that Americans who are concerned about advancing our nation’s energy efficiency and reliability made their voices heard,” Reardon said.

The union president said it was significant that the bill does not alter the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but instead requires quarterly reports to Congress and the disclosure of transfer payments to the Federal Reserve.

NTEU is reviewing the other details to assess their impact on NTEU-represented agencies, and where appropriate, will fight for increased funding.

NTEU encourages Congress and the administration to remove the threat of another government shutdown by approving the agreement as soon as possible in order to focus on fiscal year 2018 spending decisions.

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 31 federal agencies and departments.