FY 2011 budget impasse places destroyer pact in limbo

As Congress creeps toward a March 4 deadline to approve funding to avoid a federal government shutdown, money for a program crucial to Bath Iron Works hangs in the balance.

March 4 is when a continuing resolution — which provides funding exclusively for essential government activity — expires. Congress has kept the financial spigot at a relative dribble by using the stopgap funding measures since Oct. 1, 2010, the beginning of fiscal year 2011, as lawmakers search for common ground on spending priorities.

Now, nearly five months into the fiscal year — and two days after President Barack Obama released his proposal for the fiscal year 2012 budget — Bath Iron Works joins many government contractors with key programs suspended in a lingering state of limbo.

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