Former Congressman Tom Davis stated that he is optimistic that Congress will pass a final FY’22 appropriations measure by the end of the calendar year.  In remarks made at the Coalition for Government Procurement’s Fall Conference, Davis noted that both the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee support such action. In addition to Davis’ statement, Bloomberg Government followed up November 17^th with an article indicating that House Freedom Caucus members, who oppose a final December deal, likely do not have enough momentum to stop efforts to pass a final measure before the current Congress leaves at Christmas.  All of this would be very good news for contractors and their federal customers.  Earlier predictions had been that FY’22 appropriations would not be known until March or April of 2023.  Indeed, we’ve said before that a December passage of an appropriations measure is essentially the “new normal”.  Although developments could still result in a delay until the next Congress, there is momentum to get a deal done now.  This would mean that individual agencies could have their spending numbers in either late January or early February, several months ahead of last year.  While substantial spending would still take place at the end of the year, agencies would have a better idea of what they had to spend and would be able to do more planning.  Contractors could see additional business in the 3^rd quarter of the fiscal year as well.  Make a wish on the Thanksgiving turkey wishbone that this optimistic outlook will become reality, but remember that good things don’t last forever.  Davis also stated that most periods of higher spending are followed by a contraction.  Watch the next Congress accordingly.