The Brewers Association (BA) is urging breweries to submit any federal approval requests or applications ASAP over concerns of a government shutdown.
The federal government’s fiscal year closes September 30 and Congress is “unlikely” to pass a 2024 budget before the deadline, BA senior director of federal affairs Katie Marisic warned in a BA blog post.
Should a government shutdown happen, “non-essential” operations at the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) will be halted.
“Based on past shutdown situations, the TTB will not review or approve labels, formulas, or brewers’ notices until the government reopens,” Marisic wrote. “For some time after reopening, longer approval times will result from the larger than normal backlog of applications.”
The BA encouraged breweries to submit any applications as soon as they can to increase the chance of obtaining an approval before the shutdown, or avoid longer wait times.
The shutdown could also result in the temporary closing of the Small Business Administration (SBA), impacting the small business loan process.
Additionally, “many congressional staffers are designated as non-essential employees,” meaning industry members seeking to make legislative moves would be unable to contact federal elected officials during the shutdown.
Marisic also reminded members that federal excise tax payments and reports of operations due would still need to be paid and filed during a shutdown.