Congress sends Trump a shutdown-dodging stopgap, but the spending fight just moves to December

The House voted 370-48 Tuesday to pass a short-term government funding bill, sending it to President Trump's desk and clearing away the September 30 shutdown deadline - for now. The vote, taken nearly a month before federal money runs out, buys Congress roughly 15 more weeks to write an actual budget. It does not settle any of the underlying disputes.

The House passed a short-term measure Tuesday to fund the federal government into early December, a move designed to avoid a chaotic shutdown as lawmakers campaign for reelection. The Senate had already voted 90-6 to pass the continuing resolution in August before lawmakers left for summer recess. The measure now awaits the signature of President Donald Trump, who already indicated his support earlier this month.

It is rare for Congress to pass a continuing resolution this early in the year, almost a month before funding expires on Sept. 30 - even as political polarization has made finding bipartisan consensus on funding increasingly difficult. The lopsided margin masked real anger on both flanks.

How the deal came together - and what it costs

The House had originally passed its own stopgap in July, a cleaner bill that would have extended funding only through December 4 and left most disputed policy riders out. The bill that actually passed originated in the Senate through a bipartisan deal, and it now goes to the desk of President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law.

GOP leaders decided to proceed without changes and rely on Democratic votes, using a fast-track process known as suspension of the rules that requires a two-thirds majority vote for passage. That choice infuriated conservatives. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican, said the chambers "disagree on the continuing resolution" and argued Congress should go to conference rather than accept the Senate's provisions.

The bill's two most contested additions came from Senate Democrats. The continuing resolution includes a provision that temporarily blocks the Office of Management and Budget's proposed rule that would put federal grant funding under review by political appointees. It also includes language that would prevent the Trump administration from transferring funds from other programs to Border Patrol.

Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray, D-Wash., had fought for both provisions. Earlier this summer, every Senate Democrat called on OMB to withdraw the grants rule, which would put Trump political appointees in charge of signing off on every last federal grant and empower them to terminate funding at any point for any reason. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also publicly criticized the OMB rule, sending a letter to OMB Director Russell Vought in early July asking him to withdraw parts of the rule and extend the comment period.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., acknowledged the tradeoffs plainly. "When we passed our continuing resolution over here, we knew it would change when it got to the Senate," Cole said on the floor just before the vote. "Some of those changes I actually agree with, some of them I don't. But they don't really change the substance of the fact, we bought the time that we need to get through the election cycle."

The policy fine print

Beyond the two headline riders, the bill contains several other provisions that drew less attention. The legislation includes anomalies that were part of the original House bill, such as language to provide funding flexibility for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, disaster relief and wildland fire funds. The Senate added other anomalies, including for 2028 Olympic preparations and housing assistance.

For defense, the bill holds Pentagon funding at fiscal year 2026 levels and bars the start of new programs. Neither the House-passed bill nor the Senate version includes most of the Department of War-specific funding exemptions the White House had requested, including $1 billion for the Trump-class battleship program and authority to obligate funds on five multiyear munitions contracts.

Congress has not completed any of the 12 annual appropriations bills needed to finance federal departments and programs for the full fiscal year running from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027. Those bills fund a broad range of government functions, including homeland security, federal law enforcement, defense, energy and housing.

Memory of shutdowns past

The rush to get something done - anything - reflects genuine legislative trauma. Federal employees dealt with the longest government shutdown in history last year, followed by the longest partial shutdown, which affected the Homeland Security Department. The four-day 2026 shutdown occurred due to delays in the House passing a package containing five more bills, plus a continuing resolution for the Department of Homeland Security. Pay disruptions and furloughs from those episodes have made members of both parties gun-shy about letting another lapse start.

Last year's shutdown became the longest funding lapse in U.S. history and disrupted government operations, air travel and federal paychecks, making lawmakers eager to avoid a repeat during the final stretch before the midterms.

That anxiety did not silence all critics. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., the Democratic Caucus Vice Chair, voted yes and still took a shot at his own chamber. "I will be voting yes on the CR even though doing CRs is a stupid way to run government," Lieu said. "We have a whole 'nother month left, and Republicans who control the House, the Senate and the White House are waving the white flag of surrender and basically saying we don't know how to govern."

The December reckoning

The relief is real but temporary. The CR pushes the spending battle to before the holidays, when the outcome of the midterms will help determine how much leverage each party holds to set the spending agenda. The same fights - over the OMB grants rule, Border Patrol funding, defense spending levels, and the still-unfinished farm bill - will all be live when Congress reconvenes after Election Day.

Congress must also address key legislation with a significant fiscal impact by the end of the year, including the farm bill and funding levels for the military amid the Iran War.

The Senate bill forces OMB to continue reviewing the half-million comments that were submitted on the grants rule, but Congress must permanently prevent this corrupt, harmful power grab before the new deadline of December 11, House Appropriations Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said - framing December as an unfinished fight, not a resolution.

Speaker Mike Johnson, flanked by Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, told reporters Tuesday morning ahead of the vote that Congress is "going to avoid the threat" of another government shutdown. He said little about what comes next.

What to Watch

• Trump's signature. The White House encouraged lawmakers to support the stopgap, and President Trump is expected to sign it. No signing ceremony has been announced.
• The OMB grants rule. The continuing resolution bars OMB from finalizing the rule while the continuing resolution is in effect. The rule battle resumes the moment the CR expires on Dec. 11.
• Defense spending gap. The Pentagon did not get its requested exemptions - including the battleship program and munitions contracts. Expect the Defense Department to press those claims in the December round.
• Post-midterm leverage. The outcome of the midterm elections will help determine how much leverage each party holds to set the spending agenda when Congress returns in November.
• The CLARITY Act crypto bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, with the next procedural vote scheduled for September 15, 2026. That vote, on digital-asset regulation, is the next major floor fight on the calendar.

Sources: Federal News Network/AP | The Washington Post | NPR | The Hill | Defense One | Breaking Defense | Roll Call | Washington Times | Senate Appropriations Committee (Murray statement) | National Association of Counties