(The Center Square) With U.S. House members out for their August recess, senators are scrambling to advance at least some of the 12 annual appropriations bills to fund federal agencies in fiscal year 2026.
Although Republicans originally planned to craft and pass the government funding bills soon after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law, the immediate introduction of a $9 billion rescissions bill caused weeks of delay.
Furthermore, Republicans jamming through the rescissions package alienated several Democrats, whose support is needed for the appropriations process to succeed. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., warned that the partisan passage of the rescissions bill “calls into question the future of the broader appropriations process, if the President simply rescinds and Republican members go back on the agreements they made.”
Lawmakers have until Sept. 30 – the end of fiscal year 2025 – to push all 12 appropriations bills through both chambers of Congress, or else risk a government shutdown. But with only two of those bills having passed the House and none having passed the Senate, that deadline looks increasingly unachievable.
House lawmakers return on Sept. 12. This gives lawmakers less than three weeks to pass the bills through both chambers, a likely impossible feat given Democratic rebellion.
As a result, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is eyeing a short-term funding stopgap – called a Continuing Resolution, or CR – to keep the government open while Congress finishes the appropriations process.
The problem with this strategy is that he’ll also receive pushback from Republicans, who were promised an appropriate appropriations process for fiscal year 2026 in exchange for their votes on multiple CRs in the past.
Congress never passed a fiscal year 2025 budget, instead passing three consecutive CRs to keep government funding on cruise control until Sept. 30. Neither party was happy with the decision, but even some Democratic senators voted for the stopgaps in order to avert government shutdowns.
The Senate is scheduled to begin their August recess next week, but due to the government funding deadline approaching, Thune may hold the chamber until he is able to push through the bill funding military construction and Veterans Affairs department.
In the meantime, senators will vote Monday on some of President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations for the Department of Defense and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
