Senate leaders strike stopgap deal to avert US shutdown after midterm elections
WASHINGTON — Senate leaders have cut a bipartisan deal to keep the federal government funded past the 2026 midterm elections, easing the threat of a
WASHINGTON — Senate leaders have cut a bipartisan deal to keep the federal government funded past the 2026 midterm elections, easing the threat of a shutdown when money runs out on Sept. 30.
The short-term measure would fund agencies at current levels through Dec. 11, giving lawmakers a few more weeks to negotiate a longer-term budget plan after voters cast their ballots. If Congress misses the deadline, the government would shut down on Oct. 1.
Vote this week
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, and Vice Chair Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, announced the deal on Sunday. The Senate is set to take an initial procedural vote on Monday and hopes to pass the bill before leaving for its August recess.
That would buy time, but not much of it. The House has already adjourned for the recess and returns in early September, and it has passed its own funding bill through Dec. 4. The two chambers will still have to settle their differences once lawmakers are back in Washington.
Campaign-season pressure
The timing raises the stakes. Congress is trying to avoid a shutdown in the middle of a heated election season, when many lawmakers would rather spend August back home boosting their reelection bids than sitting through another appropriations fight.
ABC News reported that senators spent recent days negotiating which exceptions to include in the stopgap bill. Democrats said one White House request did not make the cut: $1 billion for so-called “Trump-class” battleships. They also said they secured language aimed at constraining the administration, though details were not immediately available.
Negotiators have been wrestling with the same problem for months. A separate July hearing in the House Appropriations Committee examined ways to make shutdowns less likely, including a proposal from Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, for automatic 14-day extensions if Congress fails to finish funding bills on time.
For now, the Senate is trying the older fix. A temporary bill. Another deadline. And, once again, the clock keeps ticking toward Oct. 1.
