The House of Representatives approved a short-term government funding measure Tuesday, acting more than two months before the current spending deadline in an effort to avoid a shutdown immediately before the November midterm elections.
The House passed the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2027, by a largely party-line vote of 220-205. The legislation, designated H.R. 9770, would extend federal funding from the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 through Dec. 4.
The continuing resolution would generally maintain federal agencies at their current spending levels while lawmakers continue work on the 12 annual appropriations bills. It also temporarily extends programs involving food assistance, flood insurance, disaster relief, wildfire suppression, small-business support and other federal services that would otherwise face interruptions when the fiscal year ends, writes Politico.
The vote came unusually early for a continuing resolution. Congress frequently waits until days—or sometimes hours—before a funding deadline to approve a temporary extension. The House, however, is scheduled to be in session for only 16 additional days before Sept. 30 after lawmakers leave Washington for their August recess.
Republican leaders argued that approving the measure now would remove the threat of a politically disruptive shutdown during the final weeks of the midterm campaign. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the legislation contained no partisan policy riders and would allow lawmakers to continue negotiating full-year funding bills without the immediate pressure of a shutdown.
The House Appropriations Committee has advanced all 12 fiscal year 2027 spending bills, and the full House has approved three of them. The Senate has not yet passed any of the annual appropriations measures, leaving Congress unlikely to complete the process before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the House bill, arguing that Republican leaders introduced it without sufficient bipartisan negotiations. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Democrats wanted changes involving federal grant oversight and immigration enforcement included in negotiations over the stopgap measure.
DeLauro said lawmakers were “scrambling to jam through a one-sided stopgap measure two days before everyone leaves for the August recess.” She nevertheless acknowledged that some form of temporary funding legislation would be necessary because Congress is not expected to finish the regular appropriations process before Sept. 30.
The measure now moves to the Senate, where its prospects remain uncertain. Most legislation requires 60 votes to advance in the chamber, meaning Senate Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority, would need support from at least several Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, was negotiating with Democrats on a possible Senate version of the funding extension. Thune said he hoped to hold a vote before senators leave Washington for their August recess on Aug. 6.
The White House has also submitted a list of requested funding adjustments, commonly known as anomalies, for inclusion in a continuing resolution. Those provisions allow selected programs to receive different treatment rather than simply continuing at their existing funding rates. The House measure was presented as a clean extension, while Senate negotiators are considering their own legislation.
Republicans are simultaneously advancing a separate budget resolution that could provide another legislative option if bipartisan funding negotiations collapse. Passage of that resolution by both chambers could unlock the budget reconciliation process, which allows qualifying legislation to advance through the Senate by a simple majority rather than the usual 60-vote threshold.
Any effort to use reconciliation as a fallback would face procedural and political obstacles, including disagreements among Republicans over additional defense spending and whether new spending should be offset elsewhere in the federal budget. For now, Senate leaders have indicated that a bipartisan continuing resolution remains their preferred approach.
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Delauro, like all democrats, aren’t for anything. They are obstructionists and so full of hate for America that they oppose anything the republicans try to do to better our country. There is no thinking, evaluating or common sense. Only hate and obstruction.