Congress drags on full year funding bills, risking second shutdown

By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square

Despite only having until the end of January to pass the remaining nine annual government funding bills, Congress has so far made minimal progress.

The U.S. House is not planning on advancing anything before its Christmas recess, with all of leadership’s focus currently on a healthcare policy plan.

Republicans unveiled the text of the plan – the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act – Friday night, a counterproposal to Democrats’ failed bill to extend the Obamacare Premium Tax Credits.

The Senate, meanwhile, is currently stuck on a proposed five-bill minibus due to a couple of recalcitrant Republicans fighting over earmarks within some of the appropriations bills.

Congress has only seven weeks to find a solution before the government runs out of money, and it can take two to three weeks to pass appropriations bills through both chambers even after the text is agreed to.

The minibus, which hasn’t been publicly released yet, purportedly has $5 billion in earmarks.

The package includes fiscal year 2026 funding for federal agencies that handle Transportation and Housing and Urban Development; Defense; Labor and Health and Human Services; Commerce, and Justice, Science; and Interior.

Most federal government agencies are still running off of appropriations levels from fiscal year 2024. Congress never passed a real budget in fiscal year 2025, instead punting forward the shutdown deadline via three consecutive Continuing Resolutions.

The government then shut down Oct. 1, when Democrats refused to vote for a fourth CR due to Republicans’ refusal to extend the expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

After a record long 43-day shutdown, enough Democrats voted to reopen the government by passing a CR. Congress also passed a three-bill minibus that same day, which knocked out three of the twelve fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills.

It authorized full-year funds for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; the Food and Drug Administration, Agriculture and Rural Development; and the Legislative Branch. Agencies covered under the remaining nine bills – including those in the five-bill minibus currently under consideration – are covered by the CR.

This means that if Congress does not pass those bills in some form by Feb. 1, the end date of the CR, they risk a partial government shutdown.