Where we stand 8/11/2026
Both Houses of Congress are currently on recess, and with just over seven weeks left in the Fiscal Year, it's time to check in on where we are.
In a rare recognition of the calendar, all 13 appropriations bills have been approved by the House Appropriations Committee, and three of those bills have passed the House. This was a tremendous improvement on previous years that then ran into a series of brick walls.
Brick Wall 1 - The Senate
The Senate Appropriations Committee has not approved a single appropriations bill, and only approved a ceremonial budget resolution just two weeks before leaving on August recess. None of the three bills that passed the House have come to the floor. The only positive is that they passed a continuing resolution before they left that would kick the can until after the election, pushing the deadline to December 11th.
Brick Wall 2 - President Trump
The President made a series of pronouncements and demands that interrupted regular business in both Houses of Congress, which may have disrupted the appropriations process.
Brick Wall 3 - Politics
In an election year, particularly a midterm election year where the party that controls Congress also controls the White House, Congress tends to get at least some of the bills passed to show that they can effectively govern. Due to political traps, many of their own making, this has not happened this year. The House tried to still fulfill this goal by passing its own continuing resolution before leaving for recess, which would kick the can to December 4th.
All of this adds up to a process just as in shambles as previous years despite a clear attempt by the House to get ahead of the game. Now the calendar is no longer their friend. The House left on recess two weeks before the Senate, and while they will return just after Labor Day, the Senate will not return until Sept. 15th. This leaves two weeks to resolve any issues between the competing CRs. If the House is able to pass the Senate bill as is, then there's no problem until after the election. While both Houses will be back for the rest of September, both will again be on recess in October due to midterm campaigning.
So what happens next comes down to two questions:
Seeing that both Houses are intent on passing a CR, which one will pass (both come with interesting nooks and crannies)?
Depending on the election result, how big of a push will there be to complete the budget before the new deadline/the holidays/the end of this Congress?
A quick reminder, any bills not passed before this Congress ends on the morning of January 3rd would need to be refiled in the new Congress and go through the committee process all over again.
