Government Shutdown

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?

Senate Passes Stopgap Bill to Avert Shutdown, Avoiding Skirmish Before Midterms

The move came more than a month before the spending deadline, reflecting an eagerness in both parties to avoid a messy fight before the midterm elections.

By Catie Edmondson

Reporting from the Capitol

Aug. 8, 2026, 4:04 a.m. ET

The Senate on Saturday passed a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown at the end of September, in a bipartisan effort to head off a major spending skirmish before the midterm elections.

Thune, Schumer wrestle over deal to fund government, start August recess

Alexander Bolton

Senate overwhelmingly advances stopgap funding bill aimed at preventing shutdown

Regina Zilbermints

The Senate on Monday overwhelmingly advanced a stopgap funding bill aimed at avoiding a government shutdown ahead of this fall's midterms.

In today's Daily Digest of the Congressional Record is the summation of yesterday's proceedings includes reports from the various committees. Previously I have noted that the House has completed work on all 13 spending bills on the Committee level, while the Senate had yet to start. Yesterday (July 22nd), the Senate began getting their act together. After first approving a Budget Resolution that will largely be ignored, the various subcommittees finally were filled out for the current Congress. They are:

Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies: Senators Hoeven (Chair), McConnell, Collins, Moran, Hyde-Smith, Fischer, Rounds, Husted, Shaheen, Merkley, Baldwin, Heinrich, Peters, Gillibrand, and Ossoff.

Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: Senators Moran (Chair), Murkowski, Collins, Capito, Kennedy, Hagerty, Britt, Fischer, Graham, Van Hollen, Reed, Shaheen, Coons, Schatz, Merkley, Peters, and Gillibrand.

Subcommittee on Department of Defense: Senators McConnell (Chair), Collins, Murkowski, Moran, Hoeven, Boozman, Capito, Kennedy, Hyde-Smith, Coons, Durbin, Murray, Reed, Schatz, Baldwin, Shaheen, and Murphy.

Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development: Senators Kennedy (Chair), McConnell, Murkowski, Hoeven, Hyde-Smith, Hagerty, Britt, Rounds, Graham, Murray, Durbin, Merkley, Coons, Baldwin, Heinrich, Peters, and Ossoff.

Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government: Senators Hagerty (Chair), Boozman, Fischer, Husted, Graham, Reed, Durbin, Coons, and Van Hollen.

Subcommittee on Department of Homeland Security: Senators Britt (Chair), Murkowski, Capito, Kennedy, Hyde-Smith, Hagerty, Murphy, Murray, Shaheen, Peters, and Van Hollen.

Subcommittee on the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies: Senators Murkowski (Chair), McConnell, Capito, Hoeven, Fischer, Rounds, Husted, Merkley, Van Hollen, Heinrich, Baldwin, Gillibrand, and Ossoff.

Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies: Senators Capito (Chair), Moran, Kennedy, Hyde-Smith, Boozman, Britt, Rounds, Husted, Graham, Baldwin, Murray, Durbin, Reed, Shaheen, Merkley, Schatz, and Murphy.

Subcommittee on Legislative Branch: Senators Fischer (Chair), Rounds, Husted, Heinrich and Ossoff.

Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies: Senators Boozman (Chair), McConnell, Murkowski, Hoeven, Collins, Hagerty, Fischer, Rounds, Graham, Ossoff, Murray, Reed, Schatz, Baldwin, Heinrich, Peters, and Gillibrand.

Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: Senators Collins (Interim Chair), McConnell, Boozman, Moran, Hagerty, Britt, Husted, Schatz, Durbin, Shaheen, Coons, Merkley, and Murphy.

Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies: Senators Hyde-Smith (Chair), Collins, Boozman, Capito, Hoeven, Kennedy, Moran, Britt, Graham, Gillibrand, Murray, Durbin, Reed, Coons, Schatz, Murphy, and Van Hollen.

Senators Collins and Murray are ex-officio members of each subcommittee.

House overcomes key hurdle on reconciliation framework, CR and other measures

Sudiksha Kochi

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) cleared the first major hurdle of his packed legislative agenda Tuesday, when House Republicans passed a rule setting up floor debate and final votes on a slate of high-profile Republican priorities before lawmakers leave Washington.