Government Shutdown

The 215-211 vote delivers a key win for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who had spent weeks trying to unify his conference as conservative hardliners pressed leadership to take more aggressive action on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act and legislation to codify President Trump's border policies.

Capitol Hill insiders expect a lengthy shutdown despite the Midterm election. (In the past, Congress would expect to resolve the budget before returning to the campaign trail)

With the FY27 budget process well underway, I put together this list of the start dates of past budgets. Information gathered from Congress.gov and Senate.gov. From left to right, Fiscal year, Date of First Subcommittee Vote, Date of First Committee Vote, Date of First Floor Vote, Total Bills passed before 9/30 deadline, Date all bills passed, House Party Control, Senate Party Control, President's Party, Was there a Shutdown, Length of Shutdown, Congress Number, and Notes. Please list govtshutdown.tumblr.com as source if sharing.

Senate Republicans and some Democrats fear another government shutdown is looming this fall after bipartisan spending talks sputtered this week, forcing Republicans to cancel the markup of four appropriations bills scheduled for Thursday.

“Earlier this week, Republicans narrowly passed funding for two immigration enforcement agencies through a “fast-tracked” process called reconciliation designed to overcome the filibuster, because it can be passed with a simple majority in both chambers, bypassing Democrats.
Trump is also urging Republicans to again sidestep negotiations with Democrats and pursue a new set of spending priorities, including $350 billion in defense funding, outside of the traditional appropriations process.”

Sigh

On Thursday, the House passed the Agriculture Appropriations Act, the second for FY27. I'll be updating with progress on more later in the week. Currently dealing with an overload of work and meetings.

The roll call from Friday's vote on H.R. 8469, the MilCon/VA funding bill for FY27

The legislation would fund veterans’ benefits, invest more than $2 billion in infrastructure improvements for Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities and four cemeteries, and include $900 million for medical and prosthetic research, among other things.

The first appropriations bill of the FY2027 cycle may pass the House of Representatives as soon as today (05/14/2026). The bill, covering Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, MilCon/VA for short, is usually the first one out the gate as it is regularly noncontroversial.

In compliance with the 27th amendment, Senators will no longer receive pay during a government shutdown. It will be withheld just as Federal Employees have their pay withheld until their agencies reopen. If there is a shutdown before November, this resolution will not be in effect as it cannot change the pay of a member of Congress until after the next election has been conducted.

Now that FY26 is pretty much covered, the roll out of FY27 appropriation bills continue

The longest shutdown in U.S. history is over, aged 75 days

Republicans were forced to use a special maneuver to steer around opposition in their own party and speed the measure to the floor, relying on Democrats to push it through.

Monday at 6:55 p.m. ET

The first FY27 bill has reached the floor! And yes, they still haven't passed the last FY26 bill. Expect one more early next week and at least two more soon after.

Republicans in the upper chamber are ramping up the pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to swiftly approve a Senate-passed bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), arguing that tens of thousands of federal workers could miss paychecks next month if the House delays much longer.