WASHINGTON — The Senate today passed a bipartisan stopgap funding bill to keep federal agencies funded until Dec. 11, a key — but not final — step forward to prevent a government shutdown in October.
Senators voted 90-6-1 to push forward the continuing resolution, which would keep funding for the Pentagon at fiscal 2026 levels and forbid the start of new programs.
However, Congress still has work to do before a CR can be sent to the desk of President Donald Trump.
Before leaving for August recess last month, the House passed its own version of the CR which would run until Dec. 4. That bill does not include the anomalies, or special funding exemptions, included in the Senate bill, and was opposed by most House Democrats.
Rather than pass that version of the bill, the Senate unveiled its own CR version on Aug. 2, which includes some funding exemptions and provisions backed by Democrats.
Once Congress returns to Washington in September, the House and Senate will either need to work out a compromise version of the CR and pass it through both chambers, or one chamber will have to adopt the other’s bill.
Neither the House nor Senate bills contain most of the Pentagon-specific anomalies requested by the White House, including $1 billion in funding for the Trump-class battleship and permission to obligate funding on five multiyear munitions contracts.
For more about the Senate version of the continuing resolution, click here.
Should Congress fail to pass a continuing resolution by the Sept. 30 deadline, the government would face a shut down, potentially extending until after midterm elections in November.