Washington — The Senate is preparing to advance a short-term funding package Monday aimed at keeping federal agencies open past the midterm elections, as lawmakers try to head off the threat of another disruptive and expensive government shutdown this fall.
Senate appropriators released the continuing resolution on Sunday. The proposal would generally maintain current government funding levels through Dec. 11, while allowing for several targeted exceptions. But the bill is likely to put the Senate on a collision course with the House when members return next month, leaving Congress with only a narrow window before the Sept. 30 government funding deadline.
Before departing Washington last month for an extended recess, the House passed its own temporary funding bill to carry the government into December. That vote broke largely along party lines and drew Democratic opposition. Senate leaders signaled then that they would take a more bipartisan route, a necessity in the chamber where most legislation needs 60 votes to move forward. They also indicated they would work with the White House on specific funding changes.
On Sunday, Senate appropriators highlighted those changes — often called anomalies — as a key feature of their continuing resolution, pointing to adjustments affecting nutrition assistance, national security and disaster relief programs.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator, described the measure as a “much-improved CR to keep the government funded and avert a shutdown that no one wants,” emphasizing several provisions added to the Senate draft.
“This bill includes important extensions and language that House Republicans’ CR did not, and it rejects Trump’s frivolous war spending wish list,” Murray said in a statement. “Importantly, we closed the loophole in House Republicans’ CR that would have allowed the Trump administration to transfer funding provided for other programs to Border Patrol, which desperately needs reform, not more money.”
Democrats had pushed to include multiple safeguards in the temporary spending bill. Among them is the Border Patrol provision, which they say would stop the administration from shifting money designated for other parts of Customs and Border Protection into the agency. The dispute follows Democratic resistance earlier this year to funding immigration enforcement agencies. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democratic appropriator in the House, said last month she would not back the House bill because it did not include language eliminating funding for Border Patrol. On Sunday, DeLauro said the Senate version was “a clear improvement over the House Republican continuing resolution.”
Senate Democrats also pointed to language that would temporarily block political appointees in the administration from carrying out a proposed grants rule. They have warned the policy could let the administration cancel grants and “take even more federal funding hostage.”
But Democrats were unable to secure additional provisions, like one aimed at preventing the administration from pursuing so-called “pocket rescissions” to claw back previously appropriated funding.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, praised the stopgap funding measure for avoiding “any poison pills.” She called it a “major step toward averting a damaging shutdown that only harms vital programs and federal workers.”
“I look forward to our continued work on appropriations legislation and to bringing them to the Senate floor as soon as possible,” Collins said in a statement.
The Senate is aiming to approve the measure before leaving town for its August recess later this week, with an initial procedural vote Monday evening.
How the House will proceed when it returns on Aug. 31 remains to be seen. The Senate’s measure could see support from Democrats, giving House Speaker Mike Johnson a bipartisan coalition to secure its passage. But the Louisiana Republican could also face pushback from members of his own conference and pressure to stand firm on the House-approved measure. Even so, with limited time and widespread concern about the cost of another shutdown ahead of the midterms, lawmakers may be less inclined to oppose a deal.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was at the center of the record government shutdowns over the past year and has faced pressure to leverage the funding fights for his party, praised the continuing resolution as a “responsible path forward that allows continued bipartisan negotiations on a budget that delivers for American families.”
“For months, Democrats have been clear: we want to fund the government, avoid a shutdown, and pass strong, bipartisan appropriations bills that improve people’s lives,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. “Democrats remain committed to funding negotiations that help hardworking Americans get ahead and stymie Trump’s wasteful, corrupt agenda that has failed families.”
