Update: FY26 Appropriations Bills

The legislation that ended the government shutdown in November included three FY26 appropriations bills: Agriculture, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs.  Congress has until January 30 to pass the remaining nine appropriations bills or a continuing resolution (CR) that would continue funding those agencies and programs at FY 2025 spending levels.

The weekend before Christmas, Senate and House Appropriations Committee Chairs announced that they reached an agreement on overall totals for each of the nine remaining spending bills. The amounts were not made public, but the Chairs say they fall below overall levels under the current CR that expires at the end of January. The totals are likely to be closer to bipartisan Senate-proposed topline numbers than the amounts set in appropriations bills that passed the House on party-line votes, and that will invite opposition from far-right members of the Republican Party, but this agreement allows the parties to start negotiating the details of the remaining spending bills.

There does not appear to be much appetite for another government shutdown, but Congress still has a lot left to do. Democrats have not yet decided what they will demand in exchange for votes, and it remains to be seen how intervening events, including developments in Venezuela, might impact legislative priorities and the chances for bipartisan agreement.

Just before leaving for the holiday recess, Republican Senate leaders were able to clear all Republican objections to a minibus that includes five appropriations bills:  Defense, Commerce-Justice-Science (C-J-S), Interior, Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, and Labor-Health and Human Services. Majority Leader Thune (R-SD) hoped to start the floor process for that package in December, but Sens. Bennet (D-CO) and Hickenlooper (D-CO) subsequently blocked action on the package in response to the administration’s announcement that it will dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder.  The Senators say they will not lift their holds until NCAR funding is restored. The dispute will be tricky to resolve; the decrease in NCAR funding is understood to have stemmed from a dispute between President Trump and Colorado Governor Polis relating to the President’s desire to pardon a woman convicted in Colorado for 2020 election tampering crimes.