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Stopgap Funding Law Averts Shutdown Until Dec. 11

H.R. 6500, signed Sept. 2, funds federal agencies through Dec. 11 after 90-6 and 370-48 votes. What it does, who backed it and the lame-duck deadlines ahead.

ByPeter
Stack of bill documents beside a wooden gavel with a brass band on a polished dark table
AI-generated illustration

No federal shutdown began on Oct. 1 because President Donald Trump signed H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, on Sept. 2. The law, Public Law 119-103, funds agencies through Dec. 11, 2026, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports. The Senate passed it 90-6 on Aug. 8 and the House agreed 370-48 on Sept. 1. CRS says Congress must pass full-year spending bills or another stopgap before then to avoid a funding gap starting Dec. 12.

At a glance

  • Law: H.R. 6500, signed Sept. 2 as P.L. 119-103 (Congress.gov).
  • Cost: the Congressional Budget Office projects $1.701 trillion in annualized discretionary budget authority, CRS reports.
  • Deadline: Dec. 11. Congress is away until Nov. 9 and midterm elections are Nov. 3.
Stack of bill documents beside a wooden gavel with a brass band on a polished dark table
AI-generated illustration

What the law does

A continuing resolution, or CR, is a stopgap that keeps agencies running at roughly last year’s funding rate while full-year bills are unfinished. According to CRS, none of the 12 regular fiscal 2027 spending bills had been enacted. The House Appropriations Committee had reported all 12 and the House passed three, while the Senate committee had reported none.

This CR funds agencies at a rate based largely on fiscal 2026 laws. CRS lists several “anomalies,” meaning exceptions to that rule. One allows up to $26.37 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund. Others extend the National Flood Insurance Program, including its $30.4 billion in borrowing authority, and bar the Defense Department from “new starts,” or newly begun projects. Section 157 blocks a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule on federal grant management until Dec. 11. The law also extends several expiring programs.

Where it stands

  • July 18: House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole introduces H.R. 9770, a CR through Dec. 4.
  • July 21: the House passes it, 220-205.
  • Aug. 2: Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) releases alternative text running to Dec. 11, which she and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) call bipartisan (Collins).
  • Aug. 5: the Senate agrees by voice vote to take up H.R. 6500, a House-passed bill, originally titled the AGOA Extension Act, used as the vehicle.
  • Aug. 8: the Senate passes it, 90-6.
  • Sept. 1: the House concurs, 370-48, under “suspension of the rules,” a shortcut requiring a two-thirds majority.
  • Sept. 2: Trump signs it.

What supporters and critics say

Collins said the CR is “straightforward,” continues current funding to Dec. 11 and “avoids any poison pills.” She also welcomed the block on the OMB rule, saying it could “politicize grants and harm small, rural communities, families, and biomedical research.” Murray called it “a much-improved CR” that would “avert a shutdown that no one wants,” and said it “rejects Trump’s frivolous war spending wish list.” She also said she wanted more: she pressed for infrastructure extensions and limits on “pocket rescissions,” and said Republicans refused (Murray).

Six senators and 48 House members voted no. The sources reviewed do not give their reasons, so this article does not characterize them.

What happens next

The Senate held its last pre-election votes Sept. 30 and returns Nov. 9, the Washington Examiner reports; the House left Sept. 16. Its list for the post-election “lame duck” session includes the Dec. 11 deadline, the fiscal 2027 defense authorization bill, and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expired in June. The Trump administration says collection could go dark Nov. 20, though surveillance can otherwise continue until March 2027. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said a third party-line budget bill is a possible option but asked, “Do we have 50 to do something?”

NBC News reports the 119th Congress has passed fewer bills into law than any two-year session in more than half a century. Whether Dec. 11 brings full-year bills or another stopgap is likely to hinge on the election results, the Examiner says.

Sources

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