The measure aims to avert a government shutdown during the midterm campaign season while delaying a controversial presidential grant review policy.
Senate appropriators released the stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, to maintain federal operations past the September 30 end of the fiscal year according to The Associated Press. The full Senate scheduled an initial procedural vote for Monday evening, with leaders pushing for final passage before lawmakers leave Washington at the week’s end for their traditional August recess.
Bipartisan Agreement Avoids Midterm Shutdown
Both political parties are eager to sidestep a funding crisis while candidates campaign across the country. Polling from previous fiscal battles indicated that neither party escaped blame from voters. The American public experienced two record-breaking funding lapses over the prior 10 months, including a 43-day full shutdown and a 76-day partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
“We need to ensure that they do not face a third.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., via The Associated Press
Senate Majority Leader John Thune made passing the measure his top priority before the recess. While the House of Representatives advanced its own stopgap vehicle on a 220-205 vote to fund agencies through December 4, Senate leaders pursued an alternative path amid uncertain cross-aisle support for the lower chamber’s version.
Funding Differences and Border Patrol Protections
The Senate committee’s compromise generally funds government operations at current levels through December 11. It incorporates specific adjustments for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, the Disaster Relief Fund, housing and food assistance for low-income seniors, veterans programs, and shipbuilding.
Negotiators excluded several White House proposals from the final text. Lawmakers also secured language preventing the administration from shifting funds away from other federal programs to the Border Patrol.
“This CR is a major step toward averting a damaging shutdown that only harms vital programs and federal workers.”
Sen. Susan Collins, Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee
Dispute Over Executive Grant Review Rules
The stopgap legislation temporarily delays a contested regulatory effort by President Donald Trump’s administration regarding federal grants. The proposed Office of Management and Budget rule would mandate that a senior political appointee review agency grant proposals to verify that discretionary awards align with executive priorities.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the committee, confirmed the rule will remain inactive while the stopgap bill is in effect. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., vice committee chair, said in a statement that the bill blocks a disgraceful effort that would further politicize all federal grants
and closes House Republicans' loophole to pull funding for other agencies to give Border Patrol.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the committee, warned that the policy could politicize grants and hurt rural communities, families, and biomedical research.
The late-summer action on a funding fix is unusual. Normally, Congress waits until the final days or hours of a funding deadline to pass short-term funding extensions, but this time senators are acting two months before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. The bipartisan stopgap spending agreement still requires Senate passage and House approval before reaching President Donald Trump.
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