Senators voted 90-6-1 to push forward the continuing resolution that would keep federal agencies funded until Dec. 11 — a narrowly focused move that preserves funding for now but leaves a hard deadline and several unresolved fights for September.
Senate passage and the Dec. 11 stopgap
The Senate today approved a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) by a 90-6-1 margin to avert an immediate risk of a federal shutdown in October. That CR would maintain funding for federal agencies until Dec. 11. The Senate measure includes certain funding exemptions, described in the bill as "anomalies" or special funding exemptions, and incorporates provisions supported by Democrats.
What the Senate bill would do for the Pentagon
The Senate CR would keep Pentagon funding at fiscal 2026 levels and would prohibit the start of new programs during the CR period. At the same time, the Senate bill does not adopt most of the Pentagon-specific anomalies that the White House requested.
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End the scrambleHouse version, timing, and partisan divisions
Before members left for August recess, the House passed its own continuing resolution that would run only until Dec. 4. That House bill does not include the anomalies present in the Senate measure and was opposed by most House Democrats. Rather than take up the House text, the Senate unveiled its own CR on Aug. 2 and advanced that version today.
Pentagon anomalies the bills do not contain
Neither the House nor the Senate continuing resolutions contain most of the Pentagon-specific anomalies requested by the White House. The source identifies two specific White House requests that remain excluded from both bills: $1 billion in funding for a Trump-class battleship, and permission to obligate funding on five multiyear munitions contracts.
How the Pentagon, the White House, and House Democrats are responding
- Pentagon: Under both bills, funding remains at fiscal 2026 levels and the initiation of new programs would be barred for the CR period; the specific White House-requested anomalies for multiyear munitions contracting and the $1 billion for the Trump-class battleship are not included in either chamber's CR.
- The White House: The White House’s requests for Pentagon-specific anomalies were not taken up in either the House or Senate text; those exclusions remain outstanding as Congress moves toward September negotiations.
- House Democrats: Most House Democrats opposed the House-passed CR because it lacked the anomalies included in the Senate version; their opposition shaped the Senate’s choice to advance its own, different CR on Aug. 2.
The path to resolution and remaining clock
Congress must reconcile the competing calendars and provisions once lawmakers return to Washington in September. The House and Senate will either need to work out a compromise version of the CR and pass it in both chambers, or one chamber will have to adopt the other’s bill. If lawmakers fail to enact a continuing resolution by the statutory funding deadline of Sept. 30, the government would face a shutdown — an interruption that could extend beyond the midterm elections in November.
