Congress is three weeks from shutdown and miles from a spending deal
There are 20 days left until the federal government runs out of funding, and Congress is nowhere near a deal to avoid a shutdown. With little time left, congressional leadership and the White House are trying to come up with a short-term solution.
Democrats want to reverse cuts
The top Democrat in the Senate said the bill must be bipartisan. Democrats want to reverse some of the spending cuts Republicans and the Trump Administration have made over the last eight months.
“The bottom line is the bill they proposed can’t get our votes, doesn’t meet the needs of the American people, plain and simple,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.
Schumer is right – the bill must be bipartisan. To get government funding through the Senate, Republicans need at least seven Democrats to support it; otherwise, it will fall short of the 60 votes needed to pass.
Republicans want further spending reductions
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Republicans are willing to work with Democrats on one condition: They must be willing to spend less money than last year. That condition directly contradicts the Democrats’ demands, fueling the impasse.
“It’s incumbent upon all of us to do it with the high national debt,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “But the ultimate question as to whether there’s going to be a government shutdown at the end of the month is up to congressional Democrats.”
Democrats believe Republicans have already cut too much from the budget in the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” They also want an increase in health care spending. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., meanwhile, said extending Obamacare tax credits that help lower-income Americans with their insurance premiums is off the table.
The options on the table
Several options are under consideration. Each one includes a continuing resolution, or CR, which is an agreement to keep the government funded at its current levels on a temporary basis until a formal appropriations package can be passed.
In no particular order – lawmakers could approve a clean CR, which is a copy and paste of the current budget. That could last into November or all the way into the first quarter of 2026, depending on how much time leadership thinks they need to negotiate.
They could also do what’s called a minibus and CR. That means they would approve fiscal year 2026 funding for certain departments and use a CR to fund the rest. Lawmakers have made progress on three bills that fund the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Labor, Agriculture and the FDA.
Congress is supposed to pass 12 spending bills every year. Each bill funds specific departments and agencies within the federal government. Even if they keep the government open, they’ll miss the deadline to approve all 12.
The government was funded for all of 2025 on a CR. Lawmakers never finished the appropriations process.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
