Congress Averts Oct. 1 Shutdown, Hands Spending Fight to December

WASHINGTON, The federal government will enter fiscal year 2027 on Tuesday without a shutdown, after President Trump signed a short-term spending measure that buys Congress roughly ten more weeks to reach agreement on full-year appropriations.

Trump signed H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, on Sept. 2, according to a Congressional Research Service overview of the measure reviewed by Congress.gov. The law funds all federal agencies at fiscal year 2026 spending levels through Dec. 11.

Neither chamber had finished its regular appropriations work before the Oct. 1 deadline. The Senate Appropriations Committee had not reported a single FY2027 spending bill, and only three of the twelve bills had cleared the full House, according to a status table maintained by Congress.gov.

The House cleared the Senate version of the stopgap on Sept. 1 by a 370-48 vote, according to Government Executive. The Senate had passed the measure on Aug. 8 by a 90-6 margin, ahead of its summer recess.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said in floor remarks reported by Government Executive that "the fiscal year deadline is outpacing the work that remains" and that the bill would ensure constituents "will continue to get the services they need." Cole said the measure would give Congress time "to get past the November elections, and allow us time to assess and move forward with further appropriations measures in November and December."

Ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., called the final product a "marked improvement" over an earlier House-passed version that would have funded the government only through Dec. 4 and lacked several provisions Democrats sought, according to Government Executive.

The law includes a rider that temporarily blocks an Office of Management and Budget rule that would subject federal grant awards to review by senior political appointees, according to reporting by the Computing Research Association's government affairs blog. That block expires when the CR itself expires on Dec. 11.

The CR also contains language barring the Trump administration from transferring funds from other programs to Border Patrol, according to Government Executive.

The bipartisan margins reflected, in part, institutional memory of recent disruptions. Federal employees have been through three funding lapses in the past twelve months totaling 123 days, including what political.org described as a record 76-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown that ended on April 30. The fiscal year 2026 cycle began with a 43-day government-wide shutdown from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12, 2025, according to Wikipedia's account of that shutdown.

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation noted that Congress has not completed all twelve appropriations bills by Oct. 1 since fiscal year 1997, a streak that now reaches three decades.

With midterm elections scheduled for November and the Dec. 11 deadline arriving shortly after, lawmakers in both chambers face pressure to either negotiate full-year spending deals or pass another stopgap. The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to hold markups on any FY2027 bills, leaving the lame-duck window as the likely venue for any final bargaining.

Sources cited:
- Congress.gov / CRS Overview of Continuing Appropriations for FY2027 (P.L. 119-103) (https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R49353)
- Government Executive (https://www.govexec.com/management/2026/09/shutdown-threat-lifted-house-passes-stopgap-spending-bill/415753/)
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Appropriations Watch: FY2027 (https://www.crfb.org/blogs/appropriations-watch-fy-2027)
- Computing Research Association, FY27 Appropriations Update (https://cra.org/govaffairs/blog/2026/09/fy2027-sept-update/)
- Peter G. Peterson Foundation, What Is a Continuing Resolution? (https://www.pgpf.org/article/what-is-a-continuing-resolution/)
- Congress.gov, H.R.9770, 119th Congress (https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9770)
- political.org, Congress Returns From Recess to Four-Week Countdown (https://political.org/2026/08/28/congress-faces-tight-timeline-on-government-funding-upon-return-from-recess/)