House may take up stopgap funding bill this week

Al Drago/Bloomberg News

The House is expected to vote this week on a stopgap spending bill to fund the government until after November's midterm elections in an effort to avoid another government shutdown.

Only four legislative days remain before Congress leaves for an extended summer recess on Friday.

"This bill takes partisan politics and posturing off the table," said House Appropriations Chair Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. "This short-term, clean stopgap prevents harmful disruptions to our national security and the vital programs our constituents rely on at the end of September, allowing for runway in the closing months of the 119^th Congress."

House Republicans released the text of the "clean" continuing resolution Friday. It extends current fiscal 2026 funding levels to Dec. 4 for all federal agencies, including for federal programs important to the municipal market, such as National Flood Insurance and wildfire suppression efforts. It gives the Federal Emergency Management Agency flexibility to apportion Disaster Relief Fund resources as needed. Food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, which almost ran out of money during the last shutdown, would also be funded at current levels.

The CR also authorizes Washington, D.C. to spend its local funds at fiscal 2027 levels.

Government funding runs out Sept. 30 without passage of a CR or a fresh set of 12 fiscal 2027 appropriations bills.

The CR is expected to pass the House with a Republican majority. Its fate in the Senate is less clear as Senate Republicans are reportedly working with the Trump administration on anomalies for their own government funding package, according to local reports.

The House has only passed three out of the 12 fiscal 2027 appropriations bills so far although the appropriations committee has passed all 12 and sent them to the floor.

The Senate has not moved any 2027 spending bills and appropriation leaders have yet to agree on a top-line spending level.

"The House has spent months doing the work the American people sent us here to do – holding hearings, advancing every appropriations bill through committee, and moving full-year funding measures on the floor," Cole said. "Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Senate Democrats, who won't even allow markups to progress on the other side of the Capitol."

Separately, the House is not expected to take up a vote on the $580 billion surface transportation bill until September, House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chair Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., told reporters last week. The current transportation bill expires on Sept. 30, and Graves said an extension would "probably" be needed.

State and city advocates are urging the House to hold a floor vote on the  BUILD America 250 Act. "Timely action is critical to provide the certainty needed for states and local governments to plan and deliver infrastructure projects," issuer lobbyists said in a July 15 letter to House leaders.

The House is also expected this week to vote on a budget resolution that would unlock a third reconciliation bill. Unlike previous reconciliation bills, this one is expected to total only $95 billion and not touch any municipal market-centric items.

Congress has only 19 legislative days remaining before the September 30 deadline, due to the 5-week August recess and various September holidays.