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This development represents both a significant departure from earlier divisions on FY 2026 spending and another step in closing out annual funding for the fiscal year. There are 23 days remaining until the expiration of full government funding as allocated by the CR that reopened the government after the longest shutdown in history.
Three annual funding bills are already enacted for FY 2026: Agriculture, Military Construction and Veterans, and Legislative Branch. Once this minibus is signed into law, that would bring the total to six of 12 annual funding bills completed, leaving six outstanding.
Both chambers are in session this week and next. The legislative calendar is then constrained: the House returns for only one week after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the Senate is in session only during the final week of January. Both chambers will need to allocate time to resolve the remaining funding bills, whether through two additional minibus packages or some funding allocated by continuing Appropriations.
Appropriators have indicated publicly that Congress might seek to approve two further minibus bills. The first would include Financial Services and General Government, Homeland Security, and State and Foreign Operations (National Security, State Department) funding. The second and final minibus for FY 2026 would then consist of Labor-Health and Human Services, Defense, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development funding measures.
The remaining spending measures are in advanced stages of negotiation, with further legislative text expected to be released shortly.
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