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After a month-long August recess, Congress returned to session this week with considerable legislative items that await. Lawmakers return with limited time to address government spending to avoid a federal government shutdown beginning on October 1. One of the biggest hurdles facing lawmakers is time; there are only 11 legislative days remaining in September when both chambers are scheduled to be in session to negotiate and eventually pass a funding bill.
The road to passing a spending bill will face many political challenges. In a Dear Colleague letter sent earlier this week by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), he cites his belief that Republicans are “threatening to go-at-it-alone” with respect to government funding. Senate Republicans will need the support of at least seven Senate Democrats in order to overcome a filibuster and avoid a shutdown. Many within the Democratic Party are calling for a bipartisan approach to the spending bills in return for their vote. After White House budget chief Russ Vought notified Congress last week that the administration would cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid initially approved by Congress, members on both sides of the aisle are expressing frustration with the Trump administration over the decision which could increase the likelihood of a shutdown. Increasing the issues confronting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in the House is the tight majority he continues to face, especially as two special elections in September will add two Democrats back to the House following special elections to replace former Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) who died in office earlier this year. House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) hopes to pass a stopgap measure funding the government no later than Thanksgiving, mentioning November 6 and November 20 as potential expiration dates for a Continuing Resolution (CR). The plan may also include attaching the pending FY 2026 Agriculture-Rural Development, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending bills—the same bills passed overwhelmingly by the Senate earlier this summer (more on that below.)
On August 1, right before leaving for summer recess, the Senate passed a minibus spending package, consisting of the FY 2026 Agriculture-Rural Development; Legislative Branch; and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Appropriations bills. In addition to the passed minibus, the full Senate Appropriations Committee has marked up and passed its versions of the FY26 Commerce-Science-Justice; Defense; Interior-Environment; Labor-Health and Human Services-Education; and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development spending bills to-date. As of September 4, the House has passed three FY26 spending bills: Military Construction-VA; Defense; and Energy-Water Development. In addition to those three bills, the full House Appropriations Committee has marked up and passed its versions of the FY26 Agriculture-Rural Development; Financial Services-General Government; Homeland Security; Interior-Environment; Legislative Branch; State Foreign Operations-National Security; and Transportation-HUD spending bills thus far. Congress has made progress in the FY26 appropriations cycle, however, both chambers have considerable work remaining to finalize all twelve FY26 spending bills and averting a government shutdown.
Within the FY26 spending bills are Community Project Funding (CPF) and Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) requests submitted by Members of Congress this past Spring, commonly known as earmarks. As Congress finalized FY 2025 spending legislation in March, earmarks were cut from the final, enacted package. As FY26 takes center stage, former opponents have changed their tune and have hinted at a new willingness to support the projects allowing for Members to fund specific projects in their districts and states. The House Freedom Caucus, a group of the most conservative House members, led by Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), have hinted at supporting earmarks in an eventual CR, in their desire to keep spending flat.
In addition to government funding challenges, Congress will work throughout September to continue confirming Trump administration nominees; consideration of crime, stock trading, and housing-related legislation; and calls for disclosures linked to the “Epstein Files,” among other pressing issues.
The Senate will consider a change of the rules to confirm nominees of the Trump administration after the president spoke of his desire for the Senate to cancel the August recess in order to process more of his nominees. Republicans plan to streamline Senate confirmations by allowing multiple nominees to be approved by a single vote, rather than individual votes for each nomination. Senate Republicans aim to implement this by September 19. The change would exclude Cabinet positions, Supreme Court, and appeals court nominees. There is ongoing debate about whether to include federal district court nominees as part of these proposed changes.
The House this week considered nine bills under suspension of the rules, including the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2025 (H.R. 747), which provides the president expanded powers to sanction Chinese entities over fentanyl trafficking. The House also approved three Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolutions (H.J. Res. 104; H.J. Res. 105; and H.J. Res 106) nullifying three rules issued by the Bureau of Land Management over the last three months of the Biden administration updating resource management plans restricting mineral leases in Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska, respectively; and the FY 2026 Energy-Water Development spending bill (H.R. 4553), which provides a total discretionary allocation of $57.3 billion to the Energy Department, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and 11 independent federal agencies.
The Senate voted to advance the nominations of Maria Lanahan to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri and Edward Artau to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida. The Senate also voted on the motion to proceed to its version of the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (S. 2296), which authorizes $924.7 billion in FY26 defense spending, much higher than the House version that provides $848 billion. The Senate also passed the Tracking and Reporting Absent Community-Members Everywhere (TRACE) Act (S. 1038) by Unanimous Consent; the legislation requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to include an additional category to the existing National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems (NamUs) database so the public and law enforcement partners can denote cases where the person went missing or was identified on federal land or territorial waters of the United States—including by providing specific location details.
The House and Senate held several committee hearings this week. In the House, a Small Business Committee hearing was held on “Wired for Growth: How Expanding Broadband Can Revitalize Rural Small Businesses;” and an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing was held on “Examining Opportunities to Advance American Health Care through the Use of Artificial Intelligence Technologies.” The Senate held several hearings, including a Finance Committee hearing with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to “Examine the President’s 2026 Health Care Agenda.”
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