House passes temporary government funding bill months early to avoid
election season shutdown
[July 22, 2026]
By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House moved Tuesday to head-off a potential
government shutdown before this fall's critical midterm elections by
passing a bill to fund the federal government through Dec. 4.
The deadline for action is more than two months away, but House GOP
leaders are not leaving to chance another possible shutdown souring the
mood of voters shortly before they go to the polls. House Speaker Mike
Johnson dared Democrats to vote against the bill, and if they did, "then
they alone are going to own the chaos that ensues if the government
shuts down after September 30.”
The House passed the measure by a mostly party-line vote of 220-205.
It’s highly unusual for Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill months
before the end of the fiscal year. Lawmakers normally act just days or
even hours before the deadline. But once lawmakers leave town this week,
the House is scheduled to be in session for only 16 more days before the
funding deadline.
GOP leadership is laying the groundwork to spend most of that time on
another priority: a long-shot, party-line bill that spends $95 billion
to boost defense, aid farmers and get portions of President Donald
Trump’s elections overhaul bill passed into law.
“I think it's kind of smart to go ahead and take the potential chaos of
a shutdown off the table because the amount of damage that does to the
American citizens,” said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. He said he believed a
shutdown “probably works to the advantage of Democrats politically,” and
he blamed the press for such a scenario.
Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the stopgap measure, which would
generally fund agencies at current spending levels.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations
Committee, said the legislation was dropped on Democrats on Friday
without any bipartisan negotiations. She said that, among other
priorities, Democrats would have pushed for provisions to reverse a
proposed federal rule that could allow agency heads to block or
terminate grants they claim don't match the president's priorities.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and GOP leaders depart
after meeting with reporters as he tries to advance a spending
package for the Iran war, farm aid and President Donald Trump's push
for strict new voter ID requirements, at the Capitol in Washington,
Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
She said that instead of a bipartisan agreement, “we are scrambling
to jam through a one-sided stopgap measure two days before everyone
leaves for the August recess.”
Republicans said work on the dozen annual spending bills would
continue in the months ahead, but that funding the government
through Dec. 4 could help lawmakers avoid a repeat of the past year
when the country experienced the longest federal shutdown in history
followed by the longest partial shutdown in history.
“We've seen that happen twice in this Congress already,” said Rep.
Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “I'm not
willing to risk a third time if we can avoid that.”
Some of the more conservative Republican lawmakers were fine with
the bill to extend funding to Dec. 4, known as a continuing
resolution.
In this environment, that's "the best way to spend the least amount
of money,” said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo. “You keep spending levels
static for at least a period of time.”
It's unclear if the Senate will go along with the bill. Spending
bills require support from 60 senators to advance to a final vote,
so some Democrats would need to support it. Senate Majority Leader
John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that Senate Appropriations
Committee Chair Susan Collins was working with Democrats on the
committee to “find a path forward.”
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