On September 2, 2026, a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) extending the funding deadline for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 was signed into law. This CR temporarily funds the federal government at its current levels until December 11, 2026.
What is in the CR?
The primary purpose of CRs is to extend the deadline to enact final spending levels for the federal government, giving Congress more time to propose and pass all 12 funding bills. Usually CRs don’t contain too many policy changes, but the recently passed CR has a few, including:
- Preventing the Administration from giving funds to Border Patrol agencies.
- Preventing the implementation of a recently proposed regulation change over federal grant administration that would, among other things, allow political appointees at federal agencies to review discretionary grant applications based on political alignment with the Administration over grant criteria and the advice of subject matter experts. The CR states that if this regulation change is enacted, it cannot go into effect until December 11, 2026.
Why did Congress pass a CR?
It’s an election year, and Congress has very limited time left in the calendar year to negotiate and pass bills, since both chambers were just on a month-long recess (the Senate is still out until September 14) and both will be out again for the month of October. In fact, the House may take even more time off to go home to campaign. As such, Congress decided to push the federal funding deadline to after the elections to allow themselves time to focus on campaigning.
