Uncertainty over a potential government shutdown is rising after the Senate last Friday Sept. 19 rejected a House-passed stopgap funding bill that also included spending flexibility for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons activities.
After the House earlier in the day narrowly approved a GOP-led continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open through Nov. 21 with a 217 to 212 vote, the measure failed to reach the 60 votes required for passage in the upper chamber.
The House has also been out of session until September 29, just two days before the government shutdown deadline when the government will run out of money.
The Washington Post and other media outlets have reported Thursday that the White House and the Office of Management and Budget could institute widespread federal layoffs if a CR does not pass by Oct. 1.
“Beyond allowing members to leave Washington before we have addressed the looming funding deadline, he has extended the Republican vacation by two days. Speaker Johnson is silencing members and shutting down the House in advance of a government-wide shutdown. This move is shameful and must be reversed,” DeLauro said in a statement.
“I can’t stop Democrats from opposing our nonpartisan continuing resolution. If they want to shut down the government, they have the power to do so,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), said on the floor ahead of Friday’s votes. “But if they think they’re going to gain political points from shutting down the government over a clean, nonpartisan CR – something they voted for 13 times under the Biden administration – I would strongly urge them to think again.”
Facing a government shutdown deadline on Oct. 1, with Congress in recess and returning Sept. 29, House Republicans earlier last week unveiled the Nov. 21 CR stopgap funding proposal, which they touted as a “clean” CR that is “free of poison pills.”
The House GOP-led CR includes authorities allowing the Pentagon to boost the “rate of operations” for weapons activities in the National Nuclear Security Administration, and to maintain progress on the Virginia-class submarine programs, essentially allowing for flexible spending on both programs that would typically be barred under a stopgap funding measure.
The latter anomaly had been requested by the White House, which had asked that Congress include DoD authority to “obligate funding in the ‘Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy’ account at a rate for operations necessary” to pay for the Virginia-class submarine program.
“Without the anomaly, funding would not be available for this purpose during the period of the CR,” the White House wrote to Congress this month.
The House-passed CR proposal, however, did not include the White House’s request for a $3.93 billion anomaly covering procurement of a Columbia-class submarine.
“Without this anomaly, the deployment plans for future [nuclear ballistic missile submarines] could result in delays in a day-to-day slip for the program,” the Donald Trump administration said.
The Senate voted 47 to 45 for the Democrats’ CR proposal, failing to reach the required 60 votes for passage, and then did not pass the House GOP-led version with a 44 to 48 vote.
Under a CR, which locks in funding at the prior fiscal year’s level, the Pentagon is typically barred from initiating new programs or planned procurement increases.
The Pentagon is currently operating under its first ever full-year CR, which included a slight boost to defense spending and contained a provision allowing the Pentagon to initiate new start programs.
All but two House Republicans voted in favor of the Nov. 21 CR proposal, with Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) opposed the measure, while Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was the sole Democrat to support the legislation.
Democrats in both chambers opposed the Nov. 21 CR proposal over the decision to not include an extension of health care premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and concerns with the Trump administration’s pocket recissions package to cancel previously approved federal funding.
A separate CR proposal introduced by top Democratic Party appropriators in both chambers included the healthcare subsidies extension, kept the government open through Oct. 31 and included the Virginia-class spending flexibilities.
“Today, House Republicans took responsible action to keep our government open and working for the nation. Keeping the lights on is not a partisan issue — and this clean, short-term funding extension reflects that. By acting in good faith to prevent the chaos of a shutdown, we are preserving stability for families and communities, protecting the real progress already made on appropriations, and strengthening our position to complete the FY26 process responsibly,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.
“While Republicans push America to the brink of a shutdown, Democrats are ready to negotiate a bipartisan continuing resolution and government funding bills that lower the cost of living, help working people—not just billionaires—and protect people’s health care,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a joint statement. “We invite Republican leadership to finally join Democratic leadership at the negotiating table, which they have refused for weeks to do, to prevent a shutdown and begin bipartisan negotiations to keep the government funded.”
A CR will be required to avoid a lapse in government funding with Congress having yet to pass final appropriations bills negotiated between the House and Senate with just weeks left before the end of the fiscal year. Fiscal year 2026 begins on Oct. 1.
The Senate Appropriations Committee in late July approved its $852.5 billion fiscal year 2026 defense spending bill, approving a $21.7 billion topline increase that boosts funds for shipbuilding, munitions and Ukraine aid, while the full House has already passed its version of the legislation that adheres to the administration’s requested spending level.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.