WASHINGTON – House Republicans Friday morning passed a short term stopgap spending bill to run through Nov. 21 that would keep funding at fiscal 2025 levels aside from exceptions including the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons activities.
The final vote was 217-212, with two Republicans voting against the bill and one Democrat voting for the bill.
Unless the House and the Senate have to agree to some form of continuing resolution, in lieu of finishing their appropriations bills, by Sept. 30, the government will effectively shut down. Sept. 30 marks the end of fiscal 2025. The Senate could vote as early as Friday after the deadline for the Exchange Monitor.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) called the bill a “clean, short-term funding extension” in a statement, with “clean” meaning the bill keeps funding at the same levels as the previous fiscal year, with some exceptions that include the DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
Section 128 of the “Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act 2026” says any amounts in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act for fiscal 2025 – which, true to the name, is a year-long extension of the 2024 appropriations to the end of fiscal 2025 – that go toward the NNSA’s Weapons Activities fund “may be apportioned up to the rate of operations necessary to maintain current operations” to safely transport nuclear weapons.
The bill also includes an exception for the Virginia-class submarine, allowing the Pentagon to increase “rate of operations” to fund completion of any prior-year shipbuilding programs up to $154 million. However, the bill does not include the Columbia-class submarine in its anomalies, even though Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily reported the White House requested a $3.9 billion addition for the submarine program.
Cole also boasted of voting all 12 appropriations bills out of the full committee. “Our cardinals and members have demonstrated responsible budgeting and principled decision-making while funding our nation’s most important needs,” he said in a statement. “This gives us a strong negotiating position and keeps the FY26 process moving forward to deliver for the American people.”
The House has advanced its version of the fiscal 2026 Energy and Water appropriations bill, which would give NNSA over $25 billion, to the House floor and passed it by one vote. Meanwhile, while the Senate has begun debate on its versions of a continuing resolution, including a counter-version from Democrats, the Senate’s version of the Energy and Water appropriations bill has not even reached the subcommittee level.
As of August, there were reports of disagreement between the chair and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee, Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), respectively. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the full appropriations committee, was also involved.
“Based on my conversations with both [Collins and Kennedy] they are making good progress,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), a member of the subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor at the Capitol Wednesday. “And so at this point, I would say they are making progress, and I anticipate that it will come to the full committee.”
Hoeven added that the bill won’t go to the committee level until after September funding is agreed upon and the lawmakers get through their state work period, “if, in fact, we’re not here working on putting on the government. But they are making progress based on my most recent conversations with them, and I think they will get to the full committee.”
Kennedy meanwhile, outside the Senate speaker’s lobby when asked by the Monitor on the status of the bill, said “I don’t know. I’ve submitted my budget. I’ve met with Senator Collins about it. I haven’t heard a word from Senator Murray.”
Murray’s team did not respond to a request for comment by the Monitor.