Congress has not passed any spending bills since the 43-day government shutdown ended, and lawmakers won’t have much time left to act when they return to session in January.
The shutdown-ending deal included full-year funding for three of the 12 annual spending bills, but the remaining nine are running on stopgap funding that expires Jan. 30.
“We’ve lost a lot of time,” said Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican.
Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, predicted “it’s going to take every minute” until the deadline to pass the remaining nine bills.
“But we absolutely have to,” he said. “To hand away the most important power Congress has, which is the power of the purse, would be a profound mistake.
Despite not getting any appropriations bills done after the longest shutdown in history ended on Nov. 12, lawmakers in both parties are bullish that they will avoid another funding lapse next year.
“I don’t think either side wants to see that happen. I think that’s toxic for both parties,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said. “So I’m hoping that there will be goodwill and we’ll figure out how to fund the government.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, has made clear he does not intend to lead his caucus in another shutdown fight over health care, even with the Obamacare premium subsidies they fought to renew expiring Dec. 31.
He said both parties want to pass the remaining nine full-year appropriations bills for fiscal 2026, “and I think we have a damn good chance to get it done.”
The Senate spent the month post-shutdown trying to advance a five-bill spending package containing funding for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Commerce, Justice, Interior, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.
But lawmakers could not get unanimous consent to package the bills together, as the chamber rules require. Senators can put what’s known as a “hold” on the process, signaling they would object to unanimous consent in an effort to extract concessions.
“When everybody has input, it gets kind of messy,” said Sen. John Boozman, Arkansas Republican. “But that’s a good thing.”
He applauded the Senate’s effort to break the spending bills up into more manageable packages rather than trying to pass a “massive bill that nobody knows what’s in that’s been negotiated by just a very handful” of top lawmakers.
Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida had a hold on the appropriations package for weeks, as they sought to strip earmarks.
Mr. Johnson also wanted a path to passing his Shutdown Fairness Act to ensure federal workers get paid if they’re required to work during a funding lapse.
He ultimately got the assurances he needed on that bill, and the senators secured the promise of two amendment votes related to stripping the earmarks. While those amendments are expected to fail, they will also get to vote on the portion of the package that contains earmarks separately from the portion that does not.
Mr. Scott said the solution lets him vote for fiscal discipline, as he promised his constituents.
“I’m not ever going to feel bad because I want to balance the budget and stop inflation,” he said.
After Mr. Thune and his leadership team negotiated an end to all the Republican holds on the five-bill package, they ran into obstacles on the Democratic side and were unable to advance the spending measure before departing for the holidays.
One of the issues was the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, in Boulder, Colorado, as White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced on Dec. 16.
“This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country,” he said on social media. “A comprehensive review is underway & any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.”
Colorado Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper placed a hold on the spending package to secure a resolution to force the Trump administration to spend the funding the measure provides for NCAR to continue its current operations.
“Whatever disagreement there is between the state, the governor of Colorado, and the president of the United States, that shouldn’t affect a scientific institution,” Mr. Hickenlooper said. “Science should be free of that kind of politics.”
Democrats say Mr. Trump’s move to dismantle NICAR was made in retaliation for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ refusal to release former Mesa County elections clerk Tina Peters from state prison.
The president tried to pardon Ms. Peters, who is serving a nine-year sentence for tampering with voting machines to try to prove the 2020 election was rigged against him. But Mr. Trump does not have the authority to pardon state convictions.
“I think what the president did in Colorado was utterly disgusting, and the Republicans ought to go to him and get him to change it,” Mr. Schumer said.
Republicans did try to work with the White House to resolve the NCAR issue but were unsuccessful, according to Mr. Kennedy.
The Senate is still hoping to find a resolution to the remaining holds and pass the five-bill appropriations package when lawmakers return the week of Jan. 5.
Those five bills may still not become law because they have not been negotiated with the House.
“It’s a Senate thing. It’s not an agreement with us,” said House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican.
The House opted not to move any spending bills between the shutdown ending and the holiday break because it preferred to finish negotiations with the Senate before doing so.
A few days after Congress adjourned for the year, Mr. Cole announced that he reached a deal with Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, Maine Republican, on the topline funding levels for the remaining nine bills.
He did not reveal the specific amounts but said the total for all 12 bills will come in below the previous fiscal year level of $1.6 trillion.
“This pathway forward aligns with President Trump’s clear direction to rein in runaway, beltway-driven spending,” Mr. Cole said.
That will please House conservatives who set that as a red line.
“Keep moving appropriations bills, but in no way should it exceed current level spending,” Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy said. “Hold spending flat or lower.”
Mr. Cole would like to pass the remaining bills in packages of three, one for each week of January that the House is working in Washington. The chamber is scheduled to be in recess the last week of the month when the Jan. 30 deadline will hit.
Appropriators in both chambers said they planned to continue negotiations over the holiday break, but Mr. Kennedy suggested that won’t yield much.
“It’s like play acting,” he said.
While lawmakers want to pass full-year funding for the remaining nine bills, Mr. Thune acknowledged there “could be” a need to keep a few running on stopgap funding through fiscal 2026.
He cited the measures that provide funding for foreign aid, the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS as ones where lawmakers may struggle to reach an agreement.
Florida GOP Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, a House appropriator, said he thinks the only thing that would prevent all nine bills from passing is lawmakers trying to add extraneous provisions.
Senate appropriator Jerry Moran, Kansas Republican, predicted there will be obstacles: “At every moment there’s an opportunity for leverage, that moment is utilized.”
