House Passes Stopgap Funding Bill Through Dec. 11, Sending It to Trump
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The Facts
- The House voted 370-48 on Tuesday to pass a short-term funding bill known as a continuing resolution.
- The continuing resolution extends federal funding at current levels, with a few exceptions, through December 11.
- The bill now goes to President Trump for his signature.
- The Senate passed the same measure on August 8, before the House returned from recess.
- Existing federal funding was set to expire after September 30, the end of the current fiscal year.
- Congress has not completed any of the 12 spending bills that fund federal programs for fiscal 2027.
- The new December 11 deadline falls after the November 3 midterm elections.
- Control of Congress for the final two years of Trump's term is at stake in the November elections.
- The 48 no votes came from members of both parties, including progressive Democrats and hardline conservatives.
Context
What is a continuing resolution, and why was one needed?
A continuing resolution is a temporary measure that extends existing spending levels when full-year appropriations are not finished. Congress normally must pass 12 spending bills covering areas such as homeland security, energy, housing and defense, but it has not completed those bills for fiscal 2027, which runs from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027 Aol,Al Jazeera Online.
Does the bill do anything besides keep spending flat?
The Senate adjusted the bill while the House was in recess, adding a funding boost for a handful of programs NY Post, including money to support ongoing shipbuilding efforts Defense Daily. According to the Boston Globe, it would also bar the Trump administration from transferring funds to the Border Patrol Boston Globe.
Why were lawmakers in both parties eager to avoid a shutdown now?
Members were reluctant to risk a prolonged shutdown as voters head to the polls, and passage cleared the way for them to return to the campaign trail NPR,CNN International. CNN notes that this Congress holds the record for the longest shutdown in U.S. history CNN International; that closure lasted 43 days last year amid a dispute over Affordable Care Act health plan subsidies Ambito.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
Left and right largely agree on this one.
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both read the 370-48 vote as the right call with none of the 12 fiscal 2027 bills done — and both say finished appropriations are still owed.
- Where Left and Right differ in emphasis
- Left and right both back the stopgap — they part on what a post-election deadline buys.
- Why they won’t converge
- The divide is over time horizon and legitimate sequencing: both sides accept flat funding was the only option now, but disagree whether pushing the deadline past an election is prudent scheduling or an evasion Congress will repeat, a dispute the 370-48 tally cannot settle.
How left and right read it
Keeping federal programs funded is the floor, which is why an overwhelming vote to extend funding at current levels matters: with none of the 12 spending bills for fiscal 2027 finished and money set to expire after September 30, continuity was the only defensible choice. But a deadline past the November elections is "punting a messy spending fight" — so what's owed now is finished appropriations, not another reprieve.
“Lawmakers sent the legislation to President Trump in an overwhelming vote, reflecting bipartisan enthusiasm around punting a messy spending fight until after the midterms.” — The New York Times
Holding the line at current spending levels is the disciplined move when none of the twelve bills funding fiscal 2027 is finished, because a lapse after September 30 would hand the government's basic obligations over to improvisation rather than to appropriations done properly. That is why 370-48 in the House, on a measure the Senate already cleared, is the right outcome: funding stays flat, and the work Congress owes the country is still owed.
“Since the beginning of Trump's second term, Congress has been consumed by particularly contentious fights between Republicans who control Congress and the Democrat minority in the House and Senate.” — NewsMax
Both sides voted to keep the money flowing and both say twelve finished spending bills are still owed. The argument is over whether December 11 buys discipline or buys time.
The receipts — all 83 sources
Wire services (1)
Independent coverage (50)
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