The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2026 runs from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026.
The 2025 federal government shutdown occurred at the beginning of the fiscal year. It lasted until November 12, when a continuing resolution and three of the twelve full appropriations bills were enacted. In mid-January 2026, three additional bills were enacted. The four-day 2026 federal government shutdown occurred due to delays in the House passing a package containing five more bills, plus a continuing resolution for the Department of Homeland Security, the only remaining agency without year-long appropriations.
Over the long term, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that spending on Social Security and Medicare would continue to increase, driven in part by an aging population and rising federal healthcare costs. Similarly, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that projected deficits are primarily caused by the growth in program spending—particularly Social Security, Medicare, and other federal healthcare programs—as well as increasing interest costs. Continued deficits have also increased the federal debt, which adds to the government's interest expenses and exacerbates fiscal pressures.
Background
The 2024 United States elections resulted in the Republican Party having control in all three legislative chambers, the House (220–215), the Senate (53–47), and the presidency. However, because appropriation legislation can still be fillibustered in the Senate, 60 votes are required to pass government funding in that body.
In 2025, for the first time since 2013, Congress funded the government through a full-year continuing resolution in March 2025. The passage of the legislation was controversial among some Democrats, because a small number Democrats in the Senate voted with Republicans to pass the continuing resolution and avert a government shutdown.
Early appropriations proposals During the summer of 2025, House Republicans, passed three partisan spending bills, mostly along party lines. Due to disagreements with the Senate over spending levels, the House voted to conference three spending bills with the Senate. Without a continuing resolution, government funding expired after midnight on October 1, 2025, triggering a government shutdown. The shutdown ended on November 12 with the enactment of a continuing resolution, extending funding through January 30, 2026.
Continuing resolution proposals On September 16, 2025, House Republicans unveiled a continuing resolution to keep the government funded under current spending levels until November 21. Republicans called the proposal a clean continuing resolution, lacking partisan policy riders. The resolution also includes $30 million for lawmaker security. Democrats criticized the proposal because it lacked extensions for Affordable Care Act tax credits. The Republican bill passed the House on September 19 in a 217–212 vote. Fiscal conservative Republicans Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Victoria Spartz of Indiana voted against the bill. Moderate Democrat Jared Golden of Maine voted for it. Moderate Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez missed the vote, but later said she supported the bill.
On September 17, House and Senate Democrats unveiled a separate continuing resolution to keep the government funded until October 31. The Democratic proposal would permanently extends Affordable Care Act tax credits, roll back cuts to Medicaid that had been implemented in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, restore funding cut in the Rescissions Act of 2025, and include $320 million for lawmaker security.
On September 18, the Senate agreed by unanimous consent to take up both the Democratic and Republican proposals, in that order, with three-fifths required to pass. The Democratic proposal failed in a 47–45 vote along party-lines on September 19. Later that day, the Republican bill failed to pass in the Senate in a 44–48 vote. Two Republicans, Fiscal Conservative Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky and Moderate Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against the bill. Moderate Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to support the bill.
Further negotiations On September 20, 2025, after the two failed votes in the Senate, Moderate Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted against both proposals, released a framework for a continuing resolution to keep the government open until November 21, 2025. The framework calls for a one year extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, $30 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to be prioritized for rural NPR stations, and funding programs cut by the Office of Management and Budget's September 2025 pocket rescission.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Democrats from New York, announced plans to meet with President Trump on Thursday, September 25 to negotiate a continuing resolution. However, on September 23, Trump canceled the meeting through a post on Truth Social. In the post, President Trump wrote after "reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands" from Democrats "I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive."
On September 24, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget, an office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States, released a memo requesting federal agencies prepare "reduction in force" plans in the case of a government shutdown.
President Trump hosted a meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate majority leader John Thune, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday, September 29 to negotiate a continuing resolution. No progress was made.
On September 30, 2025, hours before the shutdown began, the Senate voted again on the Democratic and Republican plans. The Democratic plan again failed on party lines (47 in favor, 53 against). All Republicans except Paul, along with Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman, as well as Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, voted for the Republican plan, which thus failed 55–45. Despite receiving a majority of votes in the Senate, the Republican failed to pass because it could not overcome a 60-vote filibuster. After the votes, the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to execute their shutdown plans.
2025 government shutdown
With no agreement on a continuing resolution, the federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. EDT.
On October 1, 2025, during a third vote in the Senate on Republican and Democratic plans to end the shutdown, Republican and Democratic Senators held preliminary negotiations on the Senate floor. The Senators discussed shortening the length of the Republican planned continuing resolution in order to use that time to come to a more significant agreement. No agreement was made. Both versions again failed by votes of 55–45 and 47–53, respectively. Senators of both parties called the preliminary negotiation a "productive discussion."
The Republican-led Senate has continued to force votes on the Republican led continuing resolution. These votes have all failed, mostly along party lines. Bucking from their parties, Democratic senators Cortez Masto and Fetterman and independent King have continued to vote for the bill. Republican senator Rand Paul has continued to vote against the bill.
On October 6, President Trump claimed talks were underway with Democrats, which Chuck Schumer said was not true.
November agreement
On November 9, 2025, after negotiations between Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans, a deal was revealed to end the shutdown. The agreement would include a continuing resolution that would fund the government until the end of January, and full-year appropriations bills for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture, military construction, and the Legislative Branch.
The full-year bills include $203.5 million to fund security for members of Congress and $852 million for US Capitol Police. In addition, the continuing resolution guarantees that federal employees who faced lay-offs during the shutdown be rehired and granted backpay. It would additionally bar the Office of Management and Budget from implementing mass layoffs of federal workers throughout the length of the continuing resolution. The deal also guarantees a vote in the Senate to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. The continuing resolution would need to pass both the House and the Senate, and be signed into law by the President, before the government shutdown could end.
After the deal was announced, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries stated that House Democrats would not support any measure which did not guarantee an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. Democrats do not possess the votes in the House to defeat the measure, assuming all House Republicans vote for it, in the event that it passes the Senate.
The Senate voted 60–40 on the night of November 9 to advance the agreement. Eight Senate Democrats (Durbin, King, Hassan, Shaheen, Cortez Masto, Rosen, Fetterman, and Kaine) joined all Senate Republicans but Rand Paul to advance it. On November 12, the House passed the bill by a 222–209 vote. President Trump signed the bill into law later that day.
+ Senate vote on passage Party Votes for Votes against Not voting/Absent (53) 52 (45) 38 (2) Total (100) 60 40 + House vote on passage Party Votes for Votes against Not voting/Absent (219) 216 (214) 216 Total (433) 222 209 2
January 2026 negotiations A package was enacted in January 2026 including the appropriations bills for Interior and Environment; Commerce, Justice, and science (including NASA and the National Science Foundation); and Energy and water development activities of the Army Corps of Engineers and Department of the Interior. The House passed on January 8 by a vote of 397–28, and the Senate passed it on January 15 by vote of 82–15. It was signed by President Trump on January 23.
+ Senate vote on passage Party Votes for Votes against Not voting/Absent (53) 46 (45) 35 (2) Total (100) 71 15 3
+ House vote on passage Party Votes for Votes against Not voting/Absent (218) 191 22 5 (213) 206 Total (431) 397 28 6
Also in January 2026, the House and Senate appropriations committees agreed to three additional bipartisan bills containing the remainder of the appropriations. As of late January, all three packages have been passed by the House and are awaiting action by the Senate:
State and related national security functions; and Treasury and general government, a category that includes the Executive Office of the President, Judicial Branch, District of Columbia, and several independent agencies: The House passed on January 14 by a vote of 341–79. Defense; Transportation and Housing and Urban Development; and Health and Human Services, Labor, and Education: passed the House on January 22. Homeland Security: also passed the House on January 22. These three bills were combined into one bill before being sent to the Senate using a mechanism pursuant to by which the text of all three bills was consolidated into H.R. 7148 when the bill was engrossed before being transmitted to the Senate.
+ House vote on passage (H.R. 7006) Party Votes for Votes against Not voting/Absent (218) 188 22 8 (213) 153 57 3 Total (431) 341 79 11
+ House vote on passage (H.R. 7148) Party Votes for Votes against Not voting/Absent (218) 192 24 2 (213) 149 64 Total (431) 341 88 2
+ House vote on passage (H.R. 7147) Party Votes for Votes against Not voting/Absent (218) 213 4 (213) 206 Total (431) 220 207 4
2026 government shutdowns
However, following the killing of Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on January 24, 2026, Democrats in the Senate announced they would no longer support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bill, which funds CBP.