Stalled spending bills put Congress in catch-up mode when lawmakers return in January

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. Christopher Coons, Delaware Democrat, predicted “it’s going to take every minute” before the deadline for Congress 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 passing any appropriations bills after the longest shutdown in history ended Nov. 12, lawmakers in both parties are optimistic 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,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican. “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 that he does not intend to lead his caucus into another shutdown fight over health care, even with the Obamacare premium subsidies they fought to renew, which expire Wednesday.

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 after the 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.

Lawmakers were unable to obtain unanimous consent to package the bills together, as the chamber’s rules require. Senators can put 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 up the spending bills 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 sought a path to passing his Shutdown Fairness Act, ensuring that federal workers receive pay if they are required to work during a lapse in funding.

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. Although those amendments are expected to fail, senators will have the opportunity 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 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.”

Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, Colorado Democrats, 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 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 NCAR was retaliation for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ refusal to release former Mesa County elections clerk Tina Peters from state prison.

The president tried to pardon 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 those with 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 tried to work with the White House to resolve the NCAR issue but were unsuccessful, Mr. Kennedy said.

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 Committee Chairman Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican.

The House opted not to move any spending bills between the end of the shutdown and the holiday break, preferring to finalize negotiations with the Senate first.

A few days after Congress adjourned for the year, Mr. Cole announced that he reached a deal with Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan M. Collins, Maine Republican, on the top-line 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,” said Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican. “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 be reached.

Appropriators in both chambers said they planned to continue negotiations over the holiday break, but Mr. Kennedy suggested that they wouldn’t yield much.

“It’s like play acting,” he said.

Although lawmakers want to pass full-year funding for the remaining nine bills, Mr. Thune acknowledged that they may need to keep a few running on stopgap funding through fiscal 2026.

He said lawmakers may struggle to reach an agreement on measures that provide funding for foreign aid, the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida Republican and 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 obstacles: “At every moment there’s an opportunity for leverage, that moment is utilized.”