Trump Signs Stopgap Funding Bill, Averting a Government Shutdown Until After the Midterms

Correction November 10, 2026: Two items in the key-provisions list below were not in the law as enacted and have been replaced with provisions that are — Public Law 119-103 contains no Border Patrol transfer restriction and no hemp provision. The Senate vote date, the roll-call numbers and the public law number have also been added. Source: text and action record of Public Law 119-103 (H.R. 6500), Congress.gov.

The federal government will stay open at least through the fall campaign season. On Tuesday evening, September 2, 2026, President Trump signed a short-term government funding bill that keeps federal agencies running through December 11, 2026, closing off any chance of a government shutdown before the November midterm elections. The measure passed the House a day earlier by a lopsided 370–48 vote, capping a rare stretch of bipartisan cooperation in an otherwise divided Congress.

The west front of the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., where the House of Representatives passed the stopgap funding bill.
The U.S. Capitol, where the House voted 370–48 on September 1, 2026, to send the stopgap funding bill to President Trump's desk. Image: "United States Capitol west front edit2.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, public domain (U.S. government work). Source.

Key takeaways

  • Funding runs through December 11, 2026, which is past the November 3 midterm elections, at essentially fiscal 2026 spending levels.
  • The vote record: Senate 90–6 on August 8, 2026; House 370–48 on September 1, 2026 under a two-thirds suspension vote; signed September 2, 2026 as Public Law 119-103.
  • Two lapses already happened in 2026 before this bill — a four-day government-wide shutdown from January 31 to February 3, and a 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security alone from February 14 to April 30.
  • If funding lapsed again on December 12, the closest official yardstick is CBO’s September 30, 2025 estimate of roughly 750,000 furloughs a day costing about $400 million a day in pay — about $5.6 billion over two weeks.

Figures checked: November 10, 2026.

What was actually signed

The bill is H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027 — a "clean" continuing resolution (CR) that extends current federal funding levels rather than setting new ones. Here is the confirmed timeline:

  • Late July/early August 2026: The Senate passed the underlying bipartisan bill 90–6, shortly before lawmakers left for their five-week summer recess.
  • September 1, 2026: The House approved the Senate's amended version 370–48, well above the two-thirds threshold Republican leaders used to fast-track the vote.
  • September 2, 2026: President Trump signed the bill, according to a statement from the White House. An accompanying Statement of Administration Policy had already confirmed the president's advisers recommended he sign it.

Key provisions, according to congressional and administration documents

  • Funding runs through December 11, 2026 — more than a month after the November 3 midterm elections — at essentially current spending levels.
  • Section 157 stops the pending rewrite of the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards — the “Uniform Guidance” — from being issued or finalized through December 11, 2026. The rule it names is the one proposed in the Federal Register notice Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance, published May 29, 2026.
  • Division C is a free-standing Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026, which carries highway and transit authorities to the same December 11, 2026 date instead of letting them expire on their own calendar. Division D does the same for a set of Department of Veterans Affairs programs, including caregiver mental-health grants and rural ambulance reimbursement.
  • Section 102 bars the Department of Defense — the name the statute itself uses — from starting any program, project or activity that had no funding in fiscal 2026, and from initiating new multi-year procurements that use advance procurement funding for economic-order-quantity buys unless Congress appropriates for them later.
  • Section 117 lets the Agriculture Department apportion WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) money at the rate needed to maintain participation rather than at the flat stopgap rate, so caseloads are not supposed to shrink while the continuing resolution runs.

Why this vote mattered

Congress has missed its own appropriations deadlines badly this year. According to the House Appropriations Committee, only 3 of the 12 annual spending bills have passed the full House, and none have cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee. Without a stopgap, funding for the entire government would have lapsed October 1 — right in the heart of midterm campaign season.

That backdrop shaped the politics. House Speaker Mike Johnson framed the bill as preventing "another Democrat shutdown," while Democratic leaders including Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Pete Aguilar urged their members to support it, citing improvements over earlier versions, including the grant-review and Border Patrol provisions. Not every Democrat was enthusiastic: Rep. Ted Lieu, who voted for the bill, still called relying on repeated continuing resolutions "a stupid way to run government."

This is also the third funding fight of a punishing year, and the two that came before it were not close calls.

Funding lapseDatesLengthScope
First 2026 shutdownJanuary 31 to February 3, 20264 daysRoughly half of federal agencies
DHS shutdownFebruary 14 to April 30, 202676 days, a recordDepartment of Homeland Security only, including FEMA, the Coast Guard, TSA, CBP and ICE
Averted by H.R. 6500Would have begun October 1, 2026n/aAll discretionary spending, government-wide

The first lapse ended once the House cleared five appropriations bills plus a two-week stopgap for the Department of Homeland Security on February 3. The second ran until the president signed a DHS funding measure on April 30, with parts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection handled separately afterward. Both left federal workers missing paychecks, and Tuesday's vote was widely read on Capitol Hill as an effort by both parties to avoid a third round before voters go to the polls.

Confirmed facts vs. what comes next

Confirmed: The Senate passed the bill 90–6 on August 8, 2026 (Record Vote Number 228); the House agreed to the Senate amendments 370–48 on September 1, 2026 under suspension of the rules, where two-thirds is required (Roll no. 286); President Trump signed it on September 2, 2026, making it Public Law 119-103; and it funds the government through December 11, 2026, with the specific provisions listed above.

Analysis/outlook (not yet decided): House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole has publicly warned that lawmakers are heading toward "crunch time" in December, with two realistic outcomes on the table: either a full-year stopgap covering the rest of fiscal year 2027, or another shutdown fight once the new deadline arrives — this time just weeks after the midterms rather than before them. Which path Congress takes will depend on whether appropriators can actually finish the 12 individual spending bills, or negotiate a broader deal, before mid-December. Neither outcome is confirmed, and Congress has a documented recent history of pushing these fights to the brink.

What a December lapse would cost, in round numbers

The Congressional Budget Office put arithmetic on this in a September 30, 2025 analysis of a then-looming shutdown: about 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed on any given day, and the total daily cost of their compensation would run roughly $400 million. Those are CBO's figures for that specific scenario rather than a forecast for December 2026, but they are the closest official yardstick available, and the agency's own caveat applies. Actual effects depend on how long a lapse runs and on which functions the administration deems excepted.

Used purely as an illustration, a two-week lapse beginning December 12 would push something on the order of $5.6 billion in federal pay past its due date, which is 750,000 workers over 14 days at roughly $400 million a day, landing squarely in holiday-bill season. The precedent is not hypothetical: CBO's assessment of the six-week shutdown that began October 1, 2025 found a loss of $11 billion in real GDP alongside $54 billion in delayed federal spending. Furloughed and excepted federal employees are made whole afterward under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, so the delay rather than the total is what hits household cash flow, and federal contractors are covered by no such guarantee.

What this means for you

  • Federal employees and contractors: Agencies remain open and funded at current levels through December 11; there is no furlough or back-pay issue tied to this bill.
  • People receiving federal benefits: Programs such as WIC continue to be funded under the measure; Social Security, Medicare, and other mandatory programs are generally unaffected by continuing resolutions in any case.
  • Travelers and anyone dealing with federal agencies: No near-term disruption to services like passport processing, national parks, or IRS operations is expected as a direct result of this bill.
  • Anyone following the midterms: Because funding now runs past Election Day, a shutdown will not be an active campaign-season issue — but it becomes a live one again in the lame-duck period after the vote, with a new deadline of December 11.

A reader's checklist for the December 11 deadline

  • Track the bill count, not the rhetoric. Nine of the twelve annual appropriations bills still have to clear both chambers. If that number has not moved by mid-November, a full-year stopgap or another standoff becomes the likely path.
  • Note where the date falls. December 11 sits after the November 3 election and inside the lame-duck session, when a departing Congress has less incentive to settle.
  • If you are a federal employee: excepted staff work without pay during a lapse and receive back pay afterward, as do furloughed staff, under the 2019 law. Contractors are covered by neither.
  • If you rely on a federal benefit: Social Security, Medicare and other mandatory programs keep paying during a lapse. Discretionary programs such as WIC run on carryover balances, which is precisely why this bill's WIC provision matters.
  • If you have December travel involving a federal agency: passport processing and national parks were among the first services disrupted in earlier lapses. Check status before committing to non-refundable travel close to the deadline.

Will there be another shutdown fight before the year is out?

That is the open question hanging over Washington. It is not yet resolved. Congress still has to pass, reconcile, and sign nine remaining full-year appropriations bills — or agree to punt again — before December 11. Chairman Cole's own comments suggest leadership sees a real possibility of either a longer-term stopgap or a December shutdown standoff. Nothing about that outcome is settled as of this writing; it depends on negotiations that have not yet concluded.

FAQ

When does this funding run out?

December 11, 2026. The date appears throughout Public Law 119-103, including in the authorizing extensions in Divisions B, C and D, so highway, transit and the listed veterans programs expire on the same day the appropriations do.

How did the vote go in each chamber?

The Senate passed the bill 90–6 on August 8, 2026 (Record Vote Number 228). The House then agreed to the Senate amendments 370–48 on September 1, 2026 (Roll no. 286), under suspension of the rules, which needs two-thirds rather than a simple majority.

Did the government actually shut down in 2026?

Twice, before this bill. A government-wide lapse ran four days, January 31 to February 3, 2026, and affected roughly half of federal agencies. A separate lapse hit the Department of Homeland Security alone for 76 days, February 14 to April 30, 2026, covering FEMA, the Coast Guard, TSA, CBP and ICE.

What would a December lapse cost?

There is no official estimate for December 2026. The nearest official figures are CBO’s from its September 30, 2025 analysis of a then-looming shutdown: about 750,000 employees furloughed on any given day, and roughly $400 million a day in their compensation. Used only as an illustration, two weeks at that rate is about $5.6 billion in delayed federal pay.

Does this set spending for the whole of fiscal 2027?

No. It continues fiscal 2026 levels through December 11, 2026 and leaves the full-year appropriations bills unfinished, which is why the December 11 date is the next deadline rather than the end of the fiscal year.

Sources

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