11/13/2025

Next Funding Fight Already Taking Shape after U.S. Government Reopens

Looking ahead, four contentious bills will further test lawmakers' dealmaking abilities

With the federal government now reopened, Congress is turning its attention to the next funding battle.

The deal that ended the 43-day stalemate funds most government operations only through Jan. 30, 2026, giving lawmakers less than three months to negotiate the next spending package and avert another disruption.

At the heart of the upcoming negotiations are deep divisions between House and Senate appropriators over topline spending levels for fiscal year 2026. Lawmakers remain tens of billions of dollars apart on critical bills funding the U.S. Defense Department and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.

Looking ahead, four additional contentious bills will further test lawmakers' dealmaking abilities. These include funding measures for the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, State and Treasury, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) has indicated that the path forward will likely require compromise between the chambers' vastly different priorities.

"If our leadership and the Senate leadership and the administration want to engage in that, that's fine," Cole told Punchbowl News. "Or we can continue to operate the way that we are now, which is taking their numbers, our numbers, and finding some point in between."

The deal reached this week also leaves unresolved whether Congress will address the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies on Dec. 31. Democrats had sought to include an extension in the bill, warning that average premiums could rise by as much as 30 percent without it. Republican leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), said the issue should be debated only after the government is fully reopened.

This article was provided to OSAP by ASAE's Power of Associations and Inroads.