September 1, 2026
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NTU urges all representatives to vote “YES” on H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027. While this bill is not perfect, it is clean enough to ensure that the government stays funded until December 11, 2026, and prevent yet another government shutdown before elections this fall.
Since this fiscal year started last October 1, some federal agencies have operated without regular appropriations for 161 days, over 44% of the full year. The government was not fully funded until June 10, less than three months ago, representing an unprecedented delay by Congress to cover its bills. Since Congress has just a few weeks left to fund the government for the next fiscal year, yet another round of irresponsible brinkmanship over a potential shutdown seems possible unless this bipartisan bill passes the House this week.
In early August, the Senate passed what senators described as a clean continuing resolution to fund the government through this fall’s congressional elections. While it does maintain federal funding at current levels until December 11, there are several provisions that are somewhat concerning to taxpayers. The biggest one blocks the Office of Management and Budget from finalizing rulemaking that would make needed reforms to the federal grantmaking process. However, since these concerning provisions generally expire on December 11 as well, we do not believe they are dealbreakers.
While taxpayers would obviously prefer a normal appropriations process that appropriately provides funds for agencies as needed, this continuing resolution will serve as an important stopgap to protect taxpayers against yet another unnecessary and irresponsible government shutdown.
Roll call votes on H.R. 6500 will be included in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress and “YES” votes will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
If you have any questions, please contact NTU Senior Policy Manager David Timmons at dtimmons@ntu.org
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