U.S. Lawmakers Reach Agreement To On Fiscal Year 2026 Spending Bills

Last Thursday, Jan. 29, Trump administration officials Senate Democrats reached an agreement that would allow the U.S. Senate to move forward on the fiscal year (FY) 2026 spending bills federal lawmakers have not yet approved.

Senators approved the measure on Friday, Jan. 30, but the federal government is currently in a partial shutdown since members of the U.S. House of Representatives have not yet had a chance to consider the legislation. Leaders in that chamber are hopeful that they can act by late Tuesday, Feb. 3 to approve the bill and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature. (The White House has signaled the president would sign the legislation right away.)

Here more details about the agreement, and what will happen next on Capitol Hill:

• There are six FY 2026 spending bills that still need U.S. House approval: Defense; Homeland Security (DHS); Transportation/Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Labor/Health and Human Services (HHS)/Education; State/foreign policy, and financial services, which includes funding for the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.
• Due to conflicts over Trump administration policy, U.S. senators agreed to separate funding for these agencies and functions into two separate tracks. Funding for DHS will receive only a temporary extension (until Feb. 13) while funding for all other agencies and functions would last through the end of FY 2026, or Sept. 30, 2026.
• The partial shutdown means authorization for about 96 percent of federal government discretionary spending has lapsed. Policymakers are hopeful the shutdown will be short. For example, the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of the Executive Office of the president, said in a memo last Friday night that “affected agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown,” but also said, “It is our hope that this lapse will be short.”
• House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will ask the House to consider the two bills under suspension, a parliamentary procedure that will require Democratic support for the legislation to move forward. (A suspension vote requires a two-thirds majority to be successful.) This tactic recognizes that some Republicans are likely to vote against the spending legislation. The measure will have to earn true bipartisan support to make it to President Trump’s desk for signature. For his part, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y) has not committed to supporting the package and several House Democrats also have said they will vote against it.

Stay tuned to Connecting the Dots for updates.