Overview
FY26 Clock Continues Ticking. Two weeks have passed since the Thanksgiving recess, and the remaining fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills are still unresolved. The House and Senate continue to pursue different strategies; however, the Senate is inching closer to finalizing its five-bill "minibus," covering Interior, Defense, Labor-HHS, T-HUD, and CJS. The package has been stalled for weeks due to multiple Republican holds tied to policy disputes, including concerns over spending levels, earmarks, and proposals to guarantee pay for federal workers during shutdowns.
The White House has now entered the negotiations, and Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) "hotlined" several variations of a proposal to set up votes on the minibus, including one that would potentially give conservative objectors votes on their amendments. (A Senate "hotline" is a process party leaders use to quickly check if any members object to moving a measure forward, often allowing it to advance by unanimous consent.) Unlike the earlier deal that reopened the government and included a three-bill minibus, this effort has not involved the House, meaning any Senate-passed package would still need to be negotiated into a final conferenced bill before passage in both chambers.
Although the House does not plan to consider any appropriations measures before adjourning for the holidays next Friday, progress continues behind the scenes. House appropriations subcommittee chairs ("cardinals") are positioning bills for swift action when Congress reconvenes in January. While the House prefers advancing a smaller package first to build momentum, they will adjust to conference what is available if the Senate is able to pass the five-bill minibus. Current government funding expires January 30.
Despite the noise and political maneuvering elsewhere in Congress, the Appropriations Committee continues to stand out as a rare example of bipartisan cooperation. Members on both sides remain committed to advancing bills through regular order — a dynamic not always found recently. The path to the January 30thdeadline is steep, but there is reason for cautious optimism that appropriators can deliver meaningful results.
Reconciliation Workaround Faces Pushback. Over the weekend, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought made waves by suggesting that President Trump and GOP leaders could again use the budget reconciliation process to boost defense spending without Democratic support — thereby bypassing the Senate’s 60‑vote threshold for appropriations bills. Reconciliation, which allows certain budget-related measures to pass with a simple majority, has historically been reserved for high-priority fiscal items such as tax cuts or entitlement changes. Vought's proposal drew immediate attention because it would represent a significant departure from the longstanding bipartisan approach to defense funding, which has typically relied on negotiated compromises to ensure stable military budgets.
Appropriators and defense leaders from both parties — including Sens. Wicker (R‑MS), Murkowski (R‑AK), Reed (D‑RI), and Coons (D‑DE) — swiftly rejected the idea, warning that it could unravel one of the few remaining areas of cross‑party cooperation. They cautioned that using reconciliation for defense would sidestep the regular appropriations process, weaken the Senate’s institutional norms, and potentially set a precedent for bypassing bipartisan budget agreements in the future.
