HR 5371 Rule Approved – FY 2026 CR

Today the House Rules Committee completed action on preparing a rule for HR 5371 [Committee Print], the ‘Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026. This is a relatively clean, short-term CR. It would continue existing funding rates for the federal government through November 21^st, 2025. The rule would provide for a ‘closed-rule’ (limited debate, no amendments) for HR 5371. Vote on the rule (H Res 722) is scheduled for tomorrow; the vote on the bill will probably happen on Thursday. The House vote is taking place this week because the House and Senate are scheduled for a District Work period the following week.

The CR contains a whole slew of date extenders for various federal programs that are set to expire on midnight September 30^th, 2025. For the most part, those dates are extended to November 21^st. Programs of special interest here include:

6 USC 124n – Protection of certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft,

6 USC 1525 – Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement,

6 USC 1510 – Cybersecurity Information Sharing, and

6 USC 665g - State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program

Moving Forward

Democratic appropriators have been demanding a role in negotiating the terms of the CR, and have apparently had no part in the crafting of this bill. They have been insisting on a variety of healthcare spending provisions that were not included in this bill. This means that there is little chance of seeing Democrats voting for this bill, putting the onus on the Republican to pass the bill. But this bill does not contain any significant spending cuts, so there may be some Radical Republican opposition to the bill.

The first thing to watch is the vote on the Rule tomorrow. This is probably why H Res 719, theHonoring the life and legacy of Charles “Charlie” James Kirk, resolution was added to this bill. The same Republicans that might vote against the rule for the CR, would have a hard time explaining a vote against the Kirk resolution. Almost any Republican votes against the Rule (the Republicans now only have a working majority of 2) will signal problems for the CR.