HR 5371 Back in the House – FY 2026 CR and Spending Bills

Early this morning the House Rules Committee completed their consideration of the Senate Amendments to HR 5371, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026. After rejecting 10 Democratic amendments to the Senate Amendments (all by the expected party-line 4 to 8 votes), the Committee voted to approve the Rule for the consideration of the bill on the floor of the House later today, again by an 8 to 4 vote.

According to the Committee’s website the rule:

• Provides for consideration of the Senate amendment to H.R. 5371.

• Makes in order a motion offered by the chair of the Committee on Appropriations or his designee that the House concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 5371.

• Waives all points of order against consideration of the motion and the Senate amendment.

Provides that the Senate amendment and the motion shall be considered as read.

• Provides one hour of debate on the motion equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees.

The House is scheduled to meet at noon today with votes starting at 5:10 pm EST. All three of the fringe Republicans on the Rules Committee voted for the rule, so I expect that the rule and the bill will have sufficient votes to pass this evening, even if all the Democrats vote against them.

Review - HR 5371 Amended and Passed in Senate – FY 2026 CR

Yesterday the Senate finally completed action on HR 5371, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026. By votes of 60 to 40, the Senate adopted the substitute language from the Senate Appropriations Committee and then passed the amended bill. The revised language would extend the current spending through January 30^th, 2026 and would pass the three spending bills earlier adopted by the Senate when it passed HR 3944, the FY 2026 MilCon spending bill in August. The revised bill gets a new title of the “Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026”.

Moving Forward

Reportedly, the House will be in session tomorrow (still not on the Majority Leader’s calendar) to vote on this bill, violating a whole bunch of promises not to force members to vote on spending bills without adequate time to review the provisions. It appears that the Democratic leadership in the House is trying to convince members to not vote for this bill while their requested ACA subsidies are still not included. This may be important because there could be a number of Republican holdouts that will not want to vote for this bill because of the bipartisan language (and spending allocations) in the three spending bills. It is possible that this Senate deal will not be acceptable to a majority in the House, depending on how well their conference can  hold the Democrats together in opposition.

BTW: The Senate has left town for their Veterans Day Recess. They are scheduled to return to Washington on Tuesday, November 18^th, 2025.

 

For more information on the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-5371-amended-and-passed-in-senate - subscription required.

HR 5371 Passed in House and Failed in Senate – FY 2025 CR

Early yesterday, the House took up HR 5371, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026. After one-hour of debate, the House voted to pass HR 5371 by a near party-line vote of 217 to 212. Shortly thereafter, and before the Senate acted on the bill, the House adjourned, going to a ‘District Work Period’ next week and returning to Washington on September 29^th, 2025.

Yesterday afternoon, with House members heading to the airports and trains, the Senate first took up S 2882, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, 2026, introduced by Sen Murray, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. That bill would have provided continuing spending authorization based upon 2025 spending levels through October 31^st, 2025. The other (than date) major changes were the healthcare provisions that the Democrats have been insisting on over the last month or so. This alternate CR failed by a vote of 44 to 48.

Then the Senate took up HR 5371. That bill also failed, this time by a vote of 47 to 45. Both bills would have required 60 votes to pass by a unanimous consent agreement reached earlier in the week.

And the Senate also left Washington yesterday, again, not intending to return until September 29^th. Interestingly, before they left Senators Thune and Schumer set both bills up for a potential reconsideration when the Senate returns to Washington. There is a remote chance that some sort of change could be made to one of the two that could pass in both the Senate and subsequently in the House before midnight on Tuesday.

More likely, we are going to see the federal government shutdown for some length of time in October.

HR 5371 Not Considered in House – FY 2026 CR

This evening the House adjourned without taking up HR 5371, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026. The rule for the consideration of the bill (H Res 722) approved in the House yesterday evening by a vote of 216 to 210 with one Republican voting ‘Present’. The vote on HR 5371 was expected today, but the failure of the House to even begin consideration today almost certainly means that there were not sufficient Republican votes to pass the bill. The House will be in session tomorrow, so an early vote could take place then, but only if the leadership thinks that they have the votes to pass the bill.

While the current government funding through midnight on September 30^th, both the House and Senate are scheduled to be out of Washington, DC, next week in recognition of Rosh Hashanah (Monday through Thursday). This would leave just two days (the 29^th, and 30^th) to get a bill passed through both the House and Senate to prevent a government shutdown on Wednesday, October 1^st.

Reporting on X was that the Senate would be voting on HR 5371 (expected to fail) and then a Democratic alternative (also expected to fail). Apparently ‘negotiations’ would take place over the break with a fresh vote on the 29^th.

Review - Bills Introduced – 9-16-25

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 87 bills introduced. One of those bills will receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 5371 Making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026, and for other purposes. Cole, Tom [Rep.-R-OK-4].

 

For more information on these bills, including legislative history for similar bills in the 118th, as well as a mention in passing of a mineral extraction from brine bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/bills-introduced-9-16-25 - subscription required.