Congress faces Dec. 11 funding deadline with no fiscal 2027 spending bills enacted

More than three weeks into fiscal 2027, the federal government is running on a temporary funding law that expires Dec. 11, and Congress has not enacted any of the 12 regular spending bills that would fund agencies for the full year.

Lawmakers will have about five legislative weeks after the November elections to pass full-year bills, approve another stopgap, or combine the two before that deadline, according to a Sept. 29 analysis by the law firm Akin Gump.

What the stopgap does

President Donald Trump signed the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, on Sept. 2, according to the Government Publishing Office. The House had agreed to the Senate’s version the day before by a vote of 370-48, and the Senate had passed it 90-6 in August, Akin Gump reported.

The law, Public Law 119-103, funds most programs at the rates set in the fiscal 2026 appropriations acts. That money lasts until full-year funding is enacted or until Dec. 11, whichever comes first. The law also:

• Extends surface transportation programs and a set of veterans health care, benefits and housing authorities, mostly through Dec. 11.
• Extends several expiring authorities, including the Defense Production Act and customs user fees.
• Lets agencies pay civilian staff at the rate needed to avoid furloughs, but only after they cut non-personnel administrative costs.
• Blocks Congress members’ automatic cost-of-living pay adjustment during the stopgap period.
• Bars a revision of the federal grants rules, known as the Uniform Guidance, based on a May 29, 2026, proposal, from being issued or finalized before Dec. 11.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., called the measure a clean, short-term bill with White House support. “The bill contains no poison pills and no partisan riders,” he said in a Sept. 1 statement.

Where the 12 bills stand

In that Sept. 1 statement, Cole said the House Appropriations Committee had reported all 12 fiscal 2027 bills and the full House had passed three of them, while the Senate Appropriations Committee had reported none.

As of late September, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, had said she would like to bring one or two spending bills to the Senate floor, but significant Senate action is not expected until after the election, according to Akin Gump.

A dispute over withheld funds

The relationship between appropriators and the White House budget office was strained further on Sept. 25, when the administration sent House Speaker Mike Johnson a special message proposing to cancel about $810 million in previously approved funding in 11 separate proposals. The largest item, about $567 million, comes from the Health and Human Services Department’s Refugee and Entrant Assistance account, which the message described as overfunded. Other proposed cuts target migrant education grants, housing counseling and health care research. The administration said most of the cuts would eliminate unnecessary and wasteful spending.

Because the funds were set to expire Sept. 30, withholding them while Congress considers the request could let the money lapse, a tactic known as a pocket rescission. Collins said in a statement that the package arrived “without warning or consultation” and that the budget office does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.

On Sept. 29, the Government Accountability Office issued a legal decision concluding that the proposals do not allow the president to withhold the money past the end of fiscal 2026, because the Impoundment Control Act requires the funds to be made available unless Congress passes a rescission bill. The Supreme Court has not resolved whether the Impoundment Control Act permits pocket rescissions, according to Akin Gump.

If Dec. 11 passes without action

If Congress does not act by Dec. 11, funding for agencies covered by the stopgap would lapse, causing a partial shutdown. During a lapse, employees whose work is legally allowed to continue keep working, while others are furloughed, according to the Congressional Research Service. A 2019 law guarantees back pay to both groups once funding is restored.