Overview
- Senators unveiled a short-term continuing resolution that would keep agencies funded at current levels through Dec. 11 and is expected to be brought to the Senate floor before lawmakers leave for the August recess.
- The stopgap explicitly delays a Trump administration grants rule that would require senior political appointee review of grant awards, a change senators said would not take effect during the extension.
- Negotiators left out several White House exceptions, including an administration request for $1 billion for a new class of battleships, as senators hashed out which policy riders to accept.
- Democrats pushed to include an expiring health insurance tax credit and refused a version without it, while Republicans argued that such policy fights should be resolved in full-year appropriations talks.
- Lawmakers say the early, short-term extension responds to growing pressure after two record shutdowns in the past 10 months and shifts major budget fights into the months before the Sept. 30 fiscal-year deadline.