Congress usually doesn’t tackle funding the government until it absolutely has to. But with the prospect of another shutdown looming ahead of November’s midterm elections, Senate Republicans are risking their own – and President Donald Trump’s – major priorities to address that funding months ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.
Sharp partisan divisions on issues such as the Iran war mean some members are already predicting a budget impasse before the new fiscal year begins in October. That could trigger the fourth government shutdown of Mr. Trump’s second term. Two of those shutdowns were prolonged, and polls show more Americans blamed Republicans than Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune wants to avoid a shutdown. On Tuesday, the South Dakota Republican said he will postpone progress on a major bill House Republicans just advanced until the Senate can figure out a way to temporarily keep the government afloat through the fall. That means Congress wouldn’t address long-term funding until after the midterms, in which Democrats are favored to retake the House and have a small but real shot at the Senate.
Why We Wrote This
There have been three federal government shutdowns during President Donald Trump’s second term. The potential for a fourth this fall is driving Senate Republicans’ political strategy months ahead of the budget deadline.
Mr. Thune’s strategy puts the two key issues in the House Republicans’ bill framework – emergency Iran war funding and Mr. Trump’s demands for tighter election integrity measures – on hold for at least the next month.
His action underscores how the growing frequency of government shutdown fights is driving changes in how Capitol Hill operates when it comes to one of Congress’ most important functions each year: funding the government.
Republicans have a majority in both chambers, and they have a tiny window to get their remaining priorities passed before the midterms threaten to change the dynamics of power. Prioritizing government funding so early could make that window even smaller.
“We’ve got to start now,” says Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, on the need to pass temporary funding. “We can’t wait till the end of the day, because [Democrats are] not going to pass it.”
Republican priorities stalled
House Republicans Wednesday advanced a framework for a bill that would allot $73 billion for the Iran war, $10 billion for election integrity, and $12 billion for farmers. They’re moving it forward through a special process known as reconciliation, which would allow Republicans to skirt a Senate filibuster and pass their policies without Democratic support.
But Majority Leader Thune’s announcement means the bill almost certainly won’t advance before Congress takes its monthlong August recess.
Mr. Thune says he hopes to negotiate with Democrats to pass a bipartisan, temporary extension of current government funding levels, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, through the fall. If the Senate can’t achieve that, though, he has floated a procedural maneuver that would use the House’s reconciliation bill to pass that extension – meaning, if successful, that Republicans would fund the entire government, at least for a few months, without Democratic buy-in.
The deadline for Congress to pass government funding is the end of September – and shutdowns, when they happen, often take place in October. This year, Republicans appear wary of a potential shutdown the month before elections that could put Democrats in control of at least one chamber.
“[Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats want to shut the government down,” says Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. “They want to inflict the maximum pain on the voters before Election Day because they think they get a political benefit from it.”
Not every Republican welcomes Mr. Thune’s approach. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told the Monitor on Wednesday that he’s afraid Republicans will waste valuable time negotiating with Democrats on a bipartisan funding extension that will never come to fruition, given the pressure he says Mr. Schumer is under from his party not to cooperate.
“If I were king for a day, [reconciliation is] all I would do,” he said.
Shutdown politics
Lengthy government shutdowns are becoming more common. In 2013, during the Obama administration, the government shut down for 16 days. The first Trump administration saw a record-breaking 35-day stoppage, which was exceeded by another record-breaking 43-day shutdown last year.
In a poll conducted by Ipsos last November, Americans were more likely to say that Republicans in Congress were to blame for the 2025 shutdown than Democrats. Republicans were also blamed for a 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Both Republicans and Democrats lament the fact that coming to an agreement to fund the government has become so challenging.
“When you move to CRs, then you start using reconciliation for budgeting, and it really distorts the whole process,” says Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. “We need to go back and make regular order … more common.”
Democrat Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia expressed a similar dislike of short-term funding extensions on Monday, even as he said he was considering whether to vote for one.
“I wish we didn’t budget this way,” he said.
Democrats are divided on whether to help Republicans pass temporary funding. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters this week that she would “of course” be interested in working with Republicans on a bipartisan continuing resolution.
At least three Democratic senators the Monitor spoke to on Wednesday said they would need to see what was in the continuing resolution before making a decision. Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said it would be preferable to “a party-line exercise like reconciliation.” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said an early CR would be “fine,” but that she wanted to hear what the administration’s plan was to end the war in Iran.
Staff writer Victoria Hoffmann contributed reporting for this story.