House Passes Stopgap Funding Bill 220-205 Through December 4

The vote averts an immediate shutdown threat but defers the harder appropriations debate to the post-election lame-duck period.

The House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution on Tuesday that would fund federal agencies at current spending levels through December 4, averting a potential government shutdown before the September 30 end of Fiscal Year 2026, according to The Hill. The measure passed by a vote of 220-205, as recorded in the congressional roll call. Six Democrats crossed party lines to support the bill, and Representative Kevin Kiley — listed in the report as an independent from California — also voted in favor, per The Hill's reporting.

The stopgap measure holds discretionary spending flat at existing appropriated levels rather than enacting new full-year spending bills for any federal department or agency. A continuing resolution at current levels means no new funding increases or cuts take effect during the covered period; the precise baseline funding levels are set by the most recently enacted full-year appropriations acts on file with the Office of Management and Budget.

The 220-205 margin reflects a narrow majority. The identities of the six Democrats who voted yes, and the full list of Republicans who voted no, are contained in the official House roll call record, which is publicly available through the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives at clerk.house.gov. The Hill's report did not detail which Republicans opposed the measure.

The December 4 deadline transfers the funding dispute to a period after the November general elections, meaning the composition of the Congress that must ultimately pass full-year appropriations bills may differ from the one that approved this stopgap. The Senate must still pass the measure and the President must sign it before it takes effect; as of the publication of this story, the Senate vote has not been reported.

What remains unknown: the Senate's timetable for a vote, whether the White House has issued a formal statement of administration policy on the bill, and the total discretionary spending level that would be locked in for the covered period. The OMB's apportionment tables and the enrolled bill text, once transmitted to the Senate, would answer those questions.