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What timeline and vote schedule apply to the current continuing resolution in 2025?
Executive Summary
The available analyses show that the 2025 continuing resolution (CR) cycle is fractured: Congress failed to produce FY2026 appropriations by the September 30 deadline, producing a shutdown beginning October 1, and multiple short-term CR proposals and floor votes have failed in the Senate and House as lawmakers negotiate endgame dates ranging from late November to December. The near-term calendar is fluid — negotiators discussed a potential CR through November 21, but Senate and House leaders have offered contradictory timelines and no binding floor vote schedule is firmly set [1] [2].
1. Shutdown began October 1 and short-term CRs have been repeatedly attempted — what happened and when
Congress did not enact FY2026 funding by the statutory September 30 deadline, and a government shutdown has been in effect since October 1. In the House, Republicans advanced a partisan CR proposal mid-September and passed a House Republican bill on September 19, but that approach failed to secure bipartisan Senate support and the Senate rejected the Democratic alternative, contributing to the lapse in funding [3]. Subsequent Senate efforts produced multiple roll-call efforts that fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to reopen the government; one reported Senate vote on October 28 failed 54–45, and both Democrat-backed and Republican-backed CRs have repeatedly failed to clear the Senate cloture threshold [4]. The sequence shows repeated short-term, partisan proposals without a durable bipartisan majority, leaving funding gaps and pushing deadlines forward.
2. Negotiations produced a potential stopgap date — November 21 talks and competing timetables
By early November, negotiators were discussing a CR that would fund the government through November 21 as part of a package that could pair a short stopgap with work on longer-term appropriations, though this was framed as an emerging outline rather than a firm agreement [2]. Senate Majority Leader comments suggested flexibility to push deadlines further, even toward December, but House Speaker Mike Johnson publicly rejected a December CR, citing objections that a long pause before holidays would create incentives for a massive omnibus [2]. The existence of competing timelines — a late-November stopgap floated by Senate negotiators versus House leadership resistance to December extensions — is central to the impasse, and it explains why a definitive floor vote schedule has not been announced.
3. Floor vote history and procedural barriers — why the Senate keeps failing CRs
Senate procedure requires 60 votes to overcome cloture on most CRs and omnibus measures; several recent cloture votes failed despite majorities in favor because they could not reach the supermajority threshold. One cloture or passage attempt reported on October 28 failed by a 54–45 margin, illustrating that simple majority passage in the Senate is not sufficient when cloture is required [4]. Absences and strategic non-votes have punctuated the roll-call history; senators sometimes recess or abstain, further complicating the arithmetic. The Senate has recessed and reconvened multiple times without a scheduled definitive vote date tied to an agreement that attracts at least 60 votes, leaving the shutdown to continue while negotiators seek a path to 60 votes or a House-fixed alternative [4] [2].
4. Key fiscal deadlines beyond the shutdown that shape urgency and leverage
The lapse in appropriations coincided with the fiscal year end on September 30 and triggered expirations of program authorities and spending caps; several policy extenders and benefits also face end-of-year cliffs, including enhanced ACA subsidies and certain energy credits set to expire December 31, creating layered deadlines that influence bargaining positions [1]. Congressional actors referenced December as a negotiating horizon because of these policy expirations and the risk of consolidating multiple items into a pre-holiday omnibus, which some House leaders oppose [2]. Those separate fiscal cliffs concentrate pressure on negotiators to either reach a multi-part agreement or stagger stopgaps, but the differing institutional incentives between chambers keep translating urgency into strategic leverage rather than resolution.
5. What the analyses agree on, disagree on, and what remains unsettled
All provided analyses agree that: Congress missed the September 30 funding deadline; the government has been shut since October 1; multiple CR proposals and Senate cloture votes have failed; and negotiators have floated a late-November CR option while some House leaders resist December extensions [3] [4] [1] [2]. They diverge on whether a November 21 CR is imminent versus merely one of several proposals under discussion, and they differ on assessments of likely timing to conclusion; one source frames an emerging deal while others emphasize continued uncertainty and repeated failed votes [4] [2]. The most important unresolved facts are the concrete floor vote dates and whether any CR will attract the 60 votes needed in the Senate; as of the latest available reporting, no binding vote schedule has been publicly set that guarantees passage, so the situation remains fluid and contingent on last-minute negotiations [4] [2].