Fact check: What bills or appropriations are Congress negotiating to end the 2025 government shutdown and when are their deadlines?

1. What’s on the table right now — a short-term CR or a longer extension?

Lawmakers are actively negotiating continuing resolutions as the immediate vehicle to reopen government. The Senate prepared to vote on a House-passed CR that would temporarily restore funding while larger disagreements remain unresolved, and some House Republicans are discussing stretching that CR into 2026 to buy time for a long-term appropriations deal. The immediate congressional posture is procedural: use a CR to stopgap funding while negotiations continue ^{[1] [4]}. This approach reflects a familiar pattern in modern appropriations where Congress prefers stopgap measures to avert immediate disruptions even when substantive bargaining over policy and spending caps persists. The House-passed CR and discussions of an extended roll-over into early 2026 are the most concrete instruments under consideration, with the Senate vote acting as the near-term hinge point for ending the shutdown standoff ^{[1] [4]}.

2. Who is driving the impasse and what are their public positions?

Senate leaders report ongoing bipartisan conversations but no breakthrough; Senate Majority Leader John Thune described intensified rank-and-file discussions and cautious optimism, while House Speaker Mike Johnson publicly blamed Democrats for resisting a resolution. Both chambers portray negotiations as active but politically contentious, with leadership statements evidencing strategic framing: Senate officials emphasize cross-party dialogue, and House Republican leadership emphasizes Democratic resistance to concessions ^[3]. These competing narratives reflect distinct agendas—Senate messaging that stresses potential compromise and House Republican messaging that seeks political leverage by attributing responsibility for the shutdown to the opposition. The messaging gap complicates floor maneuvering since votes in both chambers must align on the CR text for a final resolution.

3. Key fiscal calendar deadlines that sharpen pressure on talks

Beyond the immediate shutdown clock, several distinct fiscal deadlines influence bargaining calculus. The fiscal year end on September 30 is the structural marker for annual appropriations and frames the legality of funding. Additional policy expirations—most notably enhanced ACA subsidies and other programmatic credits—loom on December 31, 2025, potentially generating new budgetary and political complications if left unaddressed. These time-bound expirations create leverage for stakeholders who want policy concessions and raise the potential cost of delay for vulnerable programs and beneficiaries ^[2]. Lawmakers weighing a CR extension into 2026 must consider how such a move intersects with these expirations and whether separate standalone bills will be required to preserve specific programs.

4. What appropriations work has been done and where the bills stand

Congress completed some appropriations activity earlier in the year: H.R.1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, was enacted in March to fund government operations through the fiscal year, and an Appropriations Status Table tracks the status of individual FY2026 bills across subcommittee and committee steps. The legislative record shows earlier stopgap fixes and an ongoing, piecemeal process for FY2026 bills, with many departmental and program-level measures still navigating subcommittee and conference stages ^{[5] [6]}. The past passage of a full-year CR for FY2025 illustrates congressional reliance on omnibus or continuing measures to bridge disagreements, but FY2026 appropriations remain fragmented, leaving unresolved items that are fueling the current standoff.

5. Competing remedies Congress is considering beyond a simple CR

Lawmakers and advocacy groups are urging a mix of fixes: some call for stand-alone measures to extend popular programs—such as renewing Affordable Care Act subsidies or funding SNAP—while legislative leaders simultaneously consider multi-month CRs stretching into March 2026 to permit more breathing room. Democrats have publicly pushed for immediate renewals of specific social programs in separate votes; Republicans have signaled interest in larger structural concessions tied to spending caps. The debate is therefore not just about duration of funding but whether to pair funding with policy riders or decoupled, targeted bills, making the final legislative path as much about content as it is timing ^{[4] [2]}.

6. What to watch next and why timing matters

Immediate indicators to watch are Senate floor votes on the House CR and any movement on stand-alone bills for program expirations. If the Senate fails to pass the House CR, the shutdown will persist and the risk of additional deadlines complicating recovery increases, particularly as ACA subsidy expirations and energy tax-credit sunsets approach at year-end. Conversely, passage of an extended CR would defer contentious decisions into early 2026 but would leave policy expirations potentially unaddressed unless Congress passes targeted measures. The procedural choices Congress now makes will determine whether relief arrives quickly with trade-offs or whether piecemeal fixes follow a longer stalemate ^{[1] [3] [2]}.

Sources: ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [6] [5] [7]}