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How many and which appropriations bills were included in any FY2025 minibus or omnibus enacted before the 2025 shutdown?
Executive Summary
Two competing claims emerge from the provided analyses: one asserts that Congress did not enact any FY2025 minibus or omnibus before the 2025 shutdown and instead relied on continuing resolutions, while another identifies a specific enacted vehicle—H.R. 1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act—on March 15, 2025 that consolidated multiple FY2025 appropriations bills into a single package. Both positions rely on the same body of congressional reporting but interpret the legislative vehicle differently; the disagreement centers on whether the March 2025 act functioned as a true minibus/omnibus appropriations or as a continuing resolution with attached appropriations-like provisions [1] [2] [3].
1. Why analysts disagree over whether Congress passed a minibus or an extended continuing resolution
The core dispute traces to differing definitions and to how analysts classify H.R. 1968. One set of analyses treats the actions through March 2025 as continuing resolutions that extended FY2024 funding into FY2025 with limited changes, concluding Congress did not complete regular FY2025 appropriations and thus did not enact a minibus or omnibus before the shutdown [2] [4]. The opposing view points to H.R. 1968—titled the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, signed March 15, 2025—and reads its contents as encompassing discrete appropriations language covering multiple regular bills, thereby functioning operationally like a minibus/omnibus that packaged several of the 12 regular bills into one enacted measure [3]. The difference is semantic for some observers but material for budget tracking: one camp emphasizes the vehicle’s label as a CR, the other emphasizes the substantive inclusion of specific appropriations text that mirrors standalone bills.
2. What the claim that no FY2025 minibus/omnibus existed rests upon
Analysts asserting there was no minibus or omnibus before the shutdown rely on a chronology of continuing resolutions and the absence of a completed, floor-passed set of the 12 regular bills through the appropriations process. These sources note a short-term continuing resolution signed on September 26, 2024 funded the government until December 20, and a subsequent Full-Year Continuing Appropriations measure extended funding further, effectively leaving the FY2025 regular process incomplete. The conclusion that no omnibus/minibus was enacted is grounded in procedural records showing Congress used CRs to avert immediate lapses and did not enact all regular bills in the conventional multibill minibus/omnibus way [2] [4].
3. What the claim that H.R. 1968 included multiple appropriations bills relies upon
The counter-analysis identifies H.R. 1968 as signed into law on March 15, 2025 and describes it as containing appropriations provisions tied to several of the regular FY2025 bills—specifically naming Agriculture; Commerce-Justice-Science; Defense; Energy-Water; Financial Services; Homeland Security; Interior-Environment; Labor-HHS-Education—and treating this package as a functional minibus/omnibus. This interpretation leans on the bill’s text and on appropriations tracking that lists which accounts and titles were funded through the enacted vehicle, arguing that the practical effect mirrored enactment of a multi-bill appropriations package even if the statutory title referenced a continuing appropriations framework [3].
4. Reconciling the competing readings: label versus substance
Reconciling these views requires distinguishing statutory form from policy substance. One side points to the bill’s formal title and continuity with CR mechanics to argue it was not a true omnibus, while the other focuses on the bill’s substantive funding language that allocated funding across multiple regular appropriations areas. Both are correct on their terms: the enacted vehicle carried continuing-appropriations authority while embedding substantive, bill-specific appropriations for multiple accounts. That means the March 15, 2025 law both extended funding and functionally funded many regular programs, producing legitimate disagreement over whether to classify the measure as an omnibus/minibus or an extended CR with embedded funding provisions [2] [3].
5. Implications for counting which appropriations were “included” before the shutdown
If one counts by procedural label—only counting separately enacted omnibus/minibus statutes distinct from CRs—the answer is that no FY2025 minibus/omnibus was enacted before the shutdown and funding was managed through CRs [2]. If one counts by substantive inclusion—whether an enacted law provided final-year funding language for multiple appropriations areas—then H.R. 1968 effectively encompassed at least eight regular appropriations bills (Agriculture; Commerce-Justice-Science; Defense; Energy-Water; Financial Services; Homeland Security; Interior-Environment; Labor-HHS-Education) before the shutdown [3]. The discrepancy over which of the 12 bills remained outstanding at shutdown (Homeland Security vs. Legislative Branch) further underscores divergent source interpretations and incomplete consensus among trackers [1].
6. Bottom line for researchers tracking FY2025 appropriations
Researchers should explicitly state their counting rule: whether they require a measure to be labeled an omnibus/minibus or whether they accept an enacted continuing appropriations act that contains substantive, bill-specific funding as meeting the test. The most defensible transparent approach is to note both: that Congress enacted H.R. 1968 on March 15, 2025 which funded multiple regular appropriations areas (naming the eight identified) while budget process records also show Congress relied primarily on continuing resolutions and did not complete the entire 12-bill FY2025 regular cycle prior to the shutdown [3] [2].