Last week, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) led the House through two votes that tee up federal funding discussions after the August recess. The first is passage of a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that will extend federal appropriations funding -for all federal agencies- at current funding levels through December 4, 2026. In a 220–205 vote—with 6 Democrats joining 213 Republicans—the House approved a stopgap funding measure to avert a federal shutdown before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Calling it a "clean CR," House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said the bill's passage "prevents a partisan shutdown fight in September.” The second bill -which passed 216-214 with three House Republicans voting against it- is a third budget reconciliation package worth $95 billion that would provide funding for the Pentagon, agriculture aid, and for states to adopt new voting restrictions. While a budget reconciliation bill technically can be fast-tracked through the Senate with a simple majority vote, this measure is already being criticized because it does not include any spending offsets. Both bills now proceed to the Senate. In the case of the CR, it is required to meet a 60-vote threshold to pass and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said he will bring it to a vote in the coming two weeks. Regarding the budget blueprint, he noted that he’ll “hold reconciliation” as a backup to help the Senate work out the appropriations deal first.