{"id":16812,"date":"2026-07-25T13:35:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16812"},"modified":"2026-07-25T13:35:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:35:48","slug":"senate-feeling-good-about-avoiding-pre-election-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16812","title":{"rendered":"Senate feeling good about avoiding pre-election shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/mq-qtd7yV5w05-VvaD7ecB6WrT4=\/0x0:6000x3375\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/22\/1784759238216.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Senators on both sides of the aisle are quietly hopeful about avoiding a third <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/16\/reconciliation-government-funding-republicans-mike-johnson\" target=\"_blank\">government shutdown<\/a> this year. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> Time is short, patience is wearing thin and neither party wants to head into the campaign&#8217;s final sprint <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/10\/government-shutdown-congress-republicans-midterm-elections\" target=\"_blank\">under the cloud<\/a> of a funding lapse.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;People understand that it would be helpful to have a [continuing resolution] that extends beyond the election,&#8221; Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told Axios. &#8220;So it doesn&#8217;t get all bound up in partisan discussions around the elections.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;I just think everybody&#8217;s trying to give ourselves room to find a bipartisan agreement, and we are not there yet,&#8221; Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told Axios.<\/li>\n<li>Asked whether the vibes were positive, Schatz replied: &#8220;Not negative.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Republicans were even more optimistic <\/strong>about a bipartisan CR.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Perhaps we can get ours passed, and then when the House comes back the last week of August, they can pass it there,&#8221; Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said. <\/li>\n<li>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s going to be much controversy there, unless the Democrats change their minds.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>State of play:<\/strong> The House passed a short-term spending bill late Tuesday night. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) will essentially ignore it. For now.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The same fate likely awaits the budget resolution Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/22\/house-republicans-reconciliation-iran-funding-save-act\" target=\"_blank\">narrowly pushed through<\/a> Wednesday afternoon on a 216-214 vote.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The intrigue:<\/strong> House Republicans are still steaming over Thune&#8217;s decision to declare, in advance, that he won&#8217;t take up reconciliation until the government is funded.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;He&#8217;s the leader of the Senate. I think it&#8217;s a mistake to hold up such an important piece of legislation,&#8221; House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) told Axios.<\/li>\n<li>But his new Senate counterpart, Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), appears far more comfortable with Thune&#8217;s timeline and sequencing. <\/li>\n<li>&#8220;With [Senate Appropriations Chair] Susan [Collins] apparently showing progress toward a CR \u2014 even talking about a defense supplemental in that agreement \u2014 that would, to a certain extent, negate having to do one,&#8221; Johnson said, referring to a separate reconciliation package.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What to watch:<\/strong> There&#8217;s no guarantee a major news event won&#8217;t derail bipartisan funding talks, just as Medicaid cuts and the ICE shootings did earlier this year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>President Trump&#8217;s escalation of the conflict with Iran is already complicating defense spending negotiations, with Democrats largely opposed and Republicans split over the scope of additional funding.<\/li>\n<li>Any effort to attach supplemental defense money tied to Iran to the CR could make the vote significantly more difficult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out:<\/strong> The CR is only one item on the Senate&#8217;s crowded pre-recess agenda.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>FISA Section 702 remains lapsed, leaving the intelligence community without a key surveillance authority.<\/li>\n<li>The Senate also must take another run at the National Defense Authorization Act after the bill stalled this month.<\/li>\n<li>Thune also wants to reserve time for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/22\/crypto-progressives-kirsten-gillibrand-senate\" target=\"_blank\">CLARITY Act<\/a>, but both sides acknowledge that more work needs to be done to find 60 Senate votes for the cryptocurrency bill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>There is also building pressure<\/strong> for Thune to bring a Russia sanctions package to the floor, especially after the death of Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/16\/russia-sanctions-bill-lindsey-graham-senate\" target=\"_blank\">Lindsey Graham<\/a> (R-S.C.), who had pushed hard for the bill&#8217;s passage.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>And leadership is trying to clear a backlog of nominations, including Jay Clayton to serve as director of national intelligence and Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The bottom line:<\/strong> On Tuesday, Thune slyly suggested that he was prepared to use a reconciliation package to fund the government along party lines &#8212; if needed. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He may not have to act on that threat if the bipartisan Senate progress continues.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senators on both sides of the aisle are quietly hopeful about avoiding a third government shutdown this year. Why it matters: Time is short, patience is wearing thin and neither party wants to head into the campaign&#8217;s final sprint under the cloud of a funding lapse. &#8220;People understand that it would be helpful to have&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/mq-qtd7yV5w05-VvaD7ecB6WrT4=\/0x0:6000x3375\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/22\/1784759238216.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}