Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 1, 2026· Updated

After Two Record-Breaking Shutdowns in Ten Months, the Senate Votes 90-6 to Fund the Government Past the Midterms — and Pushes the Real Fight to December 11

Government funding was set to lapse at midnight on September 30, 2026, which would have opened a shutdown on October 1 — four and a half weeks before the November 3 midterm elections. On Sunday, August 2, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) released the text of a continuing resolution holding most agencies at current levels through December 11. The Senate passed it 90-6 in the early hours of Saturday, August 8, before leaving for the August recess. The bill is a stopgap, but it is not a clean one. Democrats won three things House Republicans' version did not contain: language closing a transfer loophole that would have let the administration move money appropriated for other programs into Border Patrol; a temporary block on a proposed OMB rule giving senior political appointees a larger role in reviewing and cancelling federal grants; and rejection of the White House's request for $1 billion to begin work on the new "Trump-class" battleship. It also carries adjustments for WIC, shipbuilding and the Disaster Relief Fund. The six no votes were an unusual left-right pairing — Cassidy, Paul, Kaine, Markey, Warren and Sanders — with progressives objecting to funding the administration's agenda at all and fiscal conservatives objecting to another stopgap. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said voting yes would be "signing a check for President Trump to continue his illegal, reckless agenda." The politics behind the 90-6 margin are straightforward: the country has already been through three funding lapses in a year, including a four-day shutdown from January 31 to February 3 and a record 76-day DHS lapse from February to late April. Neither party wanted a fourth one running through the campaign. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) framed it as owing the public predictability. What the vote does not do is settle anything. It moves the deadline to December 11 — after the election, into a lame-duck session, with the OMB grants rule, immigration enforcement funding, hemp-derived THC products and the unfinished full-year appropriations bills all still live. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), asked what it would take to finish a budget by then, listed "whiffs of frozen hell, donkeys flying." The House still has to pass the measure when members return in September before it reaches the President's desk.

“House Republicans are in charge here, and we’re continuing to do the grown-up thing and make sure we get the job done. And we’re happy that we just passed that continuing resolution to fund the government through early December, and then we’ll continue through the process after the election.”
Mike Johnson (R-LA) · Sep 1, 2026

Aug 20, 2026· Updated

The National Debt Crosses $40 Trillion Months Ahead of Schedule — Driven in Part by the Tariff Revenue the Supreme Court Took Away — and the Treasury Secretary Says "There's Nothing Magic About the $40 Trillion Number"

On August 19, 2026, the Treasury Department reported that total federal debt outstanding had crossed $40 trillion for the first time, finishing the day at $40,047,425,768,420.22 — roughly $32.3 trillion held by the public and $7.8 trillion in intragovernmental holdings. The milestone arrived months earlier than the Congressional Budget Office had projected. The government borrowed $1.8 trillion in the first ten months of fiscal 2026 — more than in all of fiscal 2025 — and the gap widened after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, costing an estimated $250 billion in revenue and forcing Treasury to refund more than $100 billion in import taxes it had already collected. The debt has doubled in under a decade, having stood at just under $20 trillion at the end of the Obama administration. Republicans who control both chambers reacted with alarm rather than a plan. House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Tex.) called the debt "an existential threat" and renewed his call for an Article V constitutional convention. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), whose chamber had just left town for August recess without acting on Trump's demand that it address the debt ceiling, told reporters "$40 trillion in debt — seems to me that should get our attention." Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) posted that voters had "40 trillion reasons 2 reject unaffordable socialist policies," drawing ridicule from critics who noted he had voted for the tax and spending bills that produced it. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) called it "bad" and demanded a balanced budget. Democrats pointed at the majority. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member on the Budget Committee, said Republicans "only care about 'fiscal responsibility' when it's time to cut your health care." House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said "The Republican economy is a disaster. Vote them all out in November." The administration's answer was growth. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the next morning that "there's nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that," and said there was a "very good chance" the deficit under Trump had already peaked.

“There’s a very good chance the U.S. budget deficit under President Trump has peaked.”
Scott Bessent (R-SC) · Aug 20, 2026

Senate Leaders Strike a Bipartisan Stopgap to Fund the Government Through December 11, Sidestepping Trump and House Republicans

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) released the text of a continuing resolution on August 2, 2026 that would hold federal funding at current levels through December 11 — pushing the next shutdown deadline past the November midterm elections. The Senate voted 89-4 on Monday, August 3 to limit debate on the measure, an unusually early move given that the fiscal year does not end until September 30 and Congress normally waits until the final hours of a funding deadline. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said the predictability was worth it after two lengthy shutdowns, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the bill preserved room to keep negotiating a budget. The measure includes adjustments for WIC, shipbuilding and the Disaster Relief Fund, and both Collins and Murray highlighted a provision blocking a proposed OMB rule on federal grants for the duration of the CR. The bipartisan deal cut against demands from President Trump and House Republicans, whose own CR had taken a different approach; the House was on recess and not scheduled to return until August 31. Murray, while backing the bill, criticized fellow senators for not doing more to check the administration.

“After three unnecessary lapses in funding during the fiscal year 2026 cycle, putting the possibility of yet another harmful shutdown off the table should be a priority for each and every one of us.”
Susan Collins (R-ME) · Aug 8, 2026

CBO Puts Trump’s "Golden Fleet" of Trump-Class Battleships at $275 Billion — $23.4 Billion for the First Ship Alone — and the Senate’s Top Budget Democrat Says Congress Should Refuse to Fund It

On August 5, 2026, the Congressional Budget Office released an estimate, requested by Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, of what President Trump's proposed new class of nuclear-powered battleships would cost. CBO put the 15-ship program at about $275 billion through 2056: roughly $23.4 billion for the lead ship, the future USS Defiant, and about $18 billion each for the 14 that would follow. If the design grows to 41,000 tons, CBO put the worst case at $528 billion. The Senate Budget Committee separately estimated that the 20-to-25-ship fleet Trump has described would run about $455 billion. Trump announced the "Golden Fleet" at Mar-a-Lago on December 22, 2025, alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan, describing a battleship armed with hypersonic missiles, nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles, an electromagnetic railgun and high-powered lasers — several of which remain undeveloped. It would be the largest U.S. surface combatant since World War II. CBO cautioned that its numbers are "highly uncertain," resting on assessments of a design that does not yet exist, and questioned whether American shipyards have the capacity to build nuclear-powered vessels of this size at all. The Navy has asked for roughly $1 billion in advance procurement and about $837 million in research and development in fiscal 2027, with a planned $17 billion request for the first ship's procurement in fiscal 2028 — which is where the fight over whether the fleet gets built will land.

“While American families can’t even keep their heads above water, Donald Trump is spending his time building himself a “Golden Fleet” of battleships the Navy doesn’t want.”
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) · Aug 6, 2026

Jul 25, 2026· Updated

House Adopts $95 Billion "Reconciliation 3.0" Budget Blueprint 216-214 With SAVE Act Money Inside

On July 22, 2026, the House adopted H.Con.Res. 113, a $95 billion budget reconciliation blueprint, by a vote of 216-214. The framework directs four House committees — Armed Services, Agriculture, Administration and Intelligence — to draft legislation allocating roughly $60 billion for defense, $13 billion for intelligence, $12 billion for farm relief, and $10 billion to administer the Safeguard American Vote Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. Routing the SAVE Act through reconciliation is a way around the Senate filibuster that has blocked it repeatedly. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH), along with Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), joined every Democrat in voting no. The blueprint faces an uncertain path in the Senate, where Republicans including Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell have previously voted against the SAVE Act.

“We expect that we will confront the largest voter suppression effort in the history of the country. We're going to continue to stand strong against the voter suppression efforts of the Republican Party led by Donald Trump.”
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · Jul 25, 2026

House Passes $70 Billion ICE and Border Patrol Funding Bill 214-212, Sending It to Trump's Desk

The House narrowly passed the Secure America Act (S.2) 214-212 on June 9, 2026, sending the $70 billion immigration enforcement package to Trump's desk. Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), who caucuses with Republicans, was the only non-Democrat to vote against it, citing concerns about bypassing the bipartisan appropriations process. The bill funds ICE ($38.6B) and CBP ($26B) through fiscal year 2029, locking in immigration enforcement funding through the remainder of the Trump term. The Senate had passed the bill 52-47 on June 5.

“With today's vote, House and Senate Republicans have officially ended the third Democrat government shutdown of this Congress. And here's the end result of Democrats' record-setting obstruction: CBP and ICE will now be funded for the remainder of President Trump's term and Democrats will have no ability to defund these agencies in the 119th or 120th Congresses. We have three full years of funding. What we've done now by funding it for three years, we've taken away [Democrats'] ability to cut that funding, to block that funding or to take hostage the funding for the remainder of the Trump administration.”
Mike Johnson (R-LA) · Jun 9, 2026

Senate Passes $70 Billion ICE and Border Patrol Funding Bill 52-47

The Senate voted 52-47 early on June 5, 2026 to pass a $70 billion immigration enforcement package funding ICE ($38.6B) and Customs and Border Protection ($26B) through the end of the Trump administration. The bill also includes a $5 billion DHS enforcement allocation and a $1.776 billion DOJ "anti-weaponization" settlement fund that had sparked weeks of internal Republican backlash. Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote against the bill, which all Democrats opposed. The final vote came just before 5 a.m. after a 19-hour session that saw Republicans defeat multiple Democratic and GOP amendments to eliminate the settlement fund. The bill now heads to the House, where Majority Leader Steve Scalise indicated he wants quick passage.

“Why are we doing this bill? We are here today only because Democrats refuse to appropriate a single dollar for our border and immigration law enforcement.”
John Thune (R-SD) · Jun 5, 2026

Republicans Push Second Reconciliation Bill; Medicaid Cuts Spark GOP Revolt

With the 2025 "One Big Beautiful Bill" already cutting ~$1 trillion from Medicaid, House Republicans and Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham pushed in early 2026 for a second reconciliation package focused on immigration enforcement funding. But a bloc of GOP senators — Collins, Murkowski, Moran, Hawley — warned against further Medicaid cuts, especially to rural hospitals. The bill stalled in May 2026 amid Republican infighting.

“Maybe he doesn't think he needs us. But I don't know. Last I checked, the laws don't just appear before his desk to be signed.”
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) · May 20, 2026