Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Republican Senator from South Carolina Tim Scott speak in the hallway during a Senate vote to begin debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, at the US Capitol. Image: GRAEME SLOAN/EPA/Shutterstock
By: FEDweek Staff
Major bills including the annual defense authorization bill and appropriations measures are advancing in Congress, but with less than three weeks remaining before the September 30 end of the current fiscal year, there is still no clear path for avoiding a partial government shutdown when current spending authority expires.
Of the 12 regular appropriations bills, the Senate has passed three and the House just two, with the rest either still pending in committee or awaiting floor voting. One bill that has been passed by both, covering VA and military construction, is being eyed as a potential vehicle for a “continuing resolution” to continue funding authority for other agencies. Such a bill likely would keep funding at roughly current levels until sometime in December.
That would give Congress more time to work on reaching compromise budgets for other agencies, but differences remain deep between the two chambers—with the Senate-generated bills generally containing higher funding and fewer policy riders—and within the Republican majorities of both houses. Unlike the recently enacted tax and spending bill that was structured to pass with only Republican votes, Democratic support would be needed at least in the Senate.
As is customary in such situations, both parties already are asserting that the other would be responsible for a shutdown—which would put hundreds of thousands of federal employees on unpaid furloughs while the rest would have to continue working unpaid, due to the nature of their jobs (both categories are guaranteed that they would receive back pay once funding authority is restored).
Among the bills still in progress is the general government measure—which now has cleared the House Appropriations Committee—that sets general federal workplace policies on pay and benefits issues.
Among other provisions, that bill would prevent coverage of gender-affirming care by federal employee health insurance plans—which the Trump administration separately has ordered—extend a long-standing restriction on allowable topics in employee training to also exclude DEI training. It also would prohibit investments through the TSP in mutual funds that use environmental, social, or governance criteria, a provision that would apply only to the TSP’s mutual fund window and that the TSP previously said would cause it to drop that feature.
The general government measure also funds financial regulatory agencies and the IRS, which would be in for deep cuts; the House bill would go below even the amount the Trump administration requested for IRS customer service. The IRS has warned that without the requested money, customer service—which a recent IG report said is worse than agency data indicate—would “plummet.” The IRS meanwhile has announced the closing of nine taxpayer assistance centers.
During committee voting, the Republican majority rejected Democratic-sponsored amendments for a 3.8 percent January pay raise government-wide, effectively leaving in place President Trump’s intention to pay that amount, unless Congress acts otherwise, to certain law enforcement officers while other employees would receive only 1 percent.
Republicans also rejected amendments to block Trump’s executive orders on creating Schedule Policy/Career and disavowing union contracts and representation across a wide swath of agencies.
The order on unions—which Trump recently expanded to six additional agencies—also is at issue in the annual DoD authorization bill, separate versions of which are now up for floor voting in the House and Senate. The House version would block implementation of that order as it applies to DoD, although not to other agencies, while the Senate version contains no similar provision. Amendments could be offered in the House to strip that language from its version and/or in the Senate to add similar language to its version.
Separately, federal unions continue to push for a House vote on a bill (HR-2550) to block the order’s implementation government-wide through a legislative maneuver called a discharge petition. That now needs the signatures of only four more House members to force a House vote even over the opposition of the GOP leadership.
The order also is the subject of lawsuits, including several newly filed as more agencies—most recently, components of HHS—carry it out.
Key Bills Advancing, but No Path to Avoid Shutdown Apparent
TSP Adds Detail to Upcoming Roth Conversion Feature
White House to Issue Rules on RIF, Disciplinary Policy Changes
DoD Announces Civilian Volunteer Detail in Support of Immigration Enforcement
See also,
How Do Age and Years of Service Impact My Federal Retirement
The Best Ages for Federal Employees to Retire
How to Challenge a Federal Reduction in Force (RIF) in 2025
Should I be Shooting for a $1M TSP Balance? Depends…
FERS Retirement Guide 2025 – Your Roadmap to Maximizing Federal Retirement Benefits