The U.S. Congress on the 19th (local time) failed to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to avert a temporary federal government shutdown. The CR that passed the House was voted down in the Senate.
The House held a floor session that day and approved a short-term spending bill to maintain federal government expenditure at current levels for seven weeks through Nov. 21, passing it 217-212.
The bill was crafted to avoid a shutdown for now amid sharp disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over the federal government budget for the next fiscal year (October 2025–September 2026). Because a federal government shutdown would occur starting Oct. 1 if the budget is not passed by the 30th of this month, the intent is to extend the deadline to Nov. 21.
However, the bill that passed the House under Republican leadership was defeated in the Senate, 44 in favor to 48 against. Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky, a fiscal hawk who has argued the bill extends spending from the previous Biden administration, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who has expressed serious concerns about the Medicaid cut plan signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year, opposed it. All Democrats opposed it, while John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only one to vote in favor.
In the Senate, a Democratic alternative that would push the shutdown-avoidance deadline to Oct. 31 and extend Obamacare subsidies was also put to a vote but was likewise defeated.
With the continuing resolution failing to pass, the possibility of a federal government shutdown grew even higher.
Congress is entering a one-week recess starting that afternoon, and if that schedule holds, there will be little time left after lawmakers return to prevent a shutdown.
According to U.S. political outlet The Hill, Floor Leader Thune said on the Senate floor that the House-passed bill is the only one that would become law with President Trump's signature, calling it a bipartisan short-term bill that maintains current expenditure levels to buy time to proceed with the full budget process for the 2026 fiscal year.
Democrats are pressuring Republicans to include an extension of Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire this year, in the CR. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York countered that GOP cooperation is needed to pass the CR but Republicans are refusing to negotiate, and said that if a shutdown occurs, the responsibility lies with Republicans.
Meanwhile, the House Republican leadership instructed members not to return to Washington, D.C., until the budget deadline (Sept. 30) and canceled votes scheduled for the 29th and 30th.