Some Democrats Seem To Back Off Prospect Of Another Shutdown As Bipartisan Spending Bill Drops

Lawmakers released a three-bill spending package Monday, marking the latest appropriations move since the bipartisan deal that ended the 43-day government shutdown in November 2025.

The bipartisan spending bills cover agencies related to Commerce, Justice, Science and come as most lawmakers look to avoid another shutdown — with the Jan. 30 government funding fast approaching. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he aims to bring the package to the House floor later in the week, and the top Democratic appropriators in the House and Senate have expressed satisfaction with the package.

The package funds the Energy, Commerce, Interior and Justice departments through Sept. 30, the end of Fiscal Year 2026, and brings congressional leaders, such as Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, one step closer to their goal of funding the government through regular order rather than using stopgap funding bills.

Democratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, stressed the need for congressionally approved spending in a Monday statement on the spending package.

“Importantly, passing these bills will help ensure that Congress, not President Trump and Russ Vought, decides how taxpayer dollars are spent—by once again providing hundreds of detailed spending directives and reasserting congressional control over these incredibly important spending decisions,” Murray said.

Democratic Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the House Appropriations Committee’s ranking member, said Monday she “looks forward” to casting her vote for the funding package.

“Perhaps most importantly, this legislation reasserts Congress’s power of the purse,” she said in a statement. “Rather than another short-sighted stop-gap measure that affords the Trump Administration broader discretion, this full-year funding package restrains the White House through precise, legally binding spending requirements.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that Democrats would not push for another government shutdown in January.

“No. There are two separate tracks here,” Schumer replied to host George Stephanopoulos’ question if there would be another shutdown. “Democrats want to fund the appropriations, the spending bills all the way through 2026. We want to work with a bicameral, bipartisan way to do it. And the good news is our Republican appropriators are working with us, and we’re making good progress in that regard.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries meanwhile appeared to avoid a question on whether he would support another shutdown over health care subsidies, during his Sunday appearance on NBC News’s “Meet The Press.”

“First of all, we need to resolve this issue within the next week or so, protect the healthcare of the American people and then continue to fix our broken healthcare system and address the Republican healthcare crisis that’s devastating everyday Americans including as a result of the fact that they enacted the large of the cut to Medicaid in American history,” Jeffries told host Kristen Welker. “We’ve also said as it relates to the appropriations process that we’ll sit down any time, any place with anyone in order to find a bipartisan path forward to enact a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people.”

Congress still has six more appropriations bills to pass for the 2026 fiscal year, including Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; State and Foreign Operations; Labor and Health and Human Services; Homeland Security; Financial Services and General Government; and Defense.

Agriculture and Federal Drug Association, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and the Legislative Branch were all funded in the November shutdown deal.

The Commerce, Justice and Science package, also known as a minibus, allocates a total of $78 billion to its related agencies with non-defense spending reaching $71 billion and $6 billion in defense spending.