For congressional Republicans, the year’s big question is how aggressive they should be in trying to advance President Donald Trump’s policies as the midterm elections approach as opposed to making the sales pitch for what’s already become law.
The immediate challenge facing Congress is once again funding the government, with only three of the dozen regular fiscal 2026 appropriations bills — Agriculture, Legislative Branch and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs enacted. Stopgap funding for everything else expires on Jan. 30.
As the calendar flipped to 2026, there have been no immediate signs of another looming partial government shutdown. The House on Thursday passed the next three measures — Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water and Interior-Environment — and the Senate is taking up that legislation this week.
