On September 3, President Donald Trump (R) signed a stopgap spending bill which funds the federal government until Dec. 11. The bill averted a government shutdown, but also delayed the implementation of an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed rule on federal grantmaking that would give political appointees and agencies more say in awarding or terminating grants. As proposed, the rule would have gone into effect on Oct. 1, but the bill prohibits OMB from finalizing or implementing the rule through Dec. 11.
What did the bill do?
HR 6500, titled the “Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027,” is a continuing resolution that funds the operations of the federal government until Dec. 11. The federal fiscal year, and with it many existing appropriations, ends Sept. 30. Without the passage of a funding bill, the government would have shut down Oct. 1, as it did in 2025. That shutdown, which lasted 42 days, was the longest full shutdown of the government in history. In 2026 there have been two partial shutdowns: funding for some federal agencies lapsed from Jan. 30 to Feb. 4, followed by a lapse in Department of Homeland Security funding from Feb. 14 to April 30.
