The Senate unanimously advanced a continuing resolution on Wednesday, and for now Senate avoids federal government shutdown before Oct. 1. The stopgap is meant to keep federal funding in place while lawmakers finish the next step.
The measure would also delay a Trump administration rule over federal grants until Dec. 11 if it clears one final vote and Trump signs it. Chuck Schumer called the deal a major victory for Democrats and said it would block Trump's effort to withhold federal grants from vital projects.
Chuck Schumer on federal grants
Schumer tied the deal to projects that rely on federal money and argued that the rule would have let the Trump administration hold back grants. He said, "I mean, what kind of country is this? You have two identical projects, one in a red state and one in a blue state funded the same way, same clean record," putting the dispute over grants at the center of the funding fight.
The continuing resolution was negotiated between the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, a sign that the shutdown threat pushed both sides into the same package. That agreement matters because the stopgap is not a full-year funding bill; it only extends current funding long enough to avoid a lapse while the Senate finishes the process.
John Kennedy on Dec. 11
John Kennedy answered Schumer's claim directly. "I think he's going to go back to his base and say, ‘I got the OMB rule killed,’" he said. "Well, he didn’t. I mean, I've talked to [OMB Director] Russ Vought, and the President this morning about that, and the rule can be ready by December 11th. So no harm, no foul."
Kennedy's comment leaves the dispute over the grant rule intact even as the shutdown deadline moves out of view. If the Senate completes the last vote and Trump signs the continuing resolution, agencies and grant recipients get temporary certainty until Dec. 11, when the pause would end and the grant-control issue would return.
One final vote
The next step is one final vote on the continuing resolution, followed by the President's decision. Until that happens, the Senate has only cleared the first hurdle, but Wednesday's unanimous action made the immediate shutdown deadline less pressing for federal agencies and projects tied to the grants dispute.
