Congressional Appropriators Release New 3-Bill Spending Package

The package comes several weeks after Senate and House Republican lawmakers struck a deal on remaining appropriations for Fiscal Year 2026.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) speaks during a House Rules Committee meeting in Washington on June 20, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—Appropriators in the House and Senate have moved forward on regular appropriations for 2026, issuing a bipartisan, three-bill package that would fund parts of the federal government through the end of September.

Released on Jan. 5, the new package comes a few weeks after a deal was reached between top Republican lawmakers in both chambers. It lacks some cuts sought by the White House and more conservative Republican lawmakers, a result that drew praise from top Democratic appropriators.

Combining the efforts of the House, dominated by a thin Republican majority, and the Senate, led by a more moderate GOP bloc, it is slated to move forward in the lower chamber this week, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)

The government is currently funded by a stopgap bill set to expire on Jan. 31. That legislation was passed in November 2025 to end a 43-day government shutdown, the longest in history.

The continuing resolution that reopened the government was passed alongside a different three-bill appropriations package for fiscal year 2026. That minibus funded the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress itself, among other activities and agencies.

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) announced on Dec. 20 that he and Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) had reached an agreement on allocations for remaining funding legislation, including spending targets lower than what another continuing resolution would require.

“We will now begin expeditiously drafting the remaining nine full-year bills to ensure we are ready to complete our work in January,” Cole said at the time.

In a statement on the latest bicameral bills, the Oklahoman said they are the result of “committee-led negotiations and thoughtful deliberation.”

On X, Johnson noted that the three-bill package released on Jan. 5 is not an omnibus—a sprawling and, among fiscal conservatives, often unpopular approach to funding the government. He also said that the bills “advance President Trump’s America First agenda.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) speaks to reporters during the government shutdown at a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 15, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democratic appropriator in that chamber, also praised the new package, saying it avoided cuts envisioned by the Trump administration.

“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,” she said in a statement.

Vought is the director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which issued the executive branch’s 2026 discretionary budget request.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Committee on Appropriations, described the release in a statement as “an important first step.”

3 Appropriations Bills

One $78 billion appropriations bill would fund the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice, and various scientific agencies. That is more than the $76.8 billion in a House committee version but less than the $82.6 billion in a Senate committee version.

The bill would offer the Commerce Department $11.1 billion, more than the department received in 2025 and more than $2 billion above Trump’s request. It would also fund climate research that the administration sought to curtail and boost funding to the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Other legislation covers energy and water development.

The third bill, appropriating more than $42 billion, is the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.