Congress votes to avert government shutdown ahead of midterm elections

By Annie Grayer, Ellis Kim, CNN

(CNN) — The House passed a bill on Tuesday to extend government funding to December 11, clearing a path to avert a shutdown ahead of the midterm elections.

The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed into law.

By extending government funding beyond the September 30 deadline, lawmakers are taking the threat of a shutdown off the table to focus on the final campaign sprint ahead of the November elections, where control of Congress is at stake.

Government funding has frequently been a divisive issue this Congress, which holds the record for the longest shutdown in US history. But Tuesday’s vote passed with little fanfare as lawmakers are eager to get out of Washington and back on the campaign trail.

House lawmakers voted on the Senate’s version of a short-term government funding bill that the chamber passed last month before leaving town for August recess.

The Senate measure differed from an initial funding extension offered by the House in several ways, including a lack of funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, which have already been funded through the end of Trump’s term, and a temporary block on a proposed administration rule that critics warn would further politicize federal grants.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.