Senate Passes First Three Annual Funding Bills, Breaking Logjam

Senators passed their first three government-funding bills of the year Friday, overcoming partisan sniping to make progress ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

Members voted 87-9 in favor of their fiscal 2026 Agriculture-FDA and Military Construction-VA measures. They then separately voted 81-15 to add the Legislative Branch bill, honoring a request for an individual vote by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who said the measure was too expensive. The three measures were ultimately packaged in one bill (H.R. 3944), which passed 87-9.

The spending package was a top priority for senators ahead of their ...