Congress releases $174 billion partial 2026 spending package

Top House and Senate appropriators on Monday released a bipartisan "minibus" bill to fund three federal agencies in fiscal 2026 as Congress tries to avoid another government shutdown at the end of January.

The House is expected to vote Thursday on the package, which totals $174 billion to fund the commerce, justice, science agency, the energy and water department, and the interior and environment agency through the Sept. 30 end of the current fiscal year.

"This bipartisan, bicameral package reflects steady progress toward completing fiscal year 2026 funding responsibly," Appropriations Chair Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Monday in a statement. The measures deliver "critical community projects nationwide, along with investments in water infrastructure, ports, and flood control that protect localities and keep commerce moving."

Cole said he wants to pass a trio of three-bill minibus packages in coming weeks to complete all nine remaining spending bills by the end of the month. Congress passed three full-year spending bills in the fall as part of the agreement that ended last fall's record 43-day shutdown.

Democrats said the package rejects the deep cuts proposed by the White House and Office of Management and Budget and limits the administration's ability to reorganize agencies and divert spending through impoundment.

Passing the bipartisan bills "will help ensure that Congress, not President Trump and Russ Vought, decides how taxpayer dollars are spent," saidSen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement.

The Interior-Environment budget totals $38.6 billion, down from $40.9 in fiscal 2025. The EPA's budget totals $8.8 billion, which is $1.8 billion above an earlier House GOP draft. That includes $4.4 billion for state and tribal assistance grants, a program that the Trump budget would have funded at only $700 million.

The Energy and Water budget, which includes the Army Corps of Engineers, would total $57.3 billion, down from fiscal 2025 levels, but the legislation would tap unused money from the 2021 infrastructure package to boost total funding to $63.3 billion, according to Democratic appropriators.

The budget includes $2.76 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, which fall under the Environmental Protection Agency. The appropriations are $660 million above a House GOP draft bill and $2.46 billion above President Trump's proposed budget, according to a Democrat summary.

State revolving funds for drinking and wastewater provide federal funding to states, which then often leverage the money by issuing municipal bonds, most of which feature triple-A ratings, to make low-interest loans to cities, counties, water districts and other governmental entities to finance infrastructure projects.

Another $7.2 billion would be set aside for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Program, including $5 billion for program development, administration and oversight and $2.2 billion for financial assistance. The money comes as some Democrats have accused the Trump administration of slow-walking WIFIA loans.

The package includes $3 billion in earmarks for various local projects.

The next three-bill package could include Financial Services, Homeland Security and State-Foreign Operations bills, according to Roll Call. The final package would include Defense, Labor-HHS-Education and Transportation-Housing.

Congress in the fall passed, and President Donald Trump signed, three full-year appropriations for the Agriculture, Legislative Branch and Military Construction-VA departments.

Appropriations must be passed by Jan. 30 when short-term spending runs out.

"Democrats want to fund the appropriations, the spending bills, all the way through 2026," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday on an ABC news program. "We want to work in a bicameral, bipartisan way to do it. And the good news is our Republican appropriators are working with us, and we're making good progress in that regard."