Fiscal 2026 Funding Bill Stuck in Congressional Negotiations
Lawmakers Pursue Busy End-of-Year Agenda
Key Takeaways:
- Congressional leaders have not set votes on fiscal 2026 transportation funding bills, leaving agencies facing a funding lapse at the end of January and a potential partial shutdown.
- Senate and House negotiators are preparing another minibus after advancing three bills earlier this year, with proposals including $63.3 billion for highways and $22 billion for aviation.
- Lawmakers must reconcile policy disputes as they work to finalize the package, including a House plan to provide $200 million for truck parking that would be administered by DOT.
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With less than a month before the end of the calendar year, congressional leaders have not announced a path forward for approving a fiscal 2026 transportation funding measure.
After pledging to clear for the White House legislation meant to avert another government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have yet to schedule final votes on most appropriations bills.
Funding for the Department of Transportation and other key agencies will expire at the end of January. Failure to clear for President Donald Trump a new round of fiscal funding bills would trigger a partial government shutdown. This fall, many federal agencies shut down for a record 43 days.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Dec. 2, Thune outlined the budget process’ complexity going forward. His team is seeking to combine appropriations bills in a so-called minibus legislation following the approval of a trio of funding bills. As he explained: “We’re trying to get another appropriations package up on the floor. We processed three bills earlier this year. We have another ‘minibus,’ if you will, of appropriations bills that we’re trying to get consent [on]. And I’m hoping that we … get to that here soon and be able to proceed forward on the appropriations process.”
On the House side, the speaker also sought to capture the legislative moment.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) byJ. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
“When we reopened [the] government, one of the things the president signed was three regular order appropriations bills signed into law," Johnson said. "What a marquee achievement. We had agriculture, legislative branch [and] military construction-[Veterans Affairs] [bills] signed into law.
“And both chambers and the appropriators are working right now to put the next bills, get them prepared, and get them enacted and signed into law.”
Senior congressional Democrats, meanwhile, intend to continue to push back on certain Republican policy priorities specific to the social safety net. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Dec. 2 affirmed, “Democrats are continuing to lean in to the fact that we want to solve real problems for the American people, drive down the high cost of living, deal with the affordability crisis and certainly fix our broken health care system.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks during the government shutdown in October. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg)
The committee-passed Senate version of the fiscal 2026 transportation bill would provide $927 million for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The Senate bill also would provide the Federal Highway Administration $63.3 billion, the Federal Aviation Administration $22 billion, the Federal Transit Administration $16.8 billion and the Federal Railroad Administration $2.9 billion.
The version of the transportation bill before the House would approve similar funding levels for those agencies and provide $200 million for programs that would increase parking access for truck drivers.
If enacted by Trump, the truck parking enhancement funds would be administered by DOT’s Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects program. The freight industry has strongly endorsed additional funding for truck parking operations. The American Transportation Research Institute’s top industry issues list ranked truck parking fourth in 2025.
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