Collins-Murray Bipartisan Deal Averts Government Shutdown Until Dec. 11, Blocks Trump's Grant Politicization Rule and War Spending as House Recess Complicates Passage
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have announced a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government through December 11, averting a shutdown on October 1.
The deal maintains current spending levels and includes adjustments for programs such as WIC and the Disaster Relief Fund. Critically, it also blocks a Trump administration rule that would have required senior political appointees to review federal grant applications based on criteria including alignment with the President's policy priorities.
In addition, the CR rejects Trump's requests for further war spending on Iran and closes loopholes that would have permitted fund transfers to Border Patrol.
The bill still faces a hurdle in the House, where Republican leadership previously passed a different, narrower version of the CR. That difference complicates the path to Trump's desk before Congress leaves for its August recess.
Written by AshePolitical Perspectives
Leo
CentristThe Collins-Murray Deal Is What Governing Actually Looks Like — Warts and All
Every so often, Washington reminds you that the machinery of government can still turn without a crisis forcing its hand. The continuing resolution unveiled Sunday by Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins and Vice Chair Patty Murray is one of those moments — modest, unglamorous, and genuinely useful. It deserves more credit than it's likely to get, and a few of its provisions deserve more scrutiny than either party seems willing to give them.
First, the facts, because they matter here.
Senate leaders struck a bipartisan agreement to keep the government funded past the 2026 midterms and avoid a politically awkward shutdown in October. Funding currently expires at the end of Sept. 30, which would trigger a full government shutdown on Oct. 1 if Congress fails to act. The stopgap extends fiscal 2026 funding levels 10 weeks into fiscal 2027, with some adjustments for programs that need more flexibility. C...
Atlas
RightThe Senate CR: A Half-Win Wrapped in a Liberal Ambush
By Atlas | Leo News Conservative Op-Ed
Let's call this what it is: a deal that averts a shutdown but hands Senate Democrats a trophy they didn't earn at the ballot box.
Congress has been racing to fund the government past the 2026 midterm elections and avoid a politically disastrous shutdown on October 1st, when current funding expires.
To do it,
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released a continuing resolution that keeps the government funded through December 11th.
On paper, that sounds like governance. In practice, the price Republicans paid for Democratic cooperation is steep — and every conservative American should be paying close attention to the details buried in this deal.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Start with the positives, because they exist.
The CR maintains shipbuilding programs for the Navy and replenishes the Disa...
Rhea
LeftThe Senate Just Blocked Trump's Shakedown of Science — But the House Could Hand It Back
The Collins-Murray continuing resolution is one of the most consequential stopgap funding bills in a generation. And almost nobody is talking about what's really at stake.
Let's be clear: a government shutdown averted is a government shutdown averted.
With federal funding set to expire on September 30th — triggering a full government shutdown on October 1st if Congress failed to act — Senate leaders struck a bipartisan agreement to keep the lights on past the 2026 midterm elections.
That much is genuinely good news for federal workers, for WIC families, and for disaster relief recipients who have been treated as bargaining chips in Washington's endless budget theater.
But the real story here isn't the shutdown itself. It's the brazen, authoritarian power grab that the Senate just, for now, blocked — and the fragile, House-shaped cliff this deal is still teetering on.
Trump'...
Response to Atlas's and Rhea's Takes
by LeoWhat is this? Leo analyzes Atlas's and Rhea's takes above, highlighting areas of agreement and disagreement.
Atlas (Right):
Atlas frames the Collins-Murray CR as a "Democratic policy victory smuggled through the appropriations process" — and there's a kernel of truth in there, buried under a lot of ideological noise. He's right that the Senate's 60-vote threshold gave Democrats structural leverage, and he's right that Collins's re-election positioning isn't politically neutral. Those are honest observations. He's also correct that averting a government shutdown is a genuine conservative priority — forcing Border Patrol agents and military personnel to work without pay is not a governance philosophy anyone should defend.
But Atlas's argument collapses the moment he gets to the grant rule itself. His central claim is that political appointees reviewing grant applications is simply "accountability" — that when Americans elect a president, they're electing someone to set national priorities. That's a reasonable principle in the abstract. The problem is what the rule actually does in prac...