John Kennedy

WASHINGTON — Because legislation by U.S. Sen. John Kennedy was unanimously approved last week in the upper chamber, senators won’t get paid when the government shuts down in the future because partisan bickering keeps Congress from passing spending authorizations.

The government was fully operational for only 103 days out of the last 226 between Oct. 1, when the current fiscal year began, and Friday.

The Madisonville Republican predicts another shutdown before voters go to the polls and decide if Republicans will maintain majorities in the House and Senate. But the pay ban won’t take effect until after the November midterm elections — a point to which Kennedy agreed to get his resolution passed.

Kennedy voiced concern “that my Senate colleagues on the Democratic side are going to try to shut down government yet again right before the elections to try to create chaos to affect the midterm elections.”

Without authorization to spend money, the federal government ceased many operations for a record 43 days in 2025, when Democrats demanded an extension of subsidies for those who would otherwise see their Affordable Care Act health insurance premiums double. Then, the government closed for another four days earlier this year because of delays on the votes necessary to continue operations.

The Department of Homeland Security then went without funding for another 76 days, from Feb. 14 to April 30, over Democratic demands for greater accountability in the Trump administration’s deportation efforts after federal officers fatally shot two U.S. citizens.

These shutdowns were over appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2026, which began Oct. 1, 2025, and expires on Sept. 30, 2026.

This week, the House hopes to consider legislation that clears up the short-term patches used to get government back to work in Fiscal Year 2026, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, said at a Friday morning news conference. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told reporters Thursday that the Senate also would be advancing its version.

To end the last partial government shutdown, Congress began funding Department of Homeland Security offices such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration — but not the Immigration & Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs & Border Patrol officers. FEMA, TSA, and other parts of Homeland Security got caught up in a partisan battle over how the ICE and Border Patrol agents were carrying out the Trump administration’s deportation effort.

Democrats wanted agents to remove their masks, wear badges and body cams, as well as other provisions.

Republicans — at least most of them — refused to consider those changes. So Democrats refused to approve Homeland Security funding, knowing that the Senate would need 60 votes and the Republican majority held only 53 seats.

House and Senate GOP leadership opted to again go with a parliamentary procedure called reconciliation, which is only supposed to be used in emergencies when more money is needed than was originally approved. The method is now frequently pulled out to get around the filibuster rules and pass budget items with a bare majority of 51 votes.

Congress has approved 24 budget reconciliations in the 46 years since the rules were established.

Last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act was a reconciliation. The massive measure included tax breaks, Medicaid work requirements, and other pieces of Trump’s domestic agenda, which no Democrat would support.

Reconciliation is a crooked path that requires beginning in committee, then passing by the parliamentarian to ensure that the language fits the strict reconciliation rules. Then, a series of procedural votes is necessary.

Thune wants a “thin reconciliation” that focuses only on funding ICE and Border Patrol without the concessions Democrats sought. Johnson is pushing a similar resolution in the House.

Conservatives in both chambers also want more tax breaks, more spending cuts and a requirement to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Others want to make adjustments to healthcare.

But leadership fears adding other elements would open the door for Democrats to try to include, say, an extension on subsidies that helped workers who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid pay medical insurance policies bought on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

Additional issues also could create factions among GOP members. To avoid failure, leadership can’t afford but three Senate Republicans switching sides or three House Republicans.

Johnson and Thune say Republicans are considering a third reconciliation bill for later this summer to include those other issues.