Budget on CrossGov.com

2026 Midterms: Democrats Lead the Generic Ballot by About 8 Points as Cook Moves 18 House Races, and What Control Means for the Budget

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Three weeks before the 3 November midterms, Republicans hold the House with 218 seats to the Democrats’ 214, plus one independent and two vacancies. They hold the Senate 53 to 47. Polling averages show Democrats ahead on the generic congressional ballot by about 8 points: RealClearPolitics had it at 50.4% to 42.2% on 6 October, and Nate Silver’s average at 8.9 points on 9 October. A year ago the gap was under 3.

Congress Faces a December 11 Cliff: Government Funding, the NDAA, the Farm Bill and the Cyber Sharing Law All Due After the Midterms

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When Congress comes back after the 3 November midterms, it will have about five weeks before several deadlines land on the same day. The stopgap funding law, H.R. 6500, signed on 2 September, keeps the government open until 11 December. The same law carries the National Flood Insurance Program, the 2015 cyber threat-sharing law, surface transportation authority and the EPA’s chemical fee programme to that date.

The farm bill has already lapsed. The defence policy bill is stuck in the Senate. And a long list of health and tax items runs out on 31 December.

The Pentagon's $1.5 Trillion Request Meets a Stalled NDAA and a Stopgap That Funds Defence at $838 Billion

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The fiscal 2027 budget asked Congress for $1.5 trillion for national defence, a 42% jump. The Pentagon is starting the year on $838.5 billion, under a continuing resolution that runs to 11 December and bars new programmes. The annual defence authorisation bill, which Congress has passed every year for more than six decades, is stuck in the Senate.

The gap between what was asked and what exists is the widest in years.

FY2027 Appropriations: The House Has Passed 3 of 12 Bills, the Senate None, With Funding Running Out December 11

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ten days into fiscal 2027, Congress has finished none of the twelve bills that fund the government. The House has passed three: Military Construction and Veterans Affairs on 15 May by 400 votes to 15, Agriculture on 4 June by 213 to 210, and National Security and State on 15 July by 217 to 209. The Senate hasn’t marked up a single one. Everything runs on a stopgap that expires on 11 December.

GAO Finds New Impoundment Violations as the House Proposes a 25% Cut to Congress's Watchdog

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 7 October 2026 the Government Accountability Office issued two more decisions finding that the executive branch broke the Impoundment Control Act. One concerned the EPA’s Community Change Grants. The other found that HHS’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality withheld more than $78 million that Congress had appropriated.

They join a long list. In 2025 GAO found violations involving electric-vehicle charging money under the NEVI programme, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Head Start, the National Institutes of Health, FEMA and, in part, a DOE school-energy programme. By April 2025 it had 39 impoundment investigations open.

Iran War Costs Reach $43.6 Billion by the Pentagon's Count as Congress Stalls on Funding and Interceptor Stocks Run Low

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Pentagon’s latest estimate puts the cost of the war with Iran at $43.6 billion as of 3 September. Of that, $11.2 billion has been spent on operations and $32.4 billion is the cost of replacing munitions and equipment, which hasn’t been funded. The figure leaves out repairs to bases in eight countries.

Every estimate so far has been overtaken by the next. The Defense Department’s inspector general counted $33.4 billion through June. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress in July the war would cost $37.5 billion through September. CBO, in a letter on 15 September, put the cost through 1 August at about $38 billion, with $2 billion to $3 billion more each month.

After USAID: GAO Counts 6,780 Awards Ended as the State Department Takes Over $52 Billion in Foreign Aid