President Donald Trump signed a short-term government funding bill into law on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, keeping federal agencies open and continuing food assistance benefits through December 11. The bill, H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, had cleared the House by a lopsided 370-48 vote the day before it reached his desk. For households that rely on programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, the signature means benefits are expected to keep flowing without interruption while lawmakers negotiate a full-year budget.
The measure is a continuing resolution, a stopgap that extends most federal spending at 2026 levels rather than setting new budgets for the fiscal year that begins October 1. It buys Congress a little over two months to finish the twelve annual appropriations bills that fund everything from the Pentagon to national parks, while locking in a handful of specific provisions covering nutrition aid, disaster relief and housing assistance.
H.R. 6500 Signed Into Law, Averting a Shutdown at the Fiscal Year’s End
The White House confirmed the signing in a brief statement posted the same week, noting the bill “provides fiscal year 2027 appropriations to Federal agencies through December 11, 2026, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government,” and separately extends authorities for surface transportation programs and veterans programs that were set to lapse. The signing statement makes official what had been expected since the Senate passed its own version of the bill 90-6 in early August: federal agencies stay funded and open past the September 30 end of the current fiscal year.
The House vote came after months of back-and-forth over which chamber’s version would prevail. An earlier House-passed continuing resolution would have funded the government only through December 4 and left out several provisions the Senate wanted, including a delay to a contested Office of Management and Budget rule on how federal grant money is administered. The version ultimately signed into law adopted the Senate’s longer timeline and its added provisions.
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SNAP, WIC and Nutrition Programs Keep Current Funding Levels
Nutrition assistance is one of the few areas where the bill spells out specific direction rather than simply freezing prior-year totals across the board. The legislation continues Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding at current program levels, meaning grocery and farmers-market purchases made with SNAP benefits should see no gap tied to the funding deadline itself. It also authorizes the spending needed to maintain current participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, and to keep caseloads steady in the Commodity Assistance Program, which distributes food packages to low-income seniors and other households through community agencies.
The Food and Nutrition Administration, the USDA agency that runs SNAP, administers benefits through state agencies, which is why a lapse in federal appropriations can slow or interrupt payments even when the program itself is not being cut. Continuing the funding at current levels avoids that scenario for now, though it does not settle the program’s budget for the full fiscal year — that fight resumes when the twelve regular appropriations bills come up again.
Housing Vouchers and Flood Insurance Get Extensions Too
Beyond food assistance, the bill contains several narrower provisions aimed at preventing specific programs from lapsing at the same time as the broader funding deadline. It authorizes the Department of Housing and Urban Development to shift unobligated funds from certain tenant-based rental assistance accounts to prevent shortfalls in Housing Choice Voucher renewals, the program that helps low-income renters afford private-market apartments; the fix does not cover HUD-VASH vouchers for veterans or family-unification vouchers, which run through separate accounts. Homelessness assistance grants, including Continuum of Care and Emergency Solutions Grant funding, are extended through the coming fiscal year rather than left to expire with the stopgap. The National Flood Insurance Program, which homeowners in flood-prone areas depend on to close mortgages and renew coverage, is extended through December 11 alongside the broader bill.
Defense, Transportation and Other Provisions Riding on the Same Bill
The continuing resolution also carries provisions with less direct household impact but real budget consequences. It authorizes close to $2.61 billion for Navy shipbuilding programs and roughly $2.85 billion for national security procurement, while otherwise blocking the Department of Defense from spending above 2026 levels. On transportation, the bill rescinds unspent highway infrastructure and Federal Aviation Administration research funding and does not extend advance appropriations tied to the 2021 infrastructure law, a gap that could squeeze transportation funding later this year unless new appropriations follow. The bill also freezes cost-of-living adjustments for members of Congress and protects federal employees from furlough at agencies that have already exhausted other administrative cost cuts.
The December 11 Deadline: What Comes Next
December 11 is less a finish line than a new checkpoint. Congress still has to pass the twelve full-year appropriations bills, or another stopgap, before that date to avoid a repeat of the shutdown standoff that produced this bill in the first place. As of the bill’s passage, none of the individual fiscal year 2027 spending bills had cleared both chambers on their own. Households that depend on SNAP, WIC, housing vouchers or flood insurance coverage will want to watch that date the same way they watched September 30: a missed deadline in December could reopen the same funding gap this bill was written to close.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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