H.R. 1968Official recordSep 21, 2026
Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025
This bill funds the federal government through September 30, 2025, while extending several key health and security programs.
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In plain English
- Funds federal government agencies through September 30, 2025, largely keeping previous spending levels in place.
- Adjusts specific funding amounts for national defense, disaster relief, veterans' medical care, and border operations.
- Extends temporary healthcare rules, including flexible Medicare telehealth access and acute hospital care at home.
- Delays scheduled federal payment cuts to hospitals that treat large numbers of low-income Medicaid patients.
- Renews several expiring legal authorities, including the emergency classification of fentanyl-related drugs and federal flood insurance.
What happens either way
If it passes
- Federal agencies will remain fully open and funded through the end of fiscal year 2025.
- Medicare patients can continue using telehealth from home without requiring an in-person doctor visit first.
- Hospitals serving low-income patients will avoid scheduled federal funding reductions under the Medicaid program.
- Federal law enforcement will retain emergency authority to classify copycat fentanyl substances as illegal drugs.
If it doesn't pass
- Many federal agencies could face a government shutdown when short-term funding expires.
- Medicare telehealth flexibilities and special financial support for rural hospitals would lapse in spring 2025.
- Safety-net hospitals would face steep federal payment cuts starting in April 2025.
- The temporary legal status that bans unregulated fentanyl-like substances would expire, complicating drug prosecutions.
Who it affects
- Federal agencies and employees
- Agencies receive operating budgets through September 2025, avoiding employee furloughs and office closures.
- Medicare patients and providers
- Patients keep expanded access to audio and video healthcare visits from their homes.
- Rural and safety-net hospitals
- Facilities continue receiving higher payment adjustments and avoid scheduled federal aid cuts.
- Military and defense contractors
- The armed forces receive updated spending levels for shipbuilding, weapons, and foreign deterrence missions.
- Disaster victims and small businesses
- Disaster relief and small business loan accounts receive billions in designated emergency funds.
The case each side makes
Arguments in favor
- It prevents an economically harmful government shutdown and ensures uninterrupted public services for the rest of the year.
- It protects patient care by extending flexible telehealth visits and providing crucial funding for community clinics.
- It prevents steep payment cuts that could force rural and urban safety-net hospitals to reduce services.
- It provides vital resources for national defense, military equipment modernization, and emergency disaster assistance.
Arguments against
- Continuing resolutions freeze old spending plans in place instead of reviewing programs individually through the normal budget process.
- It continues high levels of government spending and increases the national debt without making major spending cuts.
- Temporary policy extensions create constant financial uncertainty for healthcare providers, patients, and state governments.
- It relies on emergency budget designations that bypass statutory caps on federal discretionary spending.
These are arguments people make about this bill, not positions taken by this site.