when will senate vote on 2026 budget again

There is no single, locked‑in date for a final Senate vote on the full 2026 U.S. federal budget right now; instead, there are several moving pieces and deadlines that shape when they are likely to vote again.

Where things stand now

• Congress is operating under a continuing resolution (CR) that runs until around January 30, 2026, which means lawmakers must act on fiscal year 2026 spending bills by then to avoid at least a partial shutdown.

• In December 2025, the Senate could not agree to move forward on a five‑bill “minibus” that includes the FY 2026 Labor–HHS–Education spending bill, so leaders punted the procedural vote to January.

• Both the House and Senate are expected to resume work on FY 2026 appropriations when they return from their holiday recess in January 2026, with floor time in the Senate reserved for reconsidering that minibus and related funding measures.

In practice, that means “when will the Senate vote on the 2026 budget again?” is tied directly to the CR deadline: leadership will try to schedule key procedural and final votes in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 30 cutoff, or else pursue another short‑term CR if agreement is still out of reach.

How the next vote is likely to play out

• The Senate still has to clear cloture (a 60‑vote hurdle) on any major FY 2026 appropriations package, so there will typically be at least one high‑profile procedural vote before a final passage vote.

• Given the tight calendar and past patterns, it is likely that:
  • A renewed procedural vote on the delayed minibus, or a revised package, will be scheduled shortly after senators return in January 2026.

* Any final vote on a broader 2026 funding deal will be bunched close to the Jan. 30 deadline, possibly in the final days before it expires.

An example from earlier in the process: a 2026 budget agreement in late 2025 advanced in the Senate with a 60–40 vote and then passed the House before being signed by President Trump, illustrating how leadership tends to push major budget votes up against hard deadlines once a deal is ready.

What to watch for next

If you are tracking “when will they vote again,” the most reliable indicators over the next few weeks will be:

• Official Senate floor schedules and “wrap‑up” announcements, which will list when cloture and passage votes on FY 2026 bills are planned.

• Public statements from appropriations and party leaders outlining whether they intend to move a minibus, a full omnibus, or another short CR before Jan. 30, 2026.

So, the short version: the Senate has not locked a specific date for the next big 2026 budget vote yet, but leadership is expected to bring FY 2026 spending bills back to the floor in January 2026, with key votes clustered just before the Jan. 30 government funding deadline.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.