On February 3, 2026, President Trump signed H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75), enacting full-year Fiscal Year 2026 funding for five of the six appropriations bills that were still outstanding: Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD, Financial Services and General Government, and National Security-State. The Senate passed the package 71-29 on January 30. The House, which had passed its original version 341-88 on January 22, cleared the Senate-amended version 217-214 on February 3, ending a four-day partial shutdown that began when the January 30 continuing-resolution deadline lapsed. For grant seekers, enactment started the clock on a compressed, roughly eight-month cycle of full-year FY26 funding opportunities at the agencies with the largest domestic competitive-grant portfolios.
Key Takeaways
| 01 | Agencies can now run full-year FY26 competitions. With full-year numbers enacted February 3, we expect compressed notice-of-funding-opportunity (NOFO) windows at DOT, HUD, DOL, and HHS through September 30. |
| 02 | The 217-214 House margin signals how fragile the FY27 process will be. FY27 bills will again run through a narrow majority. |
| 03 | Earmarks are back, and project sizes vary widely by bill. House Community Project Funding in the January package ran $1.05 billion across 1,011 Commerce-Justice-Science projects and $1.075 billion across 102 Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation projects. |
| 04 | Earmarks run on a separate track from competitive grants. Earmarks are appropriated directly, with no NOFO and no scoring panel, but they require a member office to sponsor the request months before enactment. |
| 05 | Homeland Security is the one bill still outstanding. H.R. 7148 extended DHS funding only through February 13, 2026, and FEMA preparedness and resilience grant cycles sit inside DHS appropriations. |
The act carries roughly $1.21 trillion in FY26 base discretionary funding, including $838.7 billion for Defense, $194.9 billion for Labor-HHS-Education, $102.9 billion for Transportation-HUD (up from $86.4 billion in FY25), $50.0 billion for National Security-State, and $26.3 billion for Financial Services. It followed the January 23 enactment of the Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, and Interior package (P.L. 119-74) and the November package (H.R. 5371) that ended the 43-day fall shutdown. With its signature, eleven of the 12 annual bills were law.
The exception was Homeland Security. H.R. 7148 extended DHS funding only through February 13, 2026, amid disagreements over Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Security Operations funding, and the House-passed full-year DHS bill (H.R. 7147, passed 220-207 on January 22) is pending in the Senate. Exhibit 1 traces the FY2026 cycle.
Exhibit 1
FY2026 appropriations cycle, October 2025 to February 2026
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Oct. 1, 2025 | FY26 begins; shutdown starts. |
| Nov. 12, 2025 | First 3 bills plus CR (H.R. 5371); shutdown ends after 43 days. |
| Jan. 23, 2026 | Second 3-bill package (P.L. 119-74). |
| Feb. 3, 2026 | Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 119-75, 5 bills). |
Sources: Congress.gov bill records; Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Appropriations Watch: FY 2026.
For grant seekers, the act converted four months of stopgap funding into obligable full-year appropriations at the agencies that run the largest domestic discretionary grant portfolios. Transportation-HUD funds DOT competitive grants and includes what the House Appropriations Committee describes as a long-overdue infusion for FAA facilities and equipment to modernize air traffic control. Labor-HHS-Education funds DOL workforce programs (including the Mine Safety and Health Administration), NIH biomedical research, and rural health investments. The package also carries emergency adjustments on top of base funding, including $8 billion for Transportation-HUD and $2.5 billion for National Security-State, per CRFB. Defense includes a 3.8% military pay raise.
The enacted package came out of a full conference, so it carries program-level detail that a continuing resolution would not. Unlike the FY25 full-year CR, the FY26 bills carry joint explanatory statements with account-by-account direction, report language, and the earmark tables discussed below. Under a continuing resolution, agencies generally cannot start new programs or issue awards above prior-year rates. Program offices can now obligate against specific line items, which is why competitive announcements that were held through the fall and winter can now move.
"Months of bipartisan, bicameral work produced a final funding agreement, and the House stood by it."
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK-4), Chairman, House Appropriations Committee
Source: House Appropriations Committee, February 3, 2026. Photo: official photo, U.S. House of Representatives.
FY26 restored earmarks, known as Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) in the Senate and Community Project Funding (CPF) in the House, after the FY25 full-year continuing resolution (H.R. 1968) omitted them entirely. In the January package, House CPF totaled $1.05 billion for 1,011 Commerce-Justice-Science projects, $1.075 billion for 102 Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation projects, and $1.07 billion for 906 water and wastewater projects in the Interior bill. Transportation-HUD, historically the largest CPF bill, carries hundreds of member projects. Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR-3) cited more than $97 million for 11 projects in his Arkansas district alone. The Senate's full FY26 CDS tables are posted on the Senate Appropriations Committee site. Exhibit 2 compares earmark totals and project counts for three of the bills.
"For the Third District of Arkansas, I secured more than $97 million for eleven community projects, ranging from the construction of the Springdale Northern Bypass, which will support regional economic growth, to critical funding for the City of Mulberry's Community Food Pantry, ensuring families have access to the food they need."
Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR-3), Chairman, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development
Source: House Appropriations Committee, January 22, 2026. Photo: official photo, U.S. House of Representatives.
Exhibit 2
FY2026 earmarks by bill, selected CPF totals
Source: House Appropriations Committee final bill summaries (January package CPF totals).
For municipalities, utilities, universities, and companies partnering with public sponsors, this is a second funding track that bypasses national competition. CDS awards are appropriated directly, with no NOFO and no scoring panel, but they require a member office to sponsor the request months before enactment. Exhibit 3 shows base funding for the five bills in the act.
Exhibit 3
FY26 funding levels for key bills, base discretionary appropriations
| Bill / Division | FY26 Enacted (base) | Change vs. FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Defense | $838.7 billion | Not stated |
| Labor-HHS-Education | $194.9 billion | Not stated |
| Transportation-HUD | $102.9 billion | Up from $86.4 billion in FY25 |
| National Security-State | $50.0 billion | Not stated |
| Financial Services and General Government | $26.3 billion | Not stated |
Sources: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Appropriations Watch: FY 2026. Base amounts exclude emergency adjustments and disaster allowances. A change column reads "Not stated" where the cited source does not state the comparison.
The clock on FY26 dollars runs out September 30, 2026. Program offices at DOT, HUD, DOL, and HHS are working through the balance of their FY26 competitive calendars in a window of roughly eight months. Application periods are likely to be short, with limited pre-application engagement and award announcements bunched toward the end of the fiscal year.
The FY27 process will be as narrow as FY26 was. The 217-214 final vote on H.R. 7148 shows how little margin leadership has for the FY27 bills, which makes a repeat of a fall continuing resolution the base case for planning purposes. Exhibit 4 lists the dates ahead.
Exhibit 4
Implementation timeline and next steps, February to September 2026
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Feb. 3, 2026 | Enactment of P.L. 119-75. Funding runs through Sept. 30, 2026. |
| Feb. 13, 2026 | DHS stopgap funding expires. |
| Summer 2026 | DOT, HUD, DOL, and HHS competitive announcements continue on compressed timelines. |
| Sept. 30, 2026 | FY26 funding expires. The FY27 appropriations endgame begins. |
Sources: Congress.gov; House and Senate Appropriations Committees; Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, as listed in References below.
If your organization relies on federal grants from DOT, HUD, DOL, HHS, or FEMA, the rest of the FY26 competition calendar is worth watching closely. FY26 funds expire September 30, 2026. If you want a read on fit before the fiscal year ends, reach out to our team.
© Copyright 2026 TC Policy Group, LLC (d/b/a Crawford Partners). The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of Crawford Partners, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals. Crawford Partners is not a law firm and cannot provide legal advice.