H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, was signed into law on February 3, 2026. The bill funded the federal government for fiscal year 2026 — October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026 — avoiding a government shutdown that had been threatened as Congress struggled to pass individual appropriations bills through the fall.

Omnibus appropriations bills like this one are routinely covered as headline dollar figures: "Congress approves $X trillion in spending." That coverage isn't wrong, but it misses most of what the law actually does. Consolidated appropriations bills are also the preferred vehicle for policy riders — statutory changes that couldn't pass as standalone legislation — attached to a must-pass spending bill precisely because there's no clean way to strip them.

This article covers what H.R. 7148 actually contained, drawn from our analysis of the enrolled bill text.

The Basic Structure

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 organized funding into the standard twelve appropriations subcommittees: Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, and Science; Defense; Energy and Water; Financial Services; Homeland Security; Interior and Environment; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; Legislative Branch; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; State and Foreign Operations; and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

Each division covers one subcommittee's jurisdiction. The bill also includes a General Provisions division that applies government-wide and additional divisions covering specific policy areas.

Funding Levels Relative to the Prior Year

Overall discretionary spending in H.R. 7148 was set at levels consistent with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (Pub. L. 118-5) caps — the deal reached in June 2023 to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for statutory spending limits. Those caps constrained how much Congress could appropriate, creating pressure to offset any increases in one account against reductions elsewhere.

Defense discretionary spending received an increase relative to FY2025 levels, consistent with the pattern of bipartisan agreement on defense spending. Non-defense discretionary spending was generally held flat or slightly reduced in real terms, with some accounts — particularly at the IRS and EPA — subject to the reduction riders that have characterized appropriations debates in recent years.

Significant Policy Riders

Omnibus appropriations bills routinely contain policy provisions — sometimes called riders — that make substantive legal changes. These provisions appear in the "General Provisions" sections of each division and in the government-wide General Provisions division at the end of the bill.

Riders range from narrow technical provisions (extending or modifying expiration dates for specific programs) to significant policy changes (restricting how certain agencies can spend funds, or how specific laws are interpreted). Because riders are attached to must-pass legislation, they often contain changes that would face significant opposition if brought to a standalone vote.

H.R. 7148 contained a large number of general provisions across its twelve divisions. For a complete section-by-section breakdown, see our full bill analysis.

Continuing Resolution Provisions

Before H.R. 7148 passed, several federal agencies were operating under a continuing resolution — temporary funding at prior-year levels. The omnibus bill replaced the CR entirely, setting new appropriation levels for the remainder of FY2026.

Agencies that had been operating on CR levels for months received either a reset to the new appropriated levels (in some cases higher, in some cases lower than the CR level) or direction on how to handle the period between the CR's expiration and the omnibus's enactment.

What It Doesn't Include

Several policy priorities that were discussed during the appropriations debate were not included in the final bill. Provisions related to specific authorizations, supplemental funding packages for ongoing international situations, and certain domestic policy changes that couldn't achieve bipartisan support were left for separate legislation or deferred to FY2027 negotiations.

The absence of something from an omnibus is often as significant as what's in it. A provision that was in prior-year appropriations and doesn't appear in the new bill has been effectively repealed for the current fiscal year. Tracking these changes requires reading both the current bill and its predecessors — which is part of what our analysis attempts to surface.

What Happens Next: FY2027

The FY2026 spending authority under H.R. 7148 runs through September 30, 2026. Congress will need to pass FY2027 appropriations before that date to avoid a shutdown. Given recent history, the probability of individual bills passing on time is low; another continuing resolution or consolidated bill is the more likely outcome.

Primary Sources