Government Keeps the Lights On for 30 Days, Locks in Permanent ACA Subsidies, and Boosts Security Budgets

The “Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, 2026” is exactly what it sounds like: the legislative equivalent of putting the government on autopilot for a month while Congress figures out the rest of the year. This bill is primarily a stopgap measure, but buried in the fine print are some serious, long-term policy shifts—most notably, locking in better health insurance subsidies for good.

The One-Month Bridge: Keeping the Status Quo (and the Lights On)

Most of this bill is dedicated to ensuring the federal government doesn’t grind to a halt on October 1st. It provides continuing appropriations—meaning agencies get to spend money at the same rate they did last year—to keep essential services running until October 31, 2025 (Division A). This is crucial for millions of federal employees and contractors. For the Department of Defense (DoD), this is a strict constraint: they can’t use this temporary funding to start any new production lines or accelerate existing ones beyond their 2025 pace. So if the Navy was hoping to rush a new ship design into production, this bill puts the brakes on that until the final, full-year budget is passed.

Beyond funding, the bill extends literally dozens of expiring programs for just one month. If you are a veteran relying on a VA program for specially adapted housing or mental health services, or if you use a community health center, your services are safe for October. Programs like the Medicare-Dependent Hospital (MDH) program, the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund all get a 30-day extension. This prevents a sudden cliff, but it means Congress has simply kicked a massive can of expiring programs down the road for 30 days.

Permanent Peace of Mind for Health Insurance Shoppers

This is the biggest, non-temporary policy change in the entire bill, and it affects millions of people who buy health insurance on the marketplace. The bill makes the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits permanent (Sec. 2142). These enhanced subsidies, which were originally temporary, ensure that nobody has to spend more than 8.5% of their household income on their benchmark silver plan. The bill also completely scraps the income cap that previously prevented people earning over 400% of the Federal Poverty Level from receiving any subsidy at all.

What does this mean for you? If you currently buy health insurance through the marketplace, your premiums are likely to stay lower than they would have been under the old rules. For a family of four earning $150,000, this change locks in significant savings and ensures that if your income bumps up slightly, you won’t suddenly lose all your financial help. This new structure starts applying to tax years after December 31, 2025.

The Budgetary Side Hustle: Emergency Spending and Watchdogs

While most of the bill is about maintaining the status quo, it includes several specific, high-dollar appropriations—and many of them are labeled as “emergency requirements.” This is a technical move that allows Congress to spend money without those funds counting against the standard budget caps. Essentially, it’s a way to bypass fiscal restraints.

• Security Boosts: There’s a significant influx of cash for security. The U.S. Marshals Service gets $30 million for protective operations and judicial security, plus another $30 million for courthouse renovations (Sec. 129, 130). The Judiciary branch gets a combined $80 million for Supreme Court Justice residential security and general courthouse security upgrades (Sec. 159, 160). The House and Senate also receive substantial funds for Member security programs (Sec. 165).
• New Watchdog with Special Powers: The bill creates a brand new Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (Sec. 158). This is the government’s internal auditor for the agency that manages the entire federal budget. Crucially, the OIG’s $20 million budget is explicitly exempt from standard federal spending controls (apportionment rules), giving this new watchdog unusual autonomy in how it manages its own cash flow. That’s a rare power in the bureaucratic world.
• Targeted Funding: Programs like the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) nutrition program receive a dedicated $8.2 billion for operations (Sec. 119), ensuring that this critical service is funded immediately, separate from the general continuing resolution. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) also gets a $490 million injection for FY 2026, payable within three days of the bill becoming law (Sec. 149).

In short, this bill buys Congress time, makes a massive change to healthcare affordability, and uses the “emergency” label to fund several new security and oversight initiatives.