WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a short-term measure Tuesday to fund the federal government into early December, a move designed to avoid a chaotic shutdown as lawmakers campaign for reelection.
Lawmakers needed to act before the fiscal year concludes at the end of September to avoid a funding lapse. They were determined not to bump up against that deadline during the campaign season following this past year’s historic shutdowns.
The House passed the bill by a vote of 370-48. The Senate has already overwhelmingly approved the measure, so it now moves to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
“It gives the nation and our constituents certainty, certainty that the government will remain open, certainty that our service members will be paid,” said Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
A record 43-day shutdown occurred last fall when the two parties disagreed on renewing an expiring tax credit that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Then came the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which lasted 76 days before lawmakers agreed to fund much of the department but not its immigration enforcement operations.
Lawmakers were wary of a repeat before voters go to the polls. They also blamed the other party for the recent impasses.
“We’re going to avoid the threat of another Democratic shutdown,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters in advance of the vote.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the lead Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, encouraged her Democratic colleagues to vote for the measure during a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning.
She said the bill was much improved from the product that passed the House earlier this summer on a mostly party-line basis. For example, she said it prevents the Department of Homeland Security from transferring funds to the Border Patrol, and it delays a proposed rule that would give political appointees in the Trump administration more authority to stop federal grants from going out for programs they view as not in line with the president’s agenda. Those changes were made when the Senate approved its version of the bill.
Democrats fear the administration will use the proposed regulation on grants to steer money away from Democratic-led states. DeLauro called the delay an important first step, but said more must be done to block the policy from taking effect.
“Whether a community receives disaster relief should not depend on who they voted for in the last election,” DeLauro said.
The short-term measure funds federal agencies generally at current levels through Dec. 11. It will give lawmakers more time to find compromise on a full-year measure, though that will likely be quite difficult.
Republicans are seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending for the military while cutting most non-defense programs. Democrats say that’s a non-starter and insist on a bipartisan approach that treats domestic programs with parity.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., pauses before he meets with reporters ahead of a vote on a stopgap funding bill and a resolution targeting socialist policies, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia bombarded the Ukrainian capital for more than 12 hours overnight and into Tuesday, killing at least a dozen people in another aerial onslaught that authorities said was aimed at menacing civilians.
The strikes marked an unprecedented sixth straight day of heavy Russian attacks on Kyiv since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than 4½ years ago. The consecutive aerial assaults are designed to grind down civilians by disrupting daily life, Ukrainian officials have said.
The cruise and ballistic missiles, jet-powered drones, glide bombs and artillery salvos targeted Kyiv as well as eight other regions. The strikes wounded more than a dozen people, including three children, just as millions of Ukrainian schoolchildren returned to classes Tuesday to start their fifth school year since the invasion.
The European Union’s top diplomat said Russia’s army is struggling to make progress on the front line and wants to scare off Ukraine’s Western backers with its air campaign.
“Russia’s war is becoming more ruthless and destructive, but it’s unfortunately not closer to ending,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at a meeting of the bloc’s defense ministers in Ireland. “Russia’s army is bogged down on the ground, and that is why they are killing civilians from the skies.”
The latest attack struck civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of Kyiv, authorities said, with eight people killed in the city itself and four others in the surrounding region.
Six employees of state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia were among those killed in Kyiv when a ballistic missile hit a depot and other property, company Chairman Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said in a social media post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the dead included an Indian citizen.
Nearly 350 emergency workers were deployed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Zelenskyy said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out a “massive strike” on Ukraine with “precision-guided weapons” and long-range drones. The assault targeted facilities that manufacture and store weapons as well as military-related infrastructure, it said.
Ukraine’s air force said the attack began at 6 p.m. Monday, using ballistic, cruise and anti-radar missiles, as well as 218 drones and decoys. About a third of the drones were jet-powered, making them much harder to intercept than propeller-driven versions.
The main Russian targets were in the Kyiv and southern Odesa regions, the air force said in a statement.
The attack on the Odesa region on the Black Sea damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded one person, regional head Oleh Kiper said.
Two residential buildings were damaged, while a fire broke out at a textile factory. Russian forces also struck the Orlivka international ferry crossing on the border with Romania, he said.
Russia also shelled the northern Zhytomyr region, starting fires at an industrial facility and a warehouse, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said.
In the capital, first responders worked to clear rubble from damaged apartment buildings and free trapped residents.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses overnight intercepted 516 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea.
In the Leningrad region, the drone attack sparked a fire in the port of Ust-Luga, Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said, as Ukraine extended its campaign to hurt Russia's oil sector, which is a mainstay of the economy.
Ust-Luga is one of Russia’s largest oil and gas export terminals, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away from Ukraine. It has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks this year.
Elsewhere, the war in Ukraine was discussed Monday at a summit in Kyrgyzstan involving the leaders of China, Russia and India. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin through a translator that India supports efforts to end the fighting.
“We need to move from endless war to the end of war, to the end of hostilities,” Modi said, adding that “this is very important for all of humanity.”
In other developments Tuesday, the German government blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month using a drone laden with explosives. German leaders announced that they would shut down a Russian consulate, among other measures against Moscow.
The drone was found near a Ukrainian plane on Aug. 4, and the device was defused. Moscow has been widely accused by Western officials of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption across Europe with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilizing European nations.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova rejected Germany's claims, calling them a “far-fetched and contrived pretext” for Berlin to escalate tensions and arguing that “no convincing or serious evidence has been presented whatsoever,” Russian state news agency Tass reported.
Associated Press Writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Locals watch as firefighters work after a Russian drone attack struck a residential building in Kyiv, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Firefighters work after a Russian drone attack struck a residential building in Kyiv, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Firefighters work after a Russian drone attack struck a residential building in Kyiv, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Locals watch as firefighters work after a Russian drone attack struck a residential building in Kyiv, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Locals watch as firefighters work after a Russian drone attack struck a residential building in Kyiv, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
