Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026

Enumerated powers · passes

Appropriating money is an express federal power. Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 authorizes Congress to pay the debts and provide for the general welfare, and Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 provides that no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law. This Act does exactly that: continuing and full-year FY2026 appropriations. Agriculture, military construction, veterans affairs, and legislative branch funding fall within established federal functions.

Bill of Rights · passes

The Act makes no restriction on speech, religion, press, assembly, arms, searches, trial rights, or other protections in the First through Eighth Amendments. It funds government operations at prior-year levels and extends programs; it creates no speech code, no search authority, no disarmament, and no punishment. No Ninth Amendment unenumerated right or Tenth Amendment reserved power is infringed by Congress exercising its own spending power.

Individual liberty · passes

The Act restricts no personal conduct regarding person, property, speech, labor, or belief. It directs how the government may spend its own funds during the covered period. The burden analysis under the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment liberty principles is satisfied because there is no individual restriction to justify.

Decentralization · passes

Funding the operations of the federal government itself cannot be performed at a lower level. (1) Individuals/families cannot appropriate federal funds or operate federal agencies. (2) Local communities cannot fund and direct federal agencies. (3) States cannot appropriate federal Treasury funds. (4) The Act does not consolidate upward beyond the minimum necessary - it funds existing federal functions and three full-year bills, rather than federalizing state or local functions, consistent with the Tenth Amendment.

Due process and takings · passes

The Act provides prospective funding under published statutory rates through January 30, 2026, with full-year amounts for three divisions. It gives fair notice of funding levels, creates no criminal liability, presumption of guilt, summary seizure, or property taking. No Fifth Amendment Takings Clause compensation is triggered because no private property is taken for public use; disbursement limits preserve rather than bypass congressional process.