This has been a good week for the US space agency in terms of the federal budget. On Tuesday, a committee in the US House of Representatives passed a $24.8 billion budget bill for the coming fiscal year. Then, two days later a Senate committee passed a $24.9 billion budget for NASA. Both of these measures would keep funding more or less at the level of the current fiscal year and, for the most part, keep the space agency's programs going on their current trajectories. These bills are not final. Both must move through the full House and Senate, and then be reconciled before going to President Trump for his signature. And time is running out, with fiscal year 2026 set to begin on October 1, just a little more than ten weeks from now. The funding bills are striking because they repudiate the Trump Administration's call to cut NASA's budget by one-quarter, and its scientific programs in half. Congress also rejects the White House's desire to restructure the Artemis Moon program, getting rid of the Lunar Gateway and ending the space agency's use of the costly Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft after two more flights. Although this legislation will come as a welcome relief to many in the space community, there is still some uncertainty below the surface. In fact, the bills set the stage for a major showdown with the White House Office of Management and Budget this fall, and some in Congress are already publicly girding for a fight. What could happen The most straightforward course of action would be for the House and Senate to finalize a budget and pass it before the current fiscal year ends. It is entirely the responsibility of Congress to set spending levels for the federal government, but in most years it does not do so in a timely manner. Over the last four decades, Congress has only passed all of its required appropriations measures on time about 10 percent of the time. Sometimes this has led to a government shutdown when the fiscal year ends, but more often Congress will pass a continuing resolution to extend funding at current spending levels.