US Government Funded to December 11 After a Year of Record Shutdowns

Fiscal year 2027 started on 1 October with the US government open. That’s worth saying, because over the past twelve months it often wasn’t.

It’s running on a continuing resolution. H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, became Public Law 119-103 on 2 September 2026. It keeps agencies funded at existing levels until 11 December, 72 days into the fiscal year. If Congress does nothing more, funding lapses on 12 December. None of the twelve regular appropriations bills for the year has been enacted.

The vote was lopsided by recent standards. The Senate passed it 90 to 6 on 8 August and the House 370 to 48 on 1 September, two months before the midterms on 3 November.

The year of shutdowns

The 2025 shutdown ran from 1 October to 12 November, 43 days, the longest full shutdown on record. About 900,000 federal employees were furloughed. It ended with H.R. 5371, which passed the Senate 60 to 40 and the House 222 to 209. That bill funded most of the government until 30 January 2026, passed three full-year appropriations bills, guaranteed back pay and reversed layoffs made during the shutdown. About 4,100 layoff notices issued in October and November were cancelled.

January brought the next deadline. Three more full-year bills were signed on 23 January. On 29 January a Senate package failed 45 to 55 over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, after a fatal shooting by Customs and Border Protection agents on 24 January. The Senate passed five bills plus a two-week stopgap for DHS on 30 January, but the House didn’t vote until 3 February. For about four days, parts of the government had no appropriation.

Then DHS ran out on its own. When its stopgap expired on 14 February, the department went into a partial shutdown that lasted until 30 April, 76 days, the longest funding lapse on record. It ended with funding for ICE and CBP moved into a separate budget reconciliation bill.

So in one fiscal year, the United States had its longest full shutdown and its longest partial one.

What’s in the stopgap

Continuing resolutions carry riders, called anomalies, and this one has a few that matter. Up to $26.37 billion goes to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. The National Flood Insurance Program is extended. Members of Congress get a pay freeze. And OMB is barred from finalising its rewrite of the Uniform Guidance, the rules for federal grants, until 11 December. The bill also extended the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 to the same date, its third short extension since the law lapsed during the 2025 shutdown.

The December problem

House appropriators have advanced all twelve FY2027 bills. The Senate hasn’t released any, mainly because of disagreement over the President’s request for $1.5 trillion in defence spending. The lame-duck session after the election will have to deal with the 11 December deadline, the annual defence authorisation bill, the farm bill and possibly a third reconciliation bill, all at once.

How other systems avoid this

Shutdowns are rare outside the United States, because most parliamentary systems have an automatic fallback. If a budget isn’t passed in time, spending continues at the previous year’s level, or the government falls and an election follows. Either way, the lights stay on. In the US system, an appropriation lapse means agencies legally have to stop most work. That design, set by the Antideficiency Act, is what turns a budget fight into a shutdown.

The other fiscal clock is further off. The debt limit now stands at $41.1 trillion after a $5 trillion increase in July 2025, and outside projections don’t see it binding until early to mid-2027.