A continuing resolution expires on the exact date Congress wrote into it. The most recent CR, Public Law 119-37, ran out on January 30, 2026, and because no replacement bill passed in time, a partial government shutdown began the next day.1Congress.gov. H.R. 5371 – Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026 Every CR works the same way: temporary funding authority lasts until the deadline in the text, and when that day arrives without new legislation, spending authority simply ends.
How to Find the Current Expiration Date
CRs are replaced often, so the date above will not stay current. The expiration is written into the first few sections of the bill itself, usually under a heading like “End Date.” You can pull the enrolled text on Congress.gov, and the site keeps an appropriations status table showing every spending bill and CR for the current fiscal year along with its deadline.2Congress.gov. Congress.gov – Library of Congress Email alerts on Congress.gov will flag movement on appropriations bills in either chamber.
The Two Ways a CR Ends
The standard funding clause in a CR reads that money continues “through the earlier of [specific date] or the enactment of the applicable appropriations act.”1Congress.gov. H.R. 5371 – Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026 So a CR can end two ways. The first is the calendar date passing without action. The second is Congress passing full-year appropriations for the same agencies before the date arrives, which supersedes the CR. Public Law 119-4, for example, converted the FY2025 CR into full-year funding through September 30, 2025.3Congress.gov. Public Law 119-4 – Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025
Before the deadline, Congress can also pass another short-term CR that just pushes the date further out. That is the most common outcome, which is why a single fiscal year often includes several CRs in sequence. Any of these options requires both chambers to agree on identical text and the President to sign. Without that, the deadline arrives on schedule. There is no automatic extension and no executive authority to keep spending after the date passes.4Congress.gov. Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology
When “The” Expiration Date Is Actually Several Dates
Some CRs use laddered deadlines instead of a single cliff. Different groups of agencies get different expiration dates written into the same bill. During fiscal year 2024, one tier included Veterans Affairs and Housing while the Department of Defense sat on a later track, with Public Law 118-35 later setting those tiers to March 1, 2024 and March 8, 2024.5Congress.gov. Public Law 118-35 – Further Additional Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 If the CR affecting you is laddered, check which tier your agency falls into rather than assuming a single deadline covers the whole government. A laddered CR can produce a partial shutdown where some departments keep running while others go dark.
What Happens the Moment It Expires
Once the deadline passes without a replacement, affected agencies enter a funding gap. The Antideficiency Act kicks in, barring federal officials from spending money or making financial commitments that Congress has not appropriated.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 1341 – Limitations on Expending and Obligating Amounts If only some of the twelve annual appropriations bills are missing, the shutdown is partial and hits only the unfunded agencies. If none have passed, it is government-wide.7US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives. Funding Gaps and Shutdowns in the Federal Government
Agencies then execute pre-approved contingency plans that sort every function and employee into what continues and what stops. National parks close. Passport processing stops. New contracts cannot be signed. Some operations that draw on non-appropriated money can run a bit longer: during the January 2026 shutdown, federal courts said they could stay open through February 4 using court fee balances before moving to reduced staffing.8United States Courts. Judiciary To Remain Open Until Feb. 5
Officials who spend money without appropriations face administrative discipline ranging from suspension without pay to removal.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 1349 – Adverse Personnel Actions The GAO has described the Act’s sanctions as both administrative and penal, with potential fines and imprisonment for violations.10U.S. GAO. Antideficiency Acta>
Who Keeps Working and Who Gets Paid
The Office of Personnel Management divides the federal workforce into three groups during a lapse.11U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Special Instructions for Agencies Affected by a Possible Lapse in Appropriations
- Excepted employees perform functions legally allowed to continue, such as national security, law enforcement, and protection of life and property. They report to work but receive no paychecks until funding returns. Air traffic controllers and TSA officers fall here.
- Exempt employees are paid from sources other than annual appropriations, such as carryover funds or supplemental appropriations. Their pay and leave rules do not change.
- Non-excepted employees are furloughed. They are sent home and legally cannot perform any work until appropriations resume.
Back pay is guaranteed. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, Public Law 116-1, requires that every affected federal employee, whether furloughed or excepted, receive full wages retroactively as soon as possible after the lapse ends.12Congress.gov. S.24 – Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019
Federal contractors do not get that protection. Janitorial, food service, security, and other contract workers at federal facilities have no legal guarantee of back pay. Their contracts are suspended during a shutdown, and lost hours stay lost.
Which Benefits Keep Flowing
Programs funded through mandatory spending or advance appropriations continue during a shutdown because they do not rely on the annual bills that lapsed. Social Security payments, including Supplemental Security Income, arrive on their normal schedule. In the January 2026 shutdown, the Social Security Administration confirmed benefit payments would go out on time, though local offices ran with reduced services and could not issue proof-of-benefits letters or correct earnings records.13Social Security Administration. What the Federal Government Shutdown Means to Your Clients
Medicare draws on trust fund financing and continues as well. SNAP and WIC benefits for fiscal year 2026 were fully funded through September 2026 under prior appropriations, so payments in this fiscal year are not interrupted by a lapse. Veterans’ disability and pension payments are more limited: the VA can keep paying for a period using available funds, but an extended shutdown can run that money out, and in past lapses the VA has warned benefit payments could stop within weeks.
For any specific service you rely on, the agency’s own contingency plan on its website is more precise than general coverage. Those plans spell out what stops on day one, what continues, and for how long.