The only continuing resolution currently in effect covers the Department of Homeland Security, and it expired on February 13, 2026 without a long-term replacement in place.1Congress.gov. Appropriations Status Table FY2026 Every other federal agency is operating on full-year fiscal year 2026 appropriations and is no longer running on stopgap funding.
Which Agencies Are Still on a CR
DHS is the exception. Congress gave the department only a short-term extension while finalizing full-year money for the rest of the government, and that extension ran out on February 13, 2026. Since then, the department’s funding picture has remained incomplete, waiting on the Senate to act on a House-passed bill and on a presidential signature.1Congress.gov. Appropriations Status Table FY2026
DHS matters here because of what sits inside it: Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Coast Guard, FEMA, the Secret Service, and the Transportation Security Administration. Disagreements over immigration enforcement funding are what kept the department out of the broader February deal in the first place.
Every other cabinet department, including Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, HUD, State, and Treasury, received full-year FY2026 appropriations on February 3, 2026 through H.R. 7148 (Public Law 119-75). Agriculture, the Legislative Branch, and Military Construction/Veterans Affairs got their full-year money earlier, on November 12, 2025, in the same law that ended the fall shutdown.2Congress.gov. H.R.5371 – Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 None of those agencies are on a CR anymore.
What’s Pending to Resolve DHS Funding
On March 26, 2026, the House passed H.R. 8029, the Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act. The bill would give DHS full-year FY2026 appropriations along with a further short-term extension to bridge the gap. As of this writing, its path through the Senate is uncertain, and until the Senate passes it and the president signs it, DHS remains without long-term funding authority.1Congress.gov. Appropriations Status Table FY2026
How the DHS Standoff Developed
FY2026 began on October 1, 2025 with none of the twelve regular appropriations bills passed, and the government shut down. That shutdown ran 42 days. It ended on November 12, 2025 when President Trump signed Public Law 119-37, which did two things at once: it gave full-year appropriations to Agriculture, the Legislative Branch, and Military Construction/VA, and it funded the other nine appropriations bills through a CR expiring January 30, 2026.3Congress.gov. The 2025 FY2026 Government Shutdown – Economic Effects
When January 30 arrived, Congress had lined up full-year deals for most of the remaining agencies but had not resolved DHS. A partial shutdown began at midnight on January 30, 2026 and lasted just under four days. On February 3, the House passed the consolidated package that finished full-year funding for every affected department except Homeland Security, which was given a CR through February 13, 2026.1Congress.gov. Appropriations Status Table FY2026
Single-agency standoffs like this one are unusual but not new. Congress has occasionally funded most of the government while leaving one or two contested departments on short extensions. The practical result is that DHS faces the kind of funding uncertainty that normally hits the whole government during a CR, while every other department operates on its approved annual budget.
What Happens When a CR Expires
The moment a continuing resolution lapses without a signed replacement, the Antideficiency Act takes effect. That law prohibits federal agencies from spending money or incurring financial obligations Congress has not authorized.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 U.S. Code 1341 – Limitations on Expending and Obligating Amounts There is no grace period. Once the clock passes midnight, the affected agency loses spending authority and must start shutdown procedures.
The Office of Management and Budget coordinates that process, telling each agency how to wind down in an orderly way: secure federal property, suspend non-essential services, and notify employees of their status. Many public-facing websites go offline or run in reduced form.
Who Keeps Working and Who Gets Paid
Federal workers fall into three groups during a funding lapse. “Excepted” employees keep working without pay because their jobs protect human life or property, including air traffic controllers, law enforcement officers, and VA hospital staff. “Exempt” employees are unaffected because their funding does not come from annual appropriations, such as carryover funds or fee-based revenue. Everyone else is “non-excepted” and is furloughed, meaning they are placed on unpaid leave with no authority to perform any work, including checking email.5U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Special Instructions for Agencies Affected by a Possible Lapse in Appropriations Starting on October 1, 2025
Excepted employees receive back pay once funding is restored, but not during the lapse itself. Exempt employees stay on their normal pay schedule. Furloughed employees receive nothing during the shutdown, though the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 makes back pay mandatory for both furloughed and excepted employees for any shutdown beginning on or after December 22, 2018.6Congress.gov. S.24 – 116th Congress – Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 Public Law 119-37, which ended the October 2025 shutdown, specifically included a retroactive pay provision.3Congress.gov. The 2025 FY2026 Government Shutdown – Economic Effects
Benefits That Continue Regardless
Social Security and Medicare benefits keep flowing during a shutdown because they are funded through mandatory spending rather than annual appropriations. During the January 2026 partial shutdown, the Social Security Administration confirmed payments to all current beneficiaries, including Supplemental Security Income recipients, would continue on their normal schedule.7Social Security Administration. What the Federal Government Shutdown Means to Your Clients
Administrative services take a hit even when benefits do not. SSA field offices stayed open during the January 2026 lapse but could not issue proof-of-benefits letters or update earnings records. Hearings before administrative law judges continued.7Social Security Administration. What the Federal Government Shutdown Means to Your Clients The U.S. Postal Service also runs normally because it is funded by postage sales rather than appropriations.
Federal Contractors Are Not Covered by Back Pay
Federal employees eventually get made whole. Federal contractors do not have that guarantee. Whether a contractor gets paid through a funding lapse depends on the specific contract’s funding status and whether a contracting officer formally directed work to stop. There is no automatic right to back pay or reimbursement.
Contractors seeking to recover shutdown-related costs can pursue equitable adjustments under Federal Acquisition Regulation clauses for stop-work or suspension-of-work orders, file claims under the Contract Disputes Act, or submit termination settlement proposals if contracts were canceled. Each path requires detailed documentation of idle labor, subcontractor impacts, and ramp-down and ramp-up costs, and none of them are guaranteed to succeed.