Explainers/Budget
What a government shutdown is
Why funding lapses happen, which services stop, and how the standoff usually ends.
4 min read|Updated July 27, 2026
Federal agencies can only spend money Congress appropriates. When appropriations expire without new funding or a stopgap continuing resolution, agencies must suspend activities not tied to safety of life or protection of property. Employees are either furloughed or required to work without pay until funding resumes.
- Legal basis
- The Antideficiency Act, which bars spending without an appropriation
- Appropriations bills required each year
- 12
- Fiscal year start
- October 1
- Back pay
- Guaranteed for federal employees by a 2019 law
What actually triggers a shutdown?
The fiscal year begins October 1. If Congress has not enacted the twelve annual appropriations bills or a continuing resolution extending prior funding levels, budget authority lapses at midnight. Agencies then execute contingency plans that had been filed with the Office of Management and Budget in advance.
What keeps operating?
Programs funded outside annual appropriations continue, including Social Security and Medicare benefit payments. Excepted activities also continue: active-duty military, air traffic control, federal law enforcement, border operations, and hospital care at veterans facilities. Those employees work without pay until funding is restored.
What stops?
Routine functions pause: most national park and museum operations, new passport and permit processing at reduced staffing, federal research not tied to safety, routine inspections, economic data releases, and most agency public services. Federal contractors are not covered by the back-pay guarantee and often do not recover lost income.
How do shutdowns end?
Congress passes and the president signs either a full-year appropriations package, an omnibus combining several bills, or a short continuing resolution that reopens agencies at existing funding levels while negotiations continue. Political pressure from disrupted services and unpaid workers typically forces resolution rather than any legal deadline.