A continuing resolution is a short term law that keeps the federal government funded at current levels when Congress has not finished the twelve annual appropriations bills by the deadline. Washington calls it a CR. It does not set new spending priorities. It freezes last year's numbers for a set number of weeks or months and buys time.
Why Congress uses them
The federal fiscal year ends every September 30. By then, all twelve appropriations bills are supposed to be signed into law. That has happened on time only four times since 1977, most recently in 1997. Every other year, Congress has needed a continuing resolution to bridge the gap, and often more than one.
What a CR actually does
A continuing resolution typically does three things. It extends funding for agencies at the prior year's rate. It sets an expiration date, the new deadline that replaces October 1. And it carries a short list of exceptions, called anomalies, for programs that cannot simply repeat last year's number: a disaster relief fund that needs a top up, a nutrition program with rising enrollment, a shipbuilding contract that cannot pause.
What a CR does not do is just as important. Agencies under a CR generally cannot start new programs, cannot expand existing ones, and cannot shift money between accounts. They mark time.
Where the current one stands
The live position of this year's stopgap, including which chamber has passed it, the vote, and the date it runs through, is on the tracker. The shutdown page computes whether a lapse is actually possible at the next deadline.
CRs and shutdowns
A shutdown happens only when a funding deadline passes with neither the regular bills nor a continuing resolution in place. A CR is the tool that prevents that. When people say Congress "kicked the can," they usually mean it passed another continuing resolution instead of finishing the twelve bills.
What to watch for
Three things tell you how serious a CR is. The length: a few weeks means negotiators expect a deal soon, while a stopgap into the next calendar year signals a stalemate. The anomalies: each one is a program Congress decided could not wait. And whether it is "clean," carrying no policy riders, or loaded with provisions that turn a routine extension into a fight.
The full appropriations process, from the President's request to a signed law, is explained in plain language on the process page.