A continuing resolution is an appropriations bill that temporarily funds the federal government — usually at the same rate as the prior fiscal year — when Congress hasn't passed its regular annual appropriations bills. CRs are stop-gap measures: they keep agencies running while Congress negotiates the full-year spending bills. They've become so routine that the federal government hasn't received all twelve of its annual appropriations bills on time since fiscal year 1997.

What a CR Actually Does

The standard language in a continuing resolution funds agencies "at the rate for operations" of the prior fiscal year, typically defined as the lesser of the House-passed or Senate-passed level for the new year, or the prior year's enacted level. In practice, this usually means agencies receive the same dollar amount they received in the last enacted appropriations bill, adjusted for any across-the-board adjustments specified in the CR.

CRs can be short (days or weeks) or long (months). A "minibus" CR — covering only some of the twelve appropriations subcommittees that haven't been resolved — is sometimes used to clear the ones that have bipartisan agreement while allowing negotiations on the contested ones to continue.

CRs can also include "anomalies" — departures from the standard prior-year rate for specific programs or accounts where continuing at the prior-year level would be operationally disruptive. A program that needs to ramp up quickly, or one where prior-year funding would fund more than the authorized activity, typically gets an anomaly provision.

What CRs Don't Allow

Operating under a CR is more restrictive than operating under full-year appropriations. Under a CR, agencies typically cannot:

  • Start new programs that weren't funded in the prior year
  • Increase funding for existing programs above the CR rate, even if the program is growing
  • Enter into multi-year contracts that would commit future-year funds beyond what's been appropriated
  • Hire significantly to expand programs that may not receive the same funding in the final appropriation

These restrictions create real operational costs. Agencies on long CRs defer hiring, delay contracts, and manage cash carefully to avoid overcommitting funds. Projects get delayed. Federal contractors face uncertainty. The longer the CR, the greater the cumulative disruption.

Why CRs Have Become the Default

Congress is supposed to pass twelve annual appropriations bills before October 1, the start of the federal fiscal year. This has happened exactly four times since 1977 — in fiscal years 1977, 1989, 1995, and 1997. Every other year has involved at least one CR.

The breakdown of the regular appropriations process reflects a structural problem: the twelve bills must navigate two chambers, two sets of committee markups, floor scheduling in both chambers, and conference negotiations — all while the political parties increasingly disagree on spending levels, policy riders, and program priorities. The October 1 deadline creates a hard constraint, but passing legislation that requires bipartisan agreement on divisive issues before that date has become effectively impossible.

The result is a pattern: a CR in October to buy time, possibly another CR in November or December, and eventually either a long-term CR (funding for the rest of the fiscal year at flat levels) or an omnibus that bundles all twelve bills into one large package that Congress passes in the winter or spring. The fiscal year 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act — signed February 3, 2026 — followed this pattern, arriving more than four months into the fiscal year it funded.

How LegislationPatch Covers CRs

Continuing resolutions appear in our database as bills with a short title identifying them as CR legislation. Because CRs are often passed urgently with limited floor time, they sometimes move faster than other legislation — from introduction to presidential signature in days. Their status in our pipeline reflects the current appropriations situation; when a CR is in force, in-progress bills in our database that affect appropriated programs are operating in that constrained environment.

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