A continuing resolution is a stopgap piece of legislation that Congress passes to keep the federal government funded when lawmakers have not finished, or agreed upon, the regular annual appropriations bills before the start of a new fiscal year. Rather than setting new spending levels, a continuing resolution simply extends existing funding, typically at the previous year’s levels, for a set period of time.
The federal government’s fiscal year begins on October 1. Under the normal budget process, Congress is supposed to pass twelve separate appropriations bills covering different areas of government, from defense to transportation to health and education, before that date arrives. In practice, lawmakers rarely complete this work on schedule. Disagreements between the House and Senate, disputes between the two parties, or disputes within a single party over spending priorities routinely push negotiations past the deadline.
When that happens, Congress turns to a continuing resolution to avoid a lapse in funding. Without one, agencies that rely on annual appropriations lose their legal authority to spend money, which triggers a government shutdown. Continuing resolutions exist specifically to prevent that outcome, buying additional time for negotiators to finish the underlying spending bills.
A continuing resolution can cover a short window, sometimes just a few weeks, or it can extend for months at a time. Some continuing resolutions run through the end of a calendar year, while others have stretched into the following spring. In cases where Congress cannot reach agreement on full-year spending bills at all, lawmakers have sometimes passed a continuing resolution that funds the government for the entire remaining fiscal year, a practice often criticized by budget experts because it locks in prior spending patterns rather than allowing for updated priorities.
Continuing resolutions generally maintain funding at existing levels, though they can include specific adjustments, exceptions, or additional provisions negotiated as part of the deal. Lawmakers sometimes attach unrelated policy riders to a continuing resolution, using the must-pass nature of the bill as leverage to advance other legislative goals. This practice has made continuing resolutions a recurring flashpoint in Washington, since the threat of a shutdown gives each party incentive to extract concessions before agreeing to a deal.
It is worth distinguishing a continuing resolution from a full appropriations bill. A continuing resolution is, by design, a temporary and generally less detailed measure. It does not set new funding priorities or make substantive policy changes to federal programs in most cases. Full appropriations bills, by contrast, go through detailed committee review and are meant to reflect updated spending decisions for the coming year. Continuing resolutions are best understood as a bridge, not a destination.
The frequency of continuing resolutions has increased significantly over the past several decades. Congress has completed all twelve appropriations bills on time only a handful of times since the current budget process was established in the 1970s. In recent years, continuing resolutions have become something closer to the default method of funding government, with lawmakers relying on repeated short-term extensions rather than completing full-year bills through regular order.
That reliance carries real consequences. Agencies operating under a continuing resolution generally cannot start new programs, cannot increase spending beyond prior-year levels, and face difficulty planning ahead, since they do not know how long the temporary funding will last or what will follow it. Defense officials in particular have argued that repeated continuing resolutions hamper military readiness and complicate long-term procurement decisions.
Understanding continuing resolutions matters for anyone following federal budget fights, since these measures have become one of the most common flashpoints for government shutdowns, political standoffs, and last-minute negotiations in Washington. When news coverage refers to Congress racing to avoid a shutdown, it is almost always a continuing resolution, rather than a full-year spending bill, that lawmakers are scrambling to pass.
