The basic steps
Funding the federal government follows a yearly cycle set largely by the Congressional Budget Act. It begins when the President submits a budget request to Congress, laying out the administration’s spending priorities. The White House released its request for fiscal year 2027 on April 3, 2026, according to the National Association of Counties. The request is a proposal, not law—Congress controls the purse.
Congress then writes 12 annual appropriations bills that divide discretionary spending among federal agencies. The House is supposed to pass its bills by June 30, and all funding is meant to be enacted before the fiscal year begins on October 1. In practice, that deadline is frequently missed.
What happens when bills aren’t done
When Congress cannot finish on time, it has two options. It can pass a continuing resolution, or CR—a stopgap that temporarily funds agencies, usually at the prior year’s levels, until a set expiration date. Or, if no funding measure passes at all, affected agencies must shut down, furloughing many federal workers until Congress acts. A CR keeps the lights on but freezes spending in place, while a lapse triggers a shutdown.
A recent, costly example
The most recent fiscal year shows the process under strain. The government shut down on October 1, 2025, after Congress failed to enact fiscal 2026 funding, and remained closed for 43 days before reopening on November 12, according to the Congressional Research Service. The package that ended it provided full-year funding for three of the 12 appropriations bills and extended the rest at prior-year levels. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the shutdown reduced real GDP by about $11 billion and delayed roughly $54 billion in federal spending.
Where things stand now
With the fiscal 2027 cycle now underway, Congress faces the same calendar pressures it has navigated for years. Tracking tools maintained by the Library of Congress and groups such as the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget publish real-time status tables showing which of the 12 bills have passed each chamber—a useful resource for readers who want to follow the process themselves.