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When will Congress need to pass appropriations to change program funding set by the 2025 continuing resolution?
Executive Summary
Congress must pass new appropriations or a new continuing resolution to change program funding currently governed by the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025, which established funding levels through the end of the 2025 fiscal year on September 30, 2025; absent new legislation, funding levels and authorities from that law remain in effect or lapse as specified [1]. The practical calendar for changing those funding lines in 2025–26 depends on emergency short-term extensions that Congress negotiates during the ongoing shutdown and the specific deadlines embedded in any House-passed continuing resolution—most recently a CR that set an interim deadline of November 21, 2025, subject to congressional amendment or replacement [2] [3] [4]. Both the statutory fiscal-year cutoff and the temporary CR deadlines matter: the statutory change point is the start of FY2026 (October 1, 2025), but political maneuvers around CRs and shutdown votes determine the near-term window for altering program funding during the current impasse [1] [2].
1. The legal stopping point that controls program funding is the fiscal-year boundary, not political calendars
The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 (Public Law 119-4) set funding at levels and under authorities carried forward through September 30, 2025, meaning statutory program funding for agencies and many programs was legally tied to that fiscal-year end date and to the terms of that law; to change those funding levels for the next fiscal year Congress must enact new appropriations or pass a different continuing resolution that explicitly alters those lines [1]. This is the baseline legal rule: fiscal-year cutoffs dictate when appropriations expire and when new appropriations must be enacted to modify program funding. The practical consequence is that, irrespective of shutdown theatrics, Congress cannot lawfully reallocate or increase funding beyond what the enacted CR authorizes for FY2026 without new statutory action to do so [1].
2. The immediate practical deadline has been shaped by short-term CR deadlines during a shutdown
The government shutdown that began October 1, 2025, created a political environment where Congress has been using short-term continuing resolutions or stopgap proposals with new interim cutoffs; the most recent House-passed CR set an operational deadline of November 21, 2025, which Congress must either extend or replace with appropriations if it wants to change program funding before that date [2] [3]. In practice, these rolling CR deadlines function as the operational timetable for when lawmakers need to act because each stopgap fixes funding levels until the new cut-off; therefore, if Congress wants to alter specific program lines in the near term it must pass appropriations or an amended CR prior to the expiration date embedded in whichever short-term measure is governing current operations [2] [4].
3. Records of shutdowns and competing bills show political leverage shapes timing, not statutory mechanics
Recent reporting shows competing House and Senate proposals with differing end dates and provisions—Republican-authored drafts that would run to November 21 and Democratic packages without a clear end date highlight how political bargaining defines when funding can be changed, even though the statutory fiscal-year deadline remains authoritative [3] [4]. The Senate’s move to vote to advance a House-passed CR with the aim of amending and extending it illustrates the use of parliamentary steps to create new windows for action; a successful amendment or an omnibus spending bill would legally alter funding lines, but only after passage and the President’s signature [2] [4].
4. What this means for programs: timing, uncertainty, and priority riders
For agencies and beneficiaries, the critical distinction is whether Congress enacts a new appropriations bill, an omnibus package, or a revised CR: only those statutes change program funding. If Congress fails to act before CR expirations, programs face lapses, furloughs, or reliance on carryover authorities. The shutdown conditions since October 1, 2025, have already produced operational disruptions—flight cuts and unpaid workers—and those conditions will persist or worsen until lawmakers either pass appropriations altering FY2026 funding or extend the CR with amended terms [4] [3]. Policymakers therefore face both a statutory endpoint (start of FY2026) and a sequence of interim political deadlines set by short-term CRs that together determine when and how funding can be changed [1] [2].
5. Bottom line: two clocks run in parallel—statute and politics—and both matter
The statutory clock requires new appropriations to change funding after September 30, 2025, while the political clock is set by whatever continuing resolution Congress is operating under—most recently a CR with a November 21, 2025 deadline—so altering program funding requires legislative action before the operative CR expires or passage of a new appropriations bill that supersedes prior terms [1] [2]. Observers should track both the judicial text of Public Law 119-4 and the content and deadlines of any short-term CRs, because altering program funding during this impasse depends on successful passage of legislation in a tightly constrained and politically fraught calendar [1] [4].