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How many continuing resolutions did the U.S. House vote on since 2017?
Executive Summary
Since 2017 there is no single, unequivocal count provided in the materials; the documents show multiple continuing resolutions (CRs) voted in the House across recent fiscal years but stop short of delivering a complete tally. The available analyses point to specific CR votes in 2024–2025 and provide an historical average (about five CRs per year since 1998) that implies roughly three to five dozen CRs since 2017, while also showing that a precise, audited count requires a roll‑call review of House records [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. Evidence of recent CR activity that proves continuation, not a total
The House roll‑call extracts and bill summaries document specific continuing resolutions in late 2024 and early 2025, including H.R. 9747 passed September 25, 2024, and H.R. 1968 passed March 11, 2025; both are explicit instances of CR votes in the House and confirm CRs remained a frequent legislative tool into the 119th Congress [2] [3]. These sources demonstrate ongoing reliance on stopgap funding measures but do not compile every CR vote since 2017. The House Clerk material referenced offers the raw capability to compile a full count via roll‑call tables, yet the supplied analyses did not complete that extraction, leaving the total number unresolved in the provided set [6].
2. A high‑level historical average suggests a ballpark figure, not a definitive total
Analysts cite an historical pattern — 138 CRs since fiscal 1998, averaging about five per year, which the Policy and Budget analyses use to estimate the magnitude of CR usage since 2017; applying that average suggests roughly 40 CRs over eight years, but that is an extrapolation rather than a direct count from primary roll calls [4]. The average is useful for context: it shows CRs are routine and frequent, but it can mislead if yearly variance is large. The provided material warns that some fiscal years saw no CRs while others required multiple stopgaps; translating an average into an exact post‑2017 figure therefore introduces uncertainty unless verified against the House roll‑call record [4] [5].
3. Congressional snapshots identify multiple CRs in single fiscal years — the variance matters
The appropriations summaries and roll‑call snapshots note that some fiscal years had several CRs: fiscal 2025 had at least three CRs (September and December 2024, and March 2025), and fiscal 2023 used at least one CR to fund through December 2022; these examples illustrate year‑to‑year fluctuation in CR counts and explain why an annual average obscures the true distribution [5] [2] [3]. Because CRs can be short extensions and Congress sometimes strings several together in a single year, counting CR votes requires careful identification of each separate legislative vehicle and vote date in the House roll‑call archive rather than reliance on generalized averages [6] [7].
4. Primary sources exist to produce an authoritative tally — but the job remains uncompleted here
The Office of the Clerk’s roll‑call tables and the Congressional Budget Office’s appropriations status reports provide the primary records necessary to compile a definitive list of CR votes dating back to 2017; those databases and linked bill texts are the correct evidence to audit each House vote [6] [7]. The supplied analyses reference these repositories but stop short of a systematic count, so the correct next step is a methodical search of House roll‑call votes for CR bill numbers and titles across the 115th–119th Congresses. Without that roll‑call extraction in the current materials, any numeric claim remains an estimate drawn from averages and selective examples [6] [7].
5. Conclusion and what a reader should take away: context, not a definitive number
The documents collectively establish that the House voted on multiple continuing resolutions between 2017 and early 2025, with specific, verifiable votes in 2024–2025 and authoritative data sources available to produce a complete count [2] [3] [6]. The most reliable path to a precise number is to query the House Clerk roll‑call archive and the CBO appropriations reports and then tabulate each separate CR bill and vote date; absent that audit in the provided materials, the best defensible statement is that there were dozens of CR votes since 2017, consistent with the long‑term average of roughly five per year [4] [5].