Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Fact check: Which presidents used signed continuing resolutions or emergency powers to reopen parts of the government?
Executive Summary
The materials assert that Presidents have reopened or partially operated the government through two main tools: Congressional continuing resolutions (CRs) signed into law and presidential emergency or unilateral funding decisions. The clearest documented recent example is President Donald Trump, who both signed a year-long stopgap funding measure and used claimed emergency authorities to ensure pay for the military and certain law-enforcement functions during funding lapses [1] [2]. The record also traces the legal and institutional origins of shutdown practice to Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti under President Jimmy Carter and notes that other administrations faced shutdowns without uniform use of emergency re-openings [3] [4].
1. How the Claim Frames Presidential Tools and Who Used Them — A Clear Lead on Trump
The assembled analyses highlight two distinct mechanisms: Congressional continuing resolutions signed by the president and executive actions invoking emergency or other authorities to fund select operations. The clearest contemporary evidence attributes both tactics to President Donald Trump: reporting states he signed a year-long stopgap funding bill and separately exercised executive authority to pay active-duty service members and some law enforcement during funding gaps [1] [2]. The sources emphasize that these interventions are not purely ceremonial; administration choices materially determine which federal activities continue during lapses. This framing places Trump at the center of recent practice changes by combining formal legislative stopgaps with aggressive executive-management choices during shutdowns. The coverage treats those two modalities as functionally different levers with distinct legal and political implications [2] [3].
2. The Historical Backdrop: Where Shutdown Rules Came From and What That Means
The analyses locate the origin of modern shutdown practice in the Antideficiency Act implementation and Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti’s guidance under President Jimmy Carter, which established a legal framework for pausing nonessential government functions when appropriations lapse [3]. That legal architecture created both the problem and the levers presidents now use: Congress can pass CRs to avert or end lapses, while administrations retain discretion in interpreting exceptions for essential services. Historical reviews also note that several presidents experienced funding lapses — including episodes under Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton — but the sources do not present those administrations as routinely using unilateral emergency pay actions to the same extent recent reports attribute to Trump [4] [3]. The historical record therefore explains why presidents can and sometimes do make executive funding choices, but it also underscores variability across administrations.
3. What the Sources Say About Emergency Powers and Their Limits — Recent Practice and Legal Questions
Contemporary reporting describes administrative uses of emergency or other authorities to direct pay and operations, but speakers differ about scope and legality. The analyses allege Trump used emergency-type measures to ensure military pay and to shield certain operations from shutdown impacts, while also attempting to lay off or reassign federal workers as a budget lever [2] [5]. At the same time, the sources caution that reliance on such executive moves raises legal and institutional questions tied to the Antideficiency Act and separation of powers; they do not present an academic consensus that emergency powers can broadly circumvent appropriations law [3] [6]. The reporting thus documents practical use and controversy without resolving the full legal authority or establishing a long-standing, unchallenged precedent beyond recent administrative practice.
4. Gaps in the Record and What the Documents Do Not Show
The provided materials repeatedly note what they lack: a comprehensive, dated roster of presidents who explicitly used CRs or emergency powers to reopen parts of the government is not assembled in these sources. They identify Trump as a clear recent actor and point to the institutional genesis under Carter, plus multiple shutdowns across later administrations, but they stop short of cataloging other presidents’ explicit use of emergency authorities to reopen operations [1] [7] [4]. That omission matters because CRs are common and often bipartisan tools, whereas emergency executive funding choices are rarer and contested. The documents therefore substantiate the claim for Trump and supply institutional context, but they do not permit a definitive list of every president who has reopened parts of government through these exact instruments.
5. Bottom Line: Established Facts, Open Questions, and Where to Look Next
Established facts from these analyses are that continuing resolutions signed by presidents are a routine congressional-presidential mechanism to keep government funding flowing, and that President Trump used both a signed stopgap measure and asserted executive authority to fund certain operations during shutdowns [1] [2]. The institutional origin of modern shutdown practice lies in Civiletti’s guidance under President Carter [3]. The open question—left unresolved in these sources—is a comprehensive enumeration of other presidents who used emergency powers or comparable executive maneuvers to reopen or continue parts of government; the materials reference multiple past shutdowns but do not document emergency reopenings beyond recent reporting on the Trump administration [4] [6]. For a complete roster, consult targeted legal-historical reviews of each shutdown episode and primary executive orders and appropriations actions for administrations before 2025.