Which of the 12 regular FY2025 appropriations bills did Congress not enact before the 2025 shutdown?

1. What the documents agree on: the appropriations process stalled and a full-year CR filled the gap

All supplied analyses agree that Congress did not finish the normal 12-bill appropriations cycle for FY2025 and instead relied on stopgap measures culminating in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act (P.L. 119-4) signed March 15, 2025. That law provided continuing funding at FY2024 levels and extended various authorities, effectively covering many agencies and programs that normally would have been funded through individual regular appropriations bills. The existence of a full-year continuing appropriations act is conclusive evidence that at least some regular FY2025 appropriations bills were not enacted on the standard schedule ^{[1] [2] [3]}. This context frames why analysts sought to identify which single bill remained undone when the shutdown occurred.

2. One analyst points at Homeland Security as the conspicuous omission in the Senate

A nonpartisan appropriations tracking account summarized committee and floor actions and identified the Homeland Security appropriations bill as not reported or passed in the Senate prior to the shutdown, making it the clear outlier in that chamber’s sequence of actions. That report notes the House Appropriations Committee had acted on all 12 bills and the Senate committee had reported eight, but the Homeland Security bill did not advance in the Senate, leaving it unaddressed when the shutdown unfolded. If accurate, this would make Homeland Security the single regular bill the Senate failed to enact before the lapse in funding; the statement attributes committee-level gaps and Senate floor inaction as the proximate cause ^[4].

3. Another analyst flags the Legislative Branch bill as never enacted standalone and funded via CRs

A separate analysis focused specifically on the Legislative Branch appropriations and concluded the Legislative Branch bill was not enacted as a standalone FY2025 measure; instead, funding for the legislative branch was provided through a series of continuing resolutions culminating in inclusion within the full-year continuing appropriations act. That report emphasizes historical precedent—Congress has sometimes funded the legislative branch outside the usual annual bill—and documents that the legislative branch received FY2024-level funding through stopgap measures rather than an independent FY2025 appropriations law, which suggests a different interpretation from the Homeland Security-focused account ^[5].

4. Why the sources diverge: different focuses, different thresholds for “not enacted”

The conflicting identifications stem from methodological differences across the supplied sources. One tracker assesses which bills the Senate did not report or consider, singling out Homeland Security for Senate inaction; another tracks whether specific bills were enacted as standalone laws, identifying the Legislative Branch bill as never passed independently and thus funded via continuing appropriations. Both statements can be true simultaneously: the Senate may have failed to act on Homeland Security while the Legislative Branch lacked a standalone enactment and instead was funded through the subsequent continuing resolution. The divergence reflects different definitions of “not enacted”—committee/reporting status versus standalone enacted statute status ^{[4] [5] [3]}.

5. What can be concluded and what remains unresolved—next steps for verification

Based on the provided material, the firm conclusion is that Congress did not complete the regular FY2025 appropriations schedule and enacted P.L. 119-4 on March 15, 2025, to provide full-year funding; beyond that, the identity of a single unenacted regular bill at the shutdown is ambiguous in these analyses. The Homeland Security bill is identified as unreported in the Senate by one source, and the Legislative Branch bill is identified as not having been enacted as a standalone measure by another—both supported by cited documentation. Resolving this definitively requires checking official congressional records (House and Senate floor actions, committee reports, and the Statutes at Large) for each of the 12 FY2025 appropriations bills to see which one lacked final passage before the lapse ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}.