Lame-Duck Congress Faced With Averting Another Shutdown

With the midterm election in the rearview and a new Democrat-controlled Congress about to be sworn in Jan. 4, the current class of legislators finds itself working to avoid an impending government shutdown that would start after Dec. 11. 

Over the summer, the House of Representatives passed a stopgap bill that would extend government funding at its current level through the December deadline, in a bid to push the funding battle until after midterm elections. The government had been set to run out of money after Sept. 30.

Disagreements over spending priorities could once again leave the government facing a shutdown. Lawmakers face a deadline, with little time to negotiate a longer-term spending deal before the extension expires on Dec. 11. The lame-duck session — the period between the November elections and the start of the new Congress — gives outgoing lawmakers one final opportunity to reach a long-term agreement or extend the deadline into 2027.

Some Senate Democrats are threatening to withhold support for a deal unless it includes restrictions on funding President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. Meanwhile, Trump is urging Senate leaders to use budget reconciliation to fund an additional $350 billion in supplemental defense spending.

However, leaders in both parties are publicly supporting a short-term stopgap that would keep the government funded until after the current lame-duck session ends.

Every year, Congress is supposed to pass 12 spending bills to keep the government’s lights on. These appropriations bills fund those programs already approved by Congress, including defense, the IRS, food assistance, veterans’ benefits and national parks.

The deadline to fund programs for the next fiscal year is always Oct. 1. Without passing appropriations bills or approving a stopgap that kicks the deadline down the road, the government shuts down.

In the past few funding cycles, Congress has relied on multiple short-term continuing resolutions to keep the government temporarily running.

In 2025, the government shut down for the longest period in U.S. history (Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, 43 days) while this year was marked by the longest partial shutdown ever (Feb. 14 to April 30, 76 days). Why didn’t Congress pass the funding bills in 2025? The two parties were deadlocked over Democrats’ ultimately unsuccessful efforts to permanently extend expiring Obamacare subsidies and roll back recent Medicaid cuts in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

A second shutdown — this one partial — began on Feb. 14. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shut down after lawmakers failed to reach a deal to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics. DHS funding became a flashpoint following the fatal shootings of Renée Good on Jan. 7 by an ICE agent and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 by a CBP agent, both in Minneapolis. The DHS shutdown followed a four-day partial shutdown that ended Feb. 3.

On April 30, the House passed a bill approved by the Senate to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The deal fully funded all DHS offices with the exceptions of ICE and Border Patrol. Democrats supported the deal, despite it lacking any of the restrictions on the two agencies that they had been demanding throughout the shutdown.

At 43 days, the 2025 government shutdown was the longest in history. There have been 22 shutdowns since 1976 and most are short-lived — a few hours or days, at the most.

Before then, there hadn’t been a shutdown since 2018-2019. That shutdown, which lasted 35 days, arose in a dispute over funding for Trump’s border wall in his first term.

Before that there was a 16-day shutdown in 2013, as negotiations over the Affordable Care Act dragged on. In 1995 and 1996, two shutdowns totaled 26 days.

Federal workers bear the brunt of impact from government shutdowns.

During a shutdown, there are ripple effects on delivery of government services and programs.

What’s affected immediately:

• National parks may close or operate without services. 

• Federal student aid application processing could be delayed. 

• Food and drug inspections will be delayed. 

• The IRS can’t verify income and Social Security numbers, which could cause delays for some mortgages and other loan approvals, as well as tax refunds. 

What will keep running, to a point:

• Flights will still operate, but there could be delays if TSA agents and air traffic controllers, who are considered essential employees, decide to call out of work, leading to staff shortages. Even small shortages can have a big impact: During a 2019 government shutdown, the absence of just 10 air traffic controllers at two airports grounded flights and caused delays for the Eastern Seaboard. (Read more on how the shutdown affects travel.)

• Social Security and Medicare will keep going, but some administrative functions may be suspended, and telehealth appointments may be interrupted.  

• Unemployment benefits will continue — states administer compensation — but there could be application processing delays if the shutdown lasts long enough. 

• Food benefits through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the accompanying WIC program will continue — both run on contingency funds. WIC funding will only last one month, and SNAP could be strained after 30 days, as well. 

What won’t be affected:

• The postal service — the USPS is not funded by the federal government. 

• Federal student loan payments — accounts are serviced by private companies. 

• Public schools will remain open — they’re funded by state and local governments. 

• Amtrak will continue operations — it is operated by a for-profit company.

See more details on how a government shutdown could impact you. The shutdown has had trickle-down economic effects. One immediate and direct impact during the previous shutdown was a suspension of federal economic data. Most of that data wasn’t released during the shutdown. That’s a problem because the government’s official data releases guide the markets, the Federal Reserve and business decisions.ent’s official data releases guide the markets, the Federal Reserve and business decisions.