crs_reports: R48930

Congressional Research Service reports with summaries, authors, and topic classifications.

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R48930 Government Shutdowns: Applying the Antideficiency Act to a Lapse in Appropriations 2026-05-01T04:00:00Z 2026-05-02T05:53:54Z Active Reports Sean Stiff, Matthew D. Trout Antideficiency Act, Federal Financial Management, Government Shutdown Congress funds much of the federal government through a series of 12 regular, annual appropriations acts. A significant portion of that funding is for a single fiscal year, and most agencies thus rely on passage of new appropriations before the end of that fiscal year to have uninterrupted funding from one fiscal year to the next. If Congress does not pass the regular appropriations acts or a continuing resolution that generally continues funding at the prior year’s level, an agency reliant on annual appropriations faces a funding lapse. This lapse in appropriations has significant consequences for governmental operations. Commonly called a “government shutdown,” the cessation of government functions and related furloughs of government employees that result from a lapse in appropriations are largely a function of a collection of statutes referred to as the Antideficiency Act. When the Act’s first provisions were enacted in 1870, it was Congress’s attempt to control government spending of appropriated funds to avoid the problem of coercive deficiencies—a situation where an agency obligates funds in excess of appropriated amounts or prematurely depletes an appropriation in a manner that pressures Congress to pass supplemental or “deficiency” appropriations. Over time, Congress has added to and amended the Antideficiency Act’s various prohibitions and exceptions, creating what is a significant fiscal control law. Today, a combination of the Antideficiency Act’s core prohibitions and the related bar on voluntary services result in a suspension of many, but not all, government functions during a lapse in appropriations. During such a lapse, agencies apply the Act’s prohibitions and its exceptions to determine what functions may continue and what functions must cease until further appropriations are provided. Understanding government conduct during a lapse in appropriations thus requires an understanding of the Antideficiency Act and related appropriations laws. The Antideficiency Act generally precludes government employees or officers from creating legal obligations to pay government funds “before an appropriation is made.” The Act further precludes individuals from volunteering their services to the government when the possibility of a future claim for payment exists. During a lapse in appropriations, these statutory prohibitions work in tandem to establish the general shutdown mandate, that is, the legal requirement to cease government functions and furlough employees. Some functions may be exempt from this general mandate and continue if other funds remain available despite the lapse in annual appropriations. Additional functions may be excepted from the mandate if authorized by law to continue in the absence of appropriations or if they satisfy the emergency exception to the Act. Various legislative proposals have been introduced in the 119th Congress that would address different facets of the Antideficiency Act and government shutdowns more broadly. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R48930/R48930.2.pdf https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/HTML/R48930.html

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