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Use this page to see the next funding deadline, what could be affected, and where to go if your question is about pay, benefits, travel, taxes, or the bigger picture.
Congress needs to pass new funding before September 30. If lawmakers miss that date, shutdown risk rises quickly.
Is a shutdown already happening? Could pay be delayed? Will Social Security, TSA, or passports be affected? Start with the section that matches your question.
Most people do not need all 21 entries first. These are the years readers usually recognize right away.
Drag left or right, then open the year you want.
A 10-day gap soon after the federal fiscal year shifted to October 1.
Two shutdowns in one fiscal year turned the budget fight into a defining political event.
A shutdown tied to a high-profile fight over spending and health policy.
This became the record-holder until the FY2026 lapse lasted even longer.
CRS records the FY2026 lapse as the longest in the timeline.
Most readers need one of four things first: is a shutdown happening now, how can it happen, who still gets paid, and which services might change first.
Check whether funding is active, what deadline matters next, and which agencies or services are under the most pressure right now.
Open pageStart here if you want the mechanism: what Congress must pass, what happens when funding lapses, and why shutdown risk keeps coming back.
Open pageIf your real concern is pay, furlough status, or whether work continues during a lapse, go straight to the pay and worker guides.
Open pageIf you need to know about checks, customer service, passports, TSA, parks, or tax refunds, start with the service and benefits pages.
Open pageIt happens when Congress misses a funding deadline and affected agencies no longer have appropriations authority to keep operating normally.
No. Essential and excepted work often continues, but staffing, support, and processing can still slow down.
Some workers keep working, some are furloughed, and paycheck timing can still become a problem during a lapse.
Some services keep running, but staffing strain, slower customer support, and uneven office capacity can still create real disruption.
If you know when the last lapse happened, when the next deadline is, and what the latest dispute is about, the headlines make much more sense.
A shutdown begins when appropriations authority runs out and Congress has not passed new funding.
The 42-day lapse ended, but agency backlogs and service questions lasted much longer.
A partial funding fight renewed concern about travel, border operations, and agency staffing.
This is the next standing federal funding cutoff to keep in view.
A current-status guide covering the latest funding posture, the next deadline, and where to check likely impacts on workers, travel, taxes, and benefits.
How it happensA plain-language explanation of the mechanism behind a U.S. government shutdown: funding deadlines, appropriations lapses, and why some services keep running.
Why it keeps happeningA plain-language explanation of why shutdown threats keep returning: repeated deadlines, unresolved spending fights, and the politics of governing at the brink.
What changesA plain-language guide to what usually changes during a shutdown, including agency operations, employee status, benefits, travel services, and public-facing delays.
CompareA simple comparison of a government shutdown and a debt ceiling crisis, including what triggers each one, what each one affects, and why people often mix them up.
Funding termsA plain-language explainer on continuing resolutions, or CRs, including what they do, why Congress uses them, and why shutdown risk returns when a CR is about to expire.
WorkersA practical guide to excepted work, furloughed status, delayed pay, and what back-pay promises do and do not solve in real time.
BenefitsA service-focused explainer that separates benefit payments from customer-service delays and other administrative slowdowns.