Potential government shutdown approaches as March 14 deadline looms. Here’s what to know.

Lawmakers have until the end of the day on Friday, March 14, to fund the government. But it remains to be seen whether House Republicans will be able to muster the near-unanimous GOP support they’ll need to pass the short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution.

Here’s what to know about the funding fight: 

What is a government shutdown, exactly?

A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to approve funding or funding extensions for federal agencies and programs, resulting in a funding gap that prompts federal agencies to shut down projects and activities. During a shutdown, agencies halt non-essential functions until Congress approves funding and the president signs it into law. Essential services, like air traffic control and law enforcement, continue during a shutdown, but workers go without pay until funding is passed. Shutdowns can also disrupt processing of government benefits, loans and applications and shutter national parks. 

Both Democrats and Republicans have used funding deadlines to their advantage in recent decades, leveraging the threat of a government shutdown to pass spending bills with their priorities attached. But lawmakers generally have strong incentives to avoid shutdowns, since they can be economically and politically costly. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the last funding lapse caused a permanent loss of about $3 billion. 

How does Congress fund the government? 

Article I of the Constitution gives  Congress the power to approve any money spent by the federal government. Bills to approve that spending must originate in the House, pass the Senate and be signed by the president before departments and agencies can use the funds. 

Congress is tasked annually with approving spending bills before the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. Under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the president is supposed to submit a budget to Congress by the first Monday of February, outlining how much the executive branch needs for the coming year. The House and Senate budget committees then go on to pass a budget resolution by the middle of April, before the House begins considering the 12 individual appropriations bills drafted by subcommittees to fund different areas of the government, to be concluded by the end of June. 

In recent decades, Congress has hardly ever stuck to that timeline. Instead, lawmakers opt almost every year for continuing resolutions that extend funding before ultimately adopting massive bills, known as omnibus packages, in lieu of the 12 appropriations bills to get the new funding over the finish line. Tucked within those omnibus packages are often policies or programs that wouldn’t pass if they were taken up in isolation, making them appealing to some lawmakers. 

Currently, Congress is still working on the funding process that was meant to be resolved by October of last year. Lawmakers passed a funding patch just ahead of the deadline in late September, giving themselves three more months to reach an agreement on new government funding and pass appropriations bills. Then in December, Congress approved another extension, setting up the March 14 deadline. 

What needs to happen this week to prevent a shutdown? 

To fund the government and avert a shutdown, both the House and Senate need to pass a stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, extending funding. The measure would then go to President Trump for his signature.

House Republicans unveiled a continuing resolution over the weekend, which would extend government funding through September. The stopgap measure would increase defense spending, along with additional funding for veterans’ health care, while decreasing non-defense spending below 2024 levels. The bill also includes more funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The resolution first goes to the House Rules Committee, before a vote on the floor as soon as Tuesday. Republicans, who have a razor-thin majority in the House, are working to shore up support on the measure, with opposition expected from House Democrats. Already at least one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, has pledged to oppose the continuing resolution. 

If the House is unable to find the necessary support for the six-month continuing resolution, lawmakers would likely move to a shorter-term funding measure that would give appropriators more time to flesh out new spending bills. Democrats have signaled in recent days that they prefer the latter approach, which would likely find wide bipartisan margins in both chambers, while frustrating conservatives. 

Many Democrats have reservations about the six-month stopgap measure, warning that it would give the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency even more latitude to carry out cost-slashing efforts. That’s because a continuing resolution, unlike regular appropriations bills, lacks a congressional statement of direction on how funds are to be spent by a department or agency. Democrats have also expressed frustration with the spending reductions in the continuing resolution. But Democrats generally aren’t inclined to let the government shut down, and House Republicans — expected to leave town after the stopgap measure passes — are exerting pressure to avoid a shutdown.

Should the House find enough support to approve the six-month stopgap measure, it would then go to the Senate. But the upper chamber poses its own hurdles. Republicans have a 53-seat majority in the Senate, but 60 votes are necessary to propel the bill to passage, meaning support from Democrats will be needed. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has also pledged to oppose the measure, making support from at least eight Democrats necessary to pass the measure and send it to the president’s desk.

When was the last government shutdown? 

Since the current budget process was enacted in 1976, Congress has prompted 20 funding gaps lasting at least one full day, according to the Congressional Research Service. 

Many of those funding lapses were short lived and didn’t prompt a shutdown, while a handful have been lengthy funding fights with major political significance and impact. In 2013, a feud over the Affordable Care Act prompted a shutdown. And disagreements over immigration prompted two shutdowns in 2018 — the second of which marked the most recent government shutdown, and the longest on record. 

When was the longest government shutdown?

The longest shutdown in U.S. history started in 2018 and lasted 34 days. The shutdown occurred over an impasse on funding for Mr. Trump’s border wall during his first term. But as the fight stretched into the new year, the president signed a bill to reopen the government without his demands being met. 

Before the 2018-2019 shutdown, a 1995-1996 shutdown held the record for the longest, at 21 days. The dispute concerned disagreement over spending cuts between President Bill Clinton and then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.