For the first time in two years, the start of a new federal fiscal year came and went this week without the government shutting down.
Fiscal year 2027 began on October 1, and this time Washington was ready. Congress passed a continuing resolution, a stopgap bill that keeps federal agencies funded at existing levels while lawmakers negotiate longer term spending bills, and President Trump signed it into law well ahead of the deadline. The measure funds the government through December 11, pushing the next funding decision past the November midterm elections.
The path here was not entirely smooth. The House and Senate initially passed different versions of the bill with different expiration dates, the House choosing December 4 and the Senate choosing December 11. Rather than let that mismatch turn into a standoff at the deadline, the House returned early from its summer break and adopted the Senate's December 11 date by a wide, bipartisan 370 to 48 margin. The Senate itself had passed its version 90 to 6. That kind of bipartisan margin has been rare in recent funding fights.
The stakes were unusually high this time. The federal government had just come out of a 43 day shutdown that ran from October 1 to November 12, 2025, the kind of prolonged standoff that furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers and delayed economic data that businesses, investors, and the Federal Reserve rely on. With midterm elections five weeks after this year's October 1 deadline, both parties had strong incentives to avoid a repeat, and officials in both chambers said as much as the bill moved through Congress.
The reprieve is temporary. Congress still has to pass full year spending bills, or another stopgap, before December 11. With midterms now closer, that negotiation will unfold against a different political backdrop than the one that produced this deal.
Is the government shut down right now?
No. A continuing resolution signed by President Trump keeps agencies funded through December 11, 2026.
What happens after December 11?
Congress will need to pass another funding measure, full year appropriations bills, or risk a new lapse.