Duration of Continuing Resolutions in Recent Years
Released: 2012-01-19T00:00:00

Continuing appropriations acts (commonly known as continuing resolutions or CRs), which provide interim funding in the event that regular appropriations have not been enacted, have been an integral component of the annual appropriations process for decades. Whenever action on one or more of the regular appropriations acts for a fiscal year is incomplete, an issue that arises is the appropriate duration of any period for which continuing resolutions will be used.

Continuing resolutions may have a relatively short duration, based on the expectation that action on the regular appropriations acts will be concluded within several days or weeks. Alternatively, continuing resolutions may have a longer duration to postpone final action on appropriations decisions until after elections, or through the beginning of the next congressional session. Finally, a continuing resolution may provide funding for the remainder of the fiscal year.

This report provides information on congressional practices with respect to the duration of continuing resolutions, including the use of full-year measures, and focuses particularly on the period covering FY1998-FY2012.

Features of Continuing Resolutions

The routine activities of most federal agencies are funded by means of annual appropriations provided in one or more of the regular appropriations acts. When action on the regular appropriations acts is delayed, Congress may use one or more continuing appropriations acts to provide stop-gap funding. In the absence of regular appropriations, the failure to enact continuing appropriations in a timely manner results in a funding gap. If a funding gap occurs, federal agencies are typically required to begin a "shutdown" of the affected projects and activities, which includes the prompt furlough of non-excepted personnel.

Continuing appropriations acts commonly are referred to as continuing resolutions (or CRs) because usually they provide continuing appropriations in the form of a joint resolution rather than a bill. Occasionally, however, continuing appropriations are provided in bill form.

In most of the years in which continuing resolutions have been used, a series of two or more have been enacted into law. Continuing resolutions may be designated by their order (e.g., first continuing resolution, second continuing resolution) or, after the initial continuing resolution has been enacted, designated merely as a further continuing resolution.

The duration of a continuing resolution refers to the period for which budget authority is provided for the covered projects and activities. The period ends either upon the enactment of the applicable regular appropriations act, or on an expiration date specified in the continuing resolution, whichever occurs first. The duration of a continuing resolution may vary for different agencies covered thereunder as an agency's regular appropriations act is enacted, and its coverage under the continuing resolution ceases. For example, Section 107 of P.L. 108-84 (117 Stat. 1043), the first continuing resolution for FY2004, set the duration of the measure at 31 days:

Sec. 107. Unless otherwise provided for in this joint resolution or in the applicable appropriations Act, appropriations and funds made available and authority granted pursuant to this joint resolution shall be available until (a) enactment into law of an appropriation for any project or activity provided for in this joint resolution, or (b) the enactment into law of the applicable appropriations Act by both Houses without any provision for such project or activity, or (c) October 31, 2003, whichever first occurs.

A continuing resolution may also contain an expiration date for one or more agencies or programs that differs from the one that applies generally to the covered agencies and programs.

If action on the regular appropriations acts is not complete by the time the first continuing resolution expires, subsequent continuing resolutions will often simply replace the expiration date in the preceding continuing resolution with a new one. For example, Section 1 of the second continuing resolution for FY2004, P.L. 108-104 (117 Stat. 1200), stated that "Public Law 108-84 is amended by striking the date specified in Section 107(c) and inserting 'November 7, 2003.'" This action extended the duration of the preceding continuing resolution by seven days.

Based upon their duration, continuing resolutions may be classified as either interim or full-year measures. Interim (or temporary) continuing resolutions provide funding for periods usually measured in days or weeks (but sometimes months), while full-year continuing resolutions provide funding through September 30, the last day of the fiscal year. By enacting a series of interim continuing resolutions, Congress secures additional increments of time for itself to complete action on some or all of the remaining regular appropriations acts. The duration of any further continuing resolutions may be shortened, sometimes to a single day, to keep pressure on legislators to conclude their business, or may be lengthened to weeks to accommodate lengthy negotiations or congressional recesses. In some cases, continuing resolutions have carried over into the next session when Congress wanted to postpone making difficult political or policy decisions. Finally, when the separate enactment of one or more of the regular appropriations bills for a fiscal year does not seem likely to occur, a full-year continuing resolution may be used to complete legislative action.

Continuing resolutions usually fund activities under a formula-type approach that provides spending at a restricted level, such as "at a rate for operations not exceeding the current rate," which is generally equivalent to the total amount of appropriations provided for the prior fiscal year. Exceptions to the formula, sometimes referred to as "anomalies," which provide a specific amount of budget authority for certain accounts or activities, can also be provided. The amount of funding available for particular activities previously provided based on a rate (or as an anomaly) can be increased or decreased when the relevant regular appropriations act is subsequently enacted. Congress is not bound by these conventions in determining funding levels, however, and there have been several variations in practice over the years in how the funding for projects and activities under a continuing resolution has been provided.

Continuing resolutions generally do not allow new activities to be initiated. Instead, funding is usually available only for activities conducted during the past year, and existing conditions and limitations on program activity are typically retained by language contained within the resolution's text.

Persistent Need for Continuing Resolutions

Over the past half century, the timing patterns for congressional action on regular appropriations acts have varied considerably, but tardy enactment has been a recurring problem. During the 25-year period covering FY1952-FY1976, when the fiscal year began on July 1, at least one regular appropriations bill was enacted after the start of the fiscal year. From FY1977 to FY2012, after the start of the fiscal year was moved to October 1, all of the regular appropriations acts were enacted on time in only four instances (FY1977, FY1989, FY1995, and FY1997). No continuing resolutions were enacted for three of these fiscal years, but continuing resolutions were enacted for FY1977 to fund certain unauthorized programs whose funding had been dropped from the regular appropriations acts.

During the 25 fiscal years covering FY1952-FY1976, Congress did not once enact all of the regular appropriations acts on time. As a result, one or more continuing resolutions were enacted each year during this period, except for FY1953.

In an effort to reduce the reliance on continuing resolutions, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 ( P.L. 93-344 ; 88 Stat. 297) effectively lengthened the time available for Congress to act on annual appropriations measures by moving the start of the fiscal year from July 1 to October 1. Procedures under the act were fully implemented beginning in FY1977, and this change in the start of the fiscal year yielded immediate results—all of the regular appropriations acts for FY1977 were enacted on time. This initial success, however, was short-lived, and congressional reliance on continuing resolutions has persisted in the ensuing years.

As was previously noted, after FY1977, all of the regular appropriations acts were enacted on time in only three other instances—for FY1989, FY1995, and FY1997. Consequently, one or more continuing resolutions were needed each year during this period. In total, 161 continuing resolutions were enacted into law during the period covering FY1977-FY2012, ranging from zero to 21 in any single fiscal year. On average, about six continuing resolutions were enacted each fiscal year during this interval (see Table 3 , at the end of the report, for further information on all CRs enacted between FY1977 and FY2012).

Use of Full-Year Continuing Resolutions

Full-year continuing resolutions provide funding for one or more of the regular appropriations acts for the remainder of the fiscal year (through June 30 for FY1976 and prior years, and through September 30 for FY1977 and subsequent years). They represent a determination by Congress to abandon any further efforts to enact separately the remaining unfinished regular appropriations acts for the fiscal year, and to bring the annual appropriations process for that year to a close (except for the later consideration of supplemental appropriations acts).

While Congress has employed full-year continuing resolutions on many occasions, it has not done so consistently over time. Prior to the full implementation of the Budget Act in FY1977, full-year continuing resolutions were used occasionally. Full-year continuing resolutions, for example, were enacted into law for four of the six preceding fiscal years (FY1971, FY1973, FY1975, and FY1976). Following the successful completion of action on the regular appropriations acts for FY1977, Congress returned to the use of full-year continuing resolutions for more than a decade. For each of the 11 fiscal years following FY1977, covering FY1978-FY1988, Congress enacted a full-year continuing resolution covering at least one regular appropriations act. Three years later, Congress enacted another full-year continuing resolution, for FY1992. Most recently, a full-year continuing resolution was enacted for FY2011.

Full-year continuing resolutions may provide appropriations in different ways, including (1) by formulaic provisions (e.g., "at a rate for operations not in excess of the current rate or the rate provided in the budget estimate, whichever is lower"), in which the amounts available for individual projects and activities must be determined by comparing two or more alternatives; (2) by incorporating the full text of the applicable regular appropriations acts (including incorporation by cross-reference to other measures), thereby obviating the need to make any funding determinations; or (3) by a combination of the two. For example, P.L. 112-10 , the full-year continuing resolution for FY2011, provided full text budget authority for the Department of Defense in Division A, while Division B provided formulaic funding (with anomalies) for all other agencies and activities for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Table 1 identifies the 14 full-year continuing resolutions enacted for the period since FY1977. Eight of the measures included at least one formulaic funding provision, while the remaining six did not.

Nine of the 14 full-year continuing resolutions during this period were enacted in the first quarter of the fiscal year—three in October, two in November, and four in December. The five remaining measures, however, were enacted during the following session, between February 15 and June 5.

As Table 1 shows, full-year continuing resolutions enacted during the first six years of this period were relatively short measures, ranging in length from one to four pages in the Statutes-at-Large . Beginning with FY1983 and extending through FY1988, however, the measures became much lengthier, ranging in length from 19 to 451 pages (averaging 244 pages).

The greater page length of full-year continuing resolutions enacted for the period covering FY1983-FY1988 may be explained by two factors. First, full-year continuing resolutions enacted prior to FY1983 generally established funding levels by a formulaic reference to pending regular appropriations acts. With regard to a specific appropriations act, for example, funding levels may have been keyed to the lesser of the amounts provided in the House-passed or Senate-passed versions of the act. Beginning with FY1983, however, Congress largely abandoned the use of formulaic references to establish funding levels. Instead, the full text of some or all of the covered regular appropriations acts usually was incorporated into the full-year continuing resolution, thereby increasing its length considerably. Secondly, the number of regular appropriations acts covered by full-year continuing resolutions increased significantly during the FY1983-FY1988 period. For the period covering FY1978-FY1982, the number of regular appropriations acts covered by continuing resolutions for the full fiscal year ranged from one to eight (averaging four). Beginning with FY1983 and extending through FY1988, the number of covered acts ranged from 5 to 13 (averaging 9.25).

In the above respect, P.L. 112-10 (the full-year continuing resolution for FY2011) provided funding in a similar manner to the FY1983-FY1988 full-year continuing resolutions. P.L. 112-10 provided budget authority for a total of 12 regular appropriations act by incorporating the full text of one appropriations bill (the FY2011 Department of Defense Appropriations Act) while also providing for the other 11 regular appropriations bills through formulaic provisions and specific anomalies.

Recent Congressional Practices (FY1998-FY2012)

Continuing resolutions have been a significant element of the annual appropriations process during the last 15 fiscal years, covering FY1998-FY2012. As shown in Table 2 , a total of 92 continuing resolutions were enacted into law during this period. While the average number of such measures enacted per year was about 6 (6.1), the actual number enacted ranged from 2 measures (for FY2009 and FY2010) to 21 (for FY2001).

During these last 15 fiscal years, Congress provided funding by means of a continuing resolution for an average of over four months (126.6 days) each fiscal year. Taking into account the total duration of continuing resolutions enacted for each fiscal year, the period for which continuing appropriations were provided ranged from 21 days to 365 days. On average, each of the 92 continuing resolutions enacted lasted for almost 29 (28.8) days; 45 of these were for seven days or less. Two full-year continuing resolutions were used during this period, for FY2007 and FY2011.

In the first four instances (FY1998-FY2001), the expiration date in the final continuing resolution was set in the first quarter of the fiscal year, on a date occurring between October 21 and December 21. The expiration date in the final continuing resolution for the next three fiscal years (FY2002-FY2004), however, was set in the following session on a date occurring between January 10 and February 20. While the expiration dates in the final continuing resolutions for five of the next eight fiscal years (FY2005, FY2006, FY2008, FY2010, and FY2012) were in the first quarter of the fiscal year on a date occurring between December 8 and December 31, the final continuing resolution for FY2009 carried an expiration date of March 11, 2009. The final continuing resolutions for FY2007 and FY2011 provided funding through the remainder of the fiscal year.

Figure 1 presents a representation of both the number and duration of continuing resolutions for FY1998-FY2012. As the figure shows, there is no significant correlation between these two variables. For example, six continuing resolutions were enacted for both FY1998 and FY1999, but the same number of measures lasted for a period of 57 days for FY1998 and only 21 days for FY1999. The largest number of continuing resolutions enacted for a single fiscal year during this period—21 for FY2001—covered a period lasting 82 days, at an average duration of 3.9 days per act. The smallest number enacted—two each for FY2009 and FY2010—covered 162 days and 79 days, respectively, at an average duration of 81 days and 40 days per act.

Figure 1 also shows considerable mix in the use of shorter-term and longer-term continuing resolutions for a single fiscal year. For example, for FY2001, 21 continuing resolutions covered the first 82 days of the fiscal year. The first 25 days were covered by a series of four continuing resolutions lasting between five and eight days each. The next 10 days, a period of intense legislative negotiations leading up to the national elections on November 7, 2000, were covered by a series of 10 one-day continuing resolutions. The next 31 days were covered by two continuing resolutions, the first lasting 10 days and the second lasting 21 days. The first of these two continuing resolutions was enacted into law on November 4, the Saturday before the election, and extended through November 14, the second day of a lame-duck session. The second continuing resolution was enacted into law on November 15 and expired on December 5, which was 10 days before the lame-duck session ended. The remaining five continuing resolutions, which ranged in duration from one to six days, covered the remainder of the lame-duck session and several days beyond (as the final appropriations legislation passed by Congress was being processed for the President's approval).

Table 3 provides more detailed information on the number, length, and duration of continuing appropriations acts enacted for FY1977-FY2012. As indicated previously, this represents the period during which the congressional budget process as established by the Budget Act has been in effect, that is, since the change in the start of the fiscal year from July 1 to October 1.