Congress uses an annual appropriations process to fund discretionary spending, which supports the projects and activities of most federal government agencies. The timetable associated with this process requires that the enactment of these regular appropriations bills occurs prior to the beginning of the fiscal year (October 1). If regular appropriations are not enacted by that time, continuing appropriations (often referred to as "continuing resolutions" or CRs) may be used to provide funding until the annual appropriations process has been concluded. A total of four CRs were enacted during the FY2014 appropriations process. No regular appropriations acts for FY2014 were enacted by the start of the fiscal year. A "narrow" CR to provide funds for certain Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) activities in the absence of a "broad" CR or annual appropriations (the Pay Our Military Act; H.R. 3210 ; P.L. 113-39 , 113 th Congress) had become law. As a result, a funding gap commenced for affected projects and activities on October 1. During the funding gap, one additional CR was enacted (the Department of Defense Survivor Benefits Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014; H.J.Res. 91 ; P.L. 113-44 ), to provide appropriations for military death gratuities. After 16 full days, the funding gap was terminated on October 17 with the enactment of a "broad" CR that funded projects and activities funded in the previous fiscal year (the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014; H.R. 2775 ; P.L. 113-46 ). This funding was to expire on January 15, 2014. To allow additional time to conclude the annual appropriations process, that funding was extended to January 18, 2014 (Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes; H.J.Res. 106 ; P.L. 113-73 ). This report summarizes the components of the four FY2014 continuing resolutions. For information on the congressional consideration of FY2014 appropriations measures, including these four CRs, see CRS Report R43338, Congressional Action on FY2014 Appropriations Measures , by [author name scrubbed]. For general information on the content of CRs and historical data on CRs enacted between FY1977 and FY2014, see CRS Report R42647, Continuing Resolutions: Overview of Components and Recent Practices , by [author name scrubbed]. Table 1 summarizes the contents of the four FY2014 CRs with regard to their coverage, expiration, formula, anomalies, and estimated annualized amount of discretionary spending. C overage relates to the purposes for which funds are provided. The projects and activities funded by a CR are typically specified with reference to regular and supplemental appropriations acts from the previous fiscal year. When a CR refers to one of those appropriations acts and provides funds for the projects and activities included in such an act, the CR is often referred to as "covering" that act. The duration of a CR refers to the period of time for which budget authority is provided for covered activities. This duration is limited by an expiration date, which may occur prior to the close of the fiscal year ("temporary" or "interim" continuing appropriations), or may extend through the end of the fiscal year ("full-year" continuing appropriations). That expiration date may be superseded by the enactment of annual appropriations or a further CR. A formula is typically used by CRs to provide budget authority at a restricted level without prescribing a specific amount. The formula is used to calculate an annualized rate of budget authority for each project and activity. Alternatively, a continuing appropriations act may provide specific amounts for covered projects and activities in the text of the act, or by reference. Anomalies are provisions in a CR that designate exceptions to the duration, formula, or purpose for which any referenced funding or other authority is extended. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated the annualized discretionary spending for FY2014 under these CRs using two different measures: "total regular appropriations" and "total spending." Total regular appropriations is an estimate of only the annualized discretionary budget authority that is subject to the Budget Control Act (BCA) discretionary spending limits. Total spending is an estimate of annualized discretionary budget authority that includes budget authority not subject to the discretionary spending limits because it was designated for the purposes of Section 251(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Control Act of 1985 (Title II of P.L. 99-177 , 2 U.S.C. 900-922; BBEDCA). The contents of these four FY2014 CRs are discussed further in the subsections below. The first CR to be enacted for FY2014 was an "automatic" CR, meaning that it provided funding for specified activities that would become available automatically during a FY2014 funding gap, and expire when an applicable regular appropriations act or CR was enacted. This CR provided a mechanism to cover projects and activities in three different categories: (1) Pay and allowances to members of the Armed Forces (as defined in section 101(a)(4) of title 10, United States Code), including reserve components thereof, who perform active service during such period; (2) Pay and allowances to the civilian personnel of the Department of Defense (and the Department of Homeland Security in the case of the Coast Guard) whom the Secretary concerned determines are providing support to members of the Armed Forces described in paragraph (1); and (3) Pay and allowances to contractors of the Department of Defense (and the Department of Homeland Security in the case of the Coast Guard) whom the Secretary concerned determines are providing support to members of the Armed Forces described in paragraph (1). The duration of the budget authority that was provided by this mechanism began on October 1, 2013, due to the absence of enacted regular or continuing appropriations, and terminated on October 17, 2013, with the enactment of the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2014 ( P.L. 113-46 ). The formula for this mechanism provided FY2014 funds for each day of a funding gap at an indefinite level for all covered projects and activities (i.e., "such sums as are necessary"). There were no anomalies in this CR. No CBO cost estimate was issued while the measure was under consideration. The second CR for FY2014 was the Department of Defense Survivor Benefits Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 ( H.J.Res. 91 ; P.L. 113-44 ), which was enacted on October 10, 2013. This CR provided funds to cover the following activities in the Department of Defense "Operation and Maintenance" and "Military Personnel" accounts: (1) The payment of a death gratuity under sections 1475-1477 and 1489 of title 10, United States Code. (2) The payment or reimbursement for funeral and burial expenses authorized under sections 1481 and 1482 of title 10, United States Code. (3) The payment or reimbursement of authorized funeral travel and travel related to the dignified transfer of remains and unit memorial services under section 481f of title 37, United States Code. (4) The temporary continuation of a basic allowance of housing for dependents of members dying on active duty, as authorized by section 403(l) of title 37, United States Code. The duration of funds under this CR began on October 10, 2013, and was to terminate on December 15, 2013, unless superseded by the enactment of a regular or continuing appropriations act. These funds were superseded by the enactment of P.L. 113-46 , on October 17, 2013. The funding formula for each covered project and activity was at the rate the projects and activities were funded in the previous year's appropriations act (the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2013; Division C of P.L. 113-6 ). This rate was calculated based on the amount of funding available for that project or activity under the terms of that act, including the effects of any provisions reducing FY2013 budget authority. The formula also included any reduction that applied to those FY2013 funds pursuant to the March 1 presidential sequestration order. There were no anomalies in this CR. According to CBO, the total amount of annualized budget authority for regular appropriations in this CR was $116 million. When spending was included in the calculation that was designated under Section 251(b) of the BBEDCA (for OCO/GWOT), the total CBO-estimated amount of annualized budget authority in the CR was $150 million. The third CR for FY2014 was the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 ( H.R. 2775 ; P.L. 113-46 ; hereinafter "the FY2014 CR"), which was enacted on October 17, 2013. This act superseded the funding provided under the two narrow FY2014 CRs. This CR broadly covered all 12 regular appropriations bills by providing budget authority for projects and activities funded in FY2013 by Divisions A-F of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 ( P.L. 113-6 ; Hereinafter, "the FY2013 Consolidated Act"), with an exception. This included any FY2013 budget authority that was designated as for "Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism" (OCO/GWOT), "continuing disability reviews and redeterminations," "health care fraud abuse control," and "disaster relief," and thus exempt from the statutory discretionary spending limits. Budget authority was provided by the FY2014 CR under the same authority and conditions, and to the same extent and manner, as was provided in the FY2013 Consolidated Act. In addition, under the terms of this CR, none of the funds provided were to be used to initiate or resume an activity for which budget authority was not available in FY2013.