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Washington — Funding for many federal agencies expired at 12 a.m. on Saturday after Congress failed to pass half a dozen spending bills before the deadline, prompting a partial government shutdown.
The funding lapse comes despite the Senate voting late Friday to approve a five-bill package and extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks, which had been the sticking point in the upper chamber. The deal struck between Senate Democrats and the White House still needs to be approved by the House, which is set to return to Washington on Monday.
Here’s what to know about the funding lapse:
What’s behind the partial government shutdown?
The Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement has been the focus of this funding fight.
Since the longest shutdown in U.S. history last fall, lawmakers have been working to pass individual spending bills to fund federal agencies through September 2026. Congress has passed, and the president has signed, six of those bills already. The other six are the focus of the current funding fight.
Bipartisan talks appeared to have yielded a deal in recent weeks. Appropriators released the text of the funding measures on Jan. 20. Five of the bills were grouped together into one package, while the bill funding DHS was separated. House Democrats had threatened to withhold their support for the overall funding if the DHS bill was included, arguing it did not go far enough to rein in ICE after the deadly shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
The DHS portion passed with support from just seven Democrats when the House voted last week, while the larger funding package passed with wide bipartisan support. The House then grouped the bills together to send them to the Senate, a move that was meant to clear the way for swift passage.
But the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last weekend changed the calculus for Senate Democrats. They came out fiercely against funding for DHS without further reforms, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the caucus would not provide the votes to move forward on the funding package unless the DHS money was stripped out.
Senators returned to Washington this week without a clear path forward. Schumer outlined Democrats’ demands on Wednesday, including the end of roving patrols by immigration agents, banning the use of masks and tightening warrant requirements. Republicans — some of whom spoke out against the events in Minneapolis — encouraged Democrats to take their requests for reforms to the Trump administration.
GOP leaders opted to hold an initial vote on the entire funding package as planned, which failed on Thursday. But hours later, Senate Democrats struck a deal with the White House. Under the terms, Democrats would support the five non-DHS funding bills, while extending funding for DHS at current levels for two weeks while talks over broader reforms continue.
The Senate voted 71 to 29 on Friday to approve the five-bill package, and cleared a continuing resolution to keep DHS funded by voice vote. But the changes mean the House will need to sign off, and the lower chamber isn’t set to return to Washington until Monday.
Which agencies are not funded?
In addition to DHS, funding for other major departments and their subagencies has lapsed. They include:
- Defense Department
- State Department
- Department of Labor
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of Education
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.
The shutdown is not expected to affect the Trump administration’s controversial immigration enforcement campaign. DHS received an infusion of roughly $165 billion in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including $75 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $65 billion for Customs and Border Protection. The funding goes well beyond the annual allotments that the agencies typically receive and means they can continue operations without new money.
Which agencies are funded?
The six appropriations bills that have already been approved by both chambers fund the following agencies through September, meaning they are not affected by a shutdown:
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Department of Agriculture
- Food and Drug Administration
- Operations for the legislative branch
- Department of Commerce
- Justice Department
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Department of Energy
- Department of the Interior
- Environmental Protection Agency
Why does the government shut down?
A law known as the Antideficiency Act prohibits federal agencies from spending funds that have not been authorized by Congress. A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass funding for some or all agencies, which are funded annually by a dozen appropriations bills.
The 12 bills need to be passed by Congress before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, though lawmakers often wait until the last minute and group them together into larger packages to speed up the process. Temporarily extending funding at current levels has also become commonplace to buy more time as negotiations for full-year measures continue.
Last year, the deadline passed without any of the bills enacted and without an agreement on a short-term extension. The ensuing shutdown lasted for 43 days.
What happens during a shutdown?
During a shutdown, the departments and agencies that don’t have new or temporary funding must stop all nonessential functions until additional appropriations are enacted.
Each agency determines what work is essential or not. Employees who perform essential duties work without pay for the duration of the shutdown, but will receive backpay once the government reopens. Employees in nonessential positions are typically furloughed, but are also expected to receive backpay when funding for their agencies is restored.
The process for implementing a shutdown typically begins at the beginning of the next workweek if the funding lapse begins over the weekend. The current funding lapse is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the affected agencies’ operations, since the House is expected to approve the revised funding bills soon.
The major pain points in any shutdown emerge when essential workers must continue to work without getting paid. During the shutdown last year, the administration used other funds to pay members of the military to ease their financial hardship. Air traffic controllers and airport security are essential employees, and staffing issues began to have a severe impact on travel. There were cancellations and delays, with the Department of Transportation cutting flights due to safety concerns. Some air traffic employees said they had to take on other jobs to make ends meet.
How long will the shutdown last?
It has the potential to be over relatively quickly, depending on what happens in the House.
Some conservatives have said they want changes to the DHS bill or amendments to the broader package, but could back down if the president increases pressure on any holdouts to support the funding measure.
Republicans are dealing with a razor-thin majority in the House, and Democrats could decide to step in to help propel it to final passage if hardliners dig in on their demands.
What happens next?
The House Rules Committee could convene this weekend before the full chamber returns Monday. The committee is often the last stop for legislation before it hits the House floor. If the package survives the Rules Committee, one of the next steps is a procedural vote on the rule, which is typically approved by the majority in a party-line vote. But several conservatives have already warned that they could withhold their votes if their demands aren’t met.
The Rules Committee route allows legislation to pass by a simple majority on the floor. If the funding gets stuck in the committee or is unable to clear the procedural vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson could bring it up under suspension of the rules, which would require a two-thirds majority vote for passage.
After passage in the House, the president would be expected to quickly sign the funding measures into law, bringing the funding lapse to an end.
