Vol. I · No. 3 · An Independent Tracker

The Appropriations Ledger

A live status report on the twelve annual U.S. appropriations bills
Updated · Jul 29, 2026 Source · House & Senate Approps · CRFB · Congress.gov
Latest On July 21 the House passed a stopgap continuing resolution through Dec. 4, 2026 (220–205) — a bridge over the Oct. 1 deadline and past the midterms. The Senate has not yet taken it up.
How a bill moves. Each appropriations bill passes through six stages: release of draft text, subcommittee markup, full committee markup, House floor passage, Senate floor passage, and signature by the President. The marked stage on each card shows where the bill is presently lodged.

FY 2027 — All Twelve Bills

The Odds at October 1

What happens to FY27 funding at the October 1, 2026 deadline — weeks before the midterms? An analyst's handicap. Drag a slider to test your own.
Reasoned estimates from historical base rates and current conditions, not a forecasting model. The House has now passed a stopgap CR through Dec. 4 — if the Senate agrees, the Oct. 1 cliff is bridged and the real fight moves to the December lame duck, where shutdown risk tends to climb once the incentive to play nice fades. Since FY1977, Congress has finished all twelve bills on time only four times, last in FY1997.

The Fiscal Cliff Calendar

Actually Unprecedented

Cutting through the word "historic"
The chyrons call everything "historic." Most of it isn't — blowing past the deadline, stopgap funding, and giant catch-all bills have been routine for three decades. But a handful of things in this stretch genuinely broke records or precedent. Here's what earns the word.
Record · Shutdown
43 Days
The fall 2025 shutdown was the longest in U.S. history, breaking the prior record of 35 days set in 2018–19.
Rare · Second Lapse
76-Day DHS Shutdown
A second, department-specific shutdown in the same cycle pushed Homeland Security funding to Apr. 30, 2026 — extraordinarily long for a single-agency lapse.
First in History
A Speaker Ousted
The 2023 motion to vacate that removed Speaker McCarthy was the first successful one ever in the House — a threat that now shadows every deal.
Constitutional Test
The Power of the Purse
Escalating use of rescissions and deferrals is testing the 1974 Impoundment Control Act — who controls money once Congress appropriates it — like nothing since the law passed.
Structural
Razor Majorities
A House majority of only a handful of seats leaves leadership almost no votes to spare — the July stopgap squeaked through 220–205 — making regular-order appropriations close to impossible.
Most in 26+ Years
69 Heading Out
Sixty-nine members aren't seeking re-election — the most since at least 2000 and 32% above 2024, draining dealmaking experience. See the next tab.
Not actually historic: missing the Oct. 1 deadline (the norm since FY1997), funding by continuing resolution, packaging bills into omnibuses, and shutdowns themselves (1980, 1995–96, 2013, 2018–19). The dysfunction is the baseline — only the intensity is new.

A Shutdown & You

What actually stops for the public
Skip the politics — here's the direct, everyday impact if funding lapses and the government shuts down. Find yourself below.
If you fly
TSA screeners and air-traffic controllers are forced to work without pay. As absences climb, security lines and flight delays grow — 1,000+ TSA officers quit during the 76-day DHS shutdown.
If you get SNAP or WIC
Food aid is at risk. In the 2025 shutdown, roughly 42 million people faced losing full SNAP benefits, and WIC support for mothers and infants ran short.
If you're a federal worker or contractor
Around 2 million federal workers are furloughed or work unpaid. Employees are owed back pay by law; contractors usually get nothing.
If you need a federal loan
New Small Business Administration loans and new farm loans freeze, and no new federal contracts are signed — a direct hit to small businesses and growers.
If you're visiting a park or museum
National parks and the Smithsonian close or go unstaffed; trash, restrooms, and rangers disappear even where gates stay open.
If you need a passport or IRS help
Passport and visa processing can slow, and IRS phone lines and taxpayer help largely go dark — refunds and paperwork back up.
What keeps coming: Social Security and Medicare payments, VA medical care, the U.S. mail, and active-duty troops on the job — all funded outside the annual bills. The catch: many of the people delivering those services work without a paycheck until the shutdown ends.
Compiled from the House Appropriations Committee, Senate Appropriations Committee, Congress.gov, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and Ballotpedia.
An independent tracker — always verify against the official Congress.gov status table before relying on the data.