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. 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. 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. 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. 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). While Congress has employed full-year continuing resolutions on many occasions, it has not done so consistently over time. 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. 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.
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 in 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.
The duration of a continuing resolution refers to the period for which budget authority is provided for covered projects and activities. The period ends either upon enactment of the applicable regular appropriations act or on an expiration date specified in the continuing resolution, whichever occurs first. 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.
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 24-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. Continuing resolutions were used in all fiscal years during this period except FY1953, despite the fact that only one regular appropriations bills was enacted before the start of that fiscal year. From FY1977 to FY2011, 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.
Full-year continuing resolutions provide funding for one or more of the regular appropriations acts for the remainder of the fiscal year. While Congress has employed full-year continuing resolutions on many occasions, it has not done so consistently over time. For each of the 11 fiscal years covering FY1978-FY1988, Congress enacted a full-year continuing resolution to provide funding for programs and activities covered by at least one regular appropriations act. Three years later, Congress enacted another full-year continuing resolution, for FY1992. Most recently, Congress enacted a full-year continuing resolution for FY2011.
During the past 15 fiscal years (FY1998-FY2012), Congress provided funding under continuing resolutions for an average of over four months (126.6 days). The period for which continuing appropriations were provided in these 15 years ranged from 21 days to 365 days. On average, each of the 92 continuing resolutions enacted during this period lasted for about 29 (28.8) days; 45 of these were for 7 days or less.