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There is no October 1 shutdown this year: Public Law 119-103, signed September 2, funds the government at fiscal 2026 rates through December 11, 2026, and puts flood insurance, surface transportation programs and 23 veterans' provisions on the same deadline.

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Fiscal 2027 begins October 1 without a funding lapse. H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, passed the Senate 90-6 on August 8 and the House 370-48 on September 1, and became Public Law 119-103 on September 2. It continues all twelve fiscal 2026 appropriations acts at their fiscal 2026 rates until December 11, 2026, or until full-year bills are enacted, whichever comes first. The same date now governs the National Flood Insurance Program's authority to write new policies and its higher Treasury borrowing limit, the surface transportation programs (the Highway Trust Fund's spending authority covers expenditures before December 12), 23 of the law's 24 veterans' provisions, and other authorities including the Defense Production Act. Section 157 bars a rule arising from the Office of Management and Budget's May 29 proposal to revise the Uniform Guidance for federal grants from being issued or finalized through December 11. As of this desk's read on September 27, no full-year fiscal 2027 appropriations bill had become law. December 11 is the date to watch.

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Fiscal year 2027 starts on Thursday, October 1. Federal funding does not lapse that day. The stopgap was signed on September 2, and the date that now matters is December 11.

H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, passed the Senate with an amendment 90-6 in the early hours of August 8 (Record Vote 228). The House agreed to the Senate amendments 370-48 on September 1 (Roll no. 286). The nays came from both parties: 19 Republicans and 29 Democrats in the House; two Republicans, three Democrats and one independent in the Senate. It became Public Law 119-103 the next day.

What it funds, and until when

Section 101 lists the twelve fiscal 2026 appropriations acts one by one and continues each "at a rate for operations as provided in the applicable appropriations Acts for fiscal year 2026". Section 106 sets the end: a full-year bill, or December 11, 2026, "whichever of the following first occurs".

Much of the rest is exceptions. FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, wildfire suppression and the WIC nutrition program may draw at the rate their work needs rather than the flat rate. HUD may use leftover voucher money "to prevent the termination of rental assistance for families" in the 2026 funding cycle. Members of Congress get no cost-of-living adjustment during the period.

A law written for 72 days

October 1 through December 11 is 72 days, and the law does the arithmetic in the open. Division C, which extends surface transportation programs to December 11, defines an "extension fraction" as the days in that period divided by 365. The veterans' division does the same in dollars: caregiver mental-health grants funded at $10,000,000 a year get $1,972,603, 72/365ths of that, rounded.

The same deadline reaches well past the annual spending bills:

  • Flood insurance. Section 139 moves two National Flood Insurance Act dates from September 30 to December 11: the one after which, in the U.S. Code's words, "No new contract for flood insurance under this chapter shall be entered into", and the date through which its Treasury borrowing limit stands at $30,425,000,000.
  • Veterans. Twenty-three of Division D's 24 sections run to December 11, among them copayment collection, nursing home care, and homeless-veteran and housing programs. Its plot-allowance section carries December 12.
  • Others. The Defense Production Act, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, the Technology Modernization Fund and the Patent and Trademark Office's fee-setting authority all move to December 11.

Not everything is short. The bill number began as a trade bill, "to extend duty-free treatment" for imports under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, in the title the Senate's vote record still carries; the House passed that version 340-54 on January 12. The law extends that program and the Haiti Economic Lift Program to 2028, and customs user fees to March 31, 2032.

The grant rule on hold

On May 29 the Office of Management and Budget proposed revising the government-wide rules for federal grants, known as the Uniform Guidance (91 FR 32198; comments closed July 13). Section 157 says that rule, "or a substantially similar rule, shall not be issued or finalized" through December 11, and that a version issued before enactment would not take effect in that time.

The dates

  • October 1: fiscal 2027 begins under this law.
  • December 11: funding, flood-insurance authority, surface transportation programs and most of the veterans' extensions expire unless Congress acts.
  • December 12: the cutoff for the Highway Trust Fund's spending authority and the veterans' plot-allowance section; both cover only spending or deaths before it.
  • After December 11: Section 111(b) lets mandatory payments due "on or about the first day of any month" still be made for months that begin up to 30 days after December 11. By the calendar, that covers payments due around January 1,

What the record does not say

  • No full-year bill yet. Congress.gov's list of laws, read today, shows none titled as an appropriations act after Public Law 119-103; the latest law is 119-111, of September 18. The House Appropriations Committee's fiscal 2027 page says "Details on enacted Fiscal Year 2027 legislation will be forthcoming."
  • No plan, no total. The law does not say what comes after December 11, and its text carries no overall dollar figure.
  • Not read: the floor debate, the differences from the January House text, the sections carved out in Section 101, and any OMB action on its proposal since May.

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