No More Shutdowns? New Bill Automatically Funds Government for 14-Day Periods, Starting September 2025

The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2025 is exactly what it sounds like: a safety net designed to keep the lights on if Congress misses its budget deadline. Starting September 30, 2025, if the federal government hasn't passed its annual funding bills, this Act automatically triggers 14-day extensions of funding. This keeps programs running at the same level they were funded the previous year. The goal is to eliminate the chaos and financial pain of government shutdowns, which have become an unfortunate fixture in our political landscape.

The Automatic Pilot: Keeping Services Running

For most people, the biggest impact is stability. If you rely on a federal service—say, a small business owner waiting for an SBA loan to process, or a family waiting for food assistance—this bill ensures those essential services won't suddenly halt. The funding mechanism automatically renews every 14 days until Congress finally passes a full budget. Crucially, the bill makes sure that mandatory payments like Social Security, Medicare, and activities under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 are funded at the level required by current law. This means that even if the budget deadline passes, your retirement check or your access to essential benefits won't be held hostage by political gridlock.

The Enforcement Mechanism: Making Congress Uncomfortable

The bill’s real teeth, however, come from how it treats the people responsible for passing the budget: Members of Congress and top officials at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). When the government is running on these automatic 14-day extensions, it triggers severe restrictions designed to make Washington miserable until the budget is passed. Think of it as putting the policymakers in legislative time-out.

First, most official travel for OMB staff and Members of Congress is banned. If you're a member of Congress, you can't even use campaign funds for travel related to your official duties during this time. The only exception is travel back to D.C. if you’re already away when the lapse begins. This essentially grounds the key players, forcing them to stay in the Capitol and focus on the task at hand.

Second, the legislative agenda grinds to a near-halt. While the automatic funding is active, Congress can only vote on a handful of things: measures to fund the government, raising the debt limit, or dealing with a national emergency. They can’t vote on new laws, resolutions, or anything else that isn't absolutely essential. To waive these restrictions, they need a two-thirds supermajority vote, which is a very high bar. This procedural chokehold is designed to remove all distractions and force a singular focus on the budget.

Agency Flexibility vs. Budget Control

While the bill prevents a shutdown, it does give agencies a little breathing room to manage the temporary funding. Agency heads, with approval from the OMB, can move up to 5% of funds between different accounts to prioritize activities that absolutely need to continue. However, they can’t use this automatic funding to start big, new programs or make large initial grant distributions that might pre-empt Congress’s final decision on spending levels. Agencies are required to take only the “most limited action necessary to keep things running,” a phrase that sounds good but leaves a fair amount of discretion to agency leaders on what that actually means in practice. For agencies that rely on big, early-year grants (like research funding or state infrastructure money), this limitation could cause delays, even though the government isn't technically shut down.