A federal employee earning $90,000 a year has about $3,460 in gross pay in every biweekly paycheck. Last fall's 43-day shutdown, the longest on record, spanned three of them. For one mid-career worker, that's roughly $10,400 in pay that stopped until Congress reopened the government. The stopgap the House just cleared for President Trump's signature is what stands between federal workers and a repeat before the November 3 election.
Once it's signed, agencies stay open and paychecks keep moving. The details of how, and for how long, matter more than the headline.
By the Numbers
- $3,462: gross biweekly pay for a $90,000 employee ($90,000 ÷ 26)
- $1,731: gross pay per week of shutdown at that salary, delayed until back pay arrives
- ≈$10,400: gross pay delayed over a 43-day lapse, which covers three full biweekly pay periods
- 43 days: length of the October 1 to November 12, 2025 shutdown, the longest ever (the prior record was 35 days, December 2018 to January 2019)
- October 1: the start of every fiscal year, and the deadline this bill beats
- 1997: the last fiscal year Congress finished all 12 regular spending bills by that deadline
That $10,400 is gross, before taxes, TSP and health premiums. It isn't lost money, either. It's money you don't have when the mortgage is due.
How it works
A continuing resolution is a temporary appropriations law. Congress is supposed to pass 12 regular spending bills before each fiscal year starts on October 1. When it doesn't, a CR keeps agencies funded, usually at the prior year's rate, so they have legal authority to spend money.
That authority is the whole ballgame. Under the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341), agencies can't spend or obligate money Congress hasn't appropriated. When appropriations lapse, they have to stop all non-excepted work. A CR fills the gap. That's why this vote matters even though it settles nothing about actual FY2027 spending levels.
What a CR does and doesn't do:
- It freezes, mostly. Programs run at last year's levels. New programs generally can't start, and spending rates can't ramp up. Lawmakers carve out specific exceptions, called anomalies, for things like military pay or a deadline-driven program.
- It has an end date. Every CR expires. Read the bill text for the date, because that date is your next shutdown deadline. This one only buys time while Congress works on full-year FY2027 bills.
- It doesn't resolve the fight. Congress can follow a CR with another CR, an omnibus package, a minibus of several bills, or a full-year CR. Each has different consequences for agencies' budgets.
- It leaves pay law alone. Pay rates are set by statute (5 U.S.C. § 5303 for the annual GS adjustment) and by the president's alternative pay plan process, not by a stopgap.
If a lapse does happen, the consequences follow a script. Employees are sorted into furloughed and excepted. Furloughed workers stay home. Excepted workers keep working. That group includes air traffic controllers, TSA officers, federal law enforcement and many in the military. Under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, both groups get retroactive pay once funding resumes. The law guarantees the back pay. It doesn't guarantee when you get it.
A worked example
Take a GS-12 analyst at a civilian agency making $90,000 a year. That's a round number for illustration, not a pay-table figure for any locality.
Step 1: Her per-paycheck stake. $90,000 ÷ 26 pay periods = $3,461.54 gross.
Step 2: A lapse hits. Say a shutdown runs as long as the 2025 one: 43 days. At 14 days per pay period, that's three full pay periods plus a day. Three paychecks × $3,461.54 = $10,384.62 gross delayed.
Step 3: What the household feels. After typical withholding, TSP contributions and premiums, take-home might be 70 to 75 percent of gross. For her, that's roughly $2,400 to $2,600 per check, so about $7,300 to $7,800 in missing take-home over the stretch. The mortgage, car note and childcare don't pause.
Step 4: The back pay. After the government reopens, she gets retroactive pay for the whole period, furloughed or excepted. If she was furloughed, she's also paid for days she didn't work. On paper, she comes out whole. But if she put bills on a credit card in the meantime, she paid interest on money she was owed.
Step 5: What this bill changes. If the CR is signed and runs past the date a shutdown would otherwise begin, none of Steps 2 through 4 happen on October 1.
The military version works the same way, with a twist. Service members are paid on the 1st and 15th. A specialist taking home, say, $1,800 per payday faces a gap of the full amount on any missed date. In past lapses, Congress or the administration found ways to pay troops anyway, but those fixes were improvised each time, not automatic. A CR removes that uncertainty.
Who is affected, and by how much
Furloughed civilians. These workers stay home, get no pay during the lapse and are paid retroactively. At $90,000, that's about $1,731 in gross pay per week of delay. At the GS-5 to GS-7 level, the weekly figure is lower, but the cushion is thinner, so the squeeze is usually worse.
Excepted civilians. They work through the lapse without current pay. They carry the same delay, plus commuting and childcare costs for days of unpaid work. This group includes many law enforcement officers, air traffic controllers and some VA and DoD workers.
Active-duty military. Troops work regardless of funding. The risk is a missed payday, which is a real hardship at lower enlisted ranks, where a single paycheck can be a month's rent. Reserve component members drilling during a lapse face their own pay questions.
Federal retirees. Annuity payments from OPM generally continue during a lapse. What slows down is new retirement processing. If you're set to retire, a shutdown can stretch the wait for your first full annuity payment. Interim payments are typically a fraction of the final amount.
Contractors. Contract employees aren't covered by the 2019 back-pay law. Whether they get paid depends on their employer and contract terms. For some, lost days are simply lost.
Agencies. Even a short lapse costs money in lost work, restart time and delayed hiring and processing. None of that shows up in a paycheck, but it lands on the mission.
How to estimate your own
Divide your annual gross salary by 26 for a biweekly figure, or by 52 for a weekly one. Multiply by the number of weeks or pay periods you'd be exposed to. That's your delayed pay. Then ask how many weeks of bills your savings would cover.
If a lapse would hit close to a retirement date, the stakes go up, because processing delays hold up the annuity you've been planning around. The FERS retirement calculator lets you model your annuity at different retirement dates, so you can see what a delayed first payment costs you in real terms.
FAQ
Does this bill guarantee there won't be a shutdown? No. It prevents one until the bill's expiration date. If Congress doesn't pass another CR or full-year bills by then, a lapse can still occur. Check the bill text for the date.
If a shutdown does happen, will I get back pay? Yes. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 requires retroactive pay for furloughed and excepted federal employees after funding resumes. It sets no deadline for how quickly payroll offices must process it, and contractors aren't covered.
Does a CR change my pay raise or benefits? Not directly. Pay adjustments run through separate statutory and presidential processes. A stopgap also leaves health, retirement and leave rules alone.
What's the difference between a CR and a full appropriations bill? A CR carries forward last year's funding rate for a limited time and mostly bars new starts. A full-year appropriations bill sets actual spending levels for each agency through September 30. Agencies can plan hiring and projects around the second one. Under a CR, they mostly hold steady.
Can I still retire on schedule if the government shuts down? You can still separate on your planned date, but OPM's processing capacity shrinks during a lapse. Expect interim annuity payments and a delay before your final calculation. Keep copies of your retirement paperwork and know your agency HR contact.
Bottom line
The House vote removes the most immediate threat to federal paychecks. Had it failed, the price was known: roughly $3,460 in gross pay per biweekly check for a $90,000 worker, and about $10,400 over a shutdown as long as the last one. A CR isn't a budget. It's a deadline that moves, so circle the date it expires.
For now, work continues and pay arrives on schedule. Keep an emergency cushion anyway. Congress hasn't finished all 12 spending bills on time since fiscal 1997, and nobody should plan around it doing so.