On September 2, 2026, the President signed H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, into law. This continuing resolution (CR) funds the federal government, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), at their current levels through December 11, 2026, avoiding a shutdown on October 1, the start of the fiscal year. With the CR, both the FDA and HHS will remain fully operational until December 11th, when either a budget or another CR would need to be passed.
The stopgap buys time, but not certainty. To date, only three of the twelve annual appropriations bills have passed the House of Representatives, and none have passed the Senate. Neither chamber is expected to be in session until, at the earliest, after the midterm elections (November 3, 2026), during the lame-duck session. The “lame-duck” session is the period after an election but before the new Congress is sworn in on January 3.
What happens next is unclear. Congress could pass full-year appropriations before the session ends, pass another CR that carries funding into the new Congress, or reach an impasse that results in a shutdown. A government shutdown is a real possibility, particularly if control of a congressional chamber (House or Senate) changes hands, as it did following the 2018 midterm elections, when a funding lapse became the longest shutdown in U.S. history at 35 days. As a reminder, during a government shutdown, staff and services at agencies, such as the FDA or HHS, that are deemed unessential are stopped until a new budget or CR is passed.
Historically, a CR into the new Congress gets passed since it keeps the previous year’s appropriated budget funding levels the same rather than increasing or decreasing appropriated funding. This also allows the party that may have just lost a congressional chamber to lock in the funding levels set when they were in the majority. Alternatively, the party that will soon gain the majority will want to create their own funding levels. This tension is what could lead to a government shutdown. This uncertainty will likely persist until the new Congress is sworn in on January 3, 2027. ABC is preparing federal activities for National Blood Donor Month in January and the start of the new Congress. Unfortunately, if there is a protracted government shutdown, those planned activities could be impacted. Given this uncertainty, we encourage members to work with their state legislatures to secure State Resolutions recognizing National Blood Donor Month in January. You can find a link to our State Resolutions toolkit here.