⚖️ What Happens if Congress Misses the Deadline?

If no budget (or stopgap continuing resolution) is passed by Sept. 30, 11:59 PM, parts of the federal government shut down.

Essential services (military, border security, Social Security, air traffic control, etc.) continue, but hundreds of thousands of federal workers may be furloughed or forced to work without pay.

Past shutdowns have cost the U.S. economy billions in lost productivity and created political headaches for whoever was in power.
📜 Historical Context

87 total shutdown days in U.S. history.

Longest ever: 35 days (Dec 2018–Jan 2019) during Trump’s first term.

Shutdowns have usually been political leverage tools — but under Trump, they’ve tended to carry more unpredictability due to his confrontational approach.