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CIVIC HERALD
S 4632 · 119th Congress · SenateOther

Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2026

In plain language: This bill prevents federal government shutdowns by providing automatic, temporary funding to keep federal agencies and public services running if annual spending bills are not enacted on time. While automatic funding is active, members of Congress, congressional staff, and White House budget officials are banned from using taxpayer money for official travel outside the Washington, D.C., area. In addition, the House and Senate are blocked from taking recesses longer than 23 hours and cannot debate most unrelated legislation until a complete budget is passed.

Provisional: our plain-language summary, pending review.

Provisionalunreviewed: impact, provisions, stakeholders, summary
People affected—The text applies directly to Members of Congress, congressional personal/committee staff, and OMB employees, but does not provide a specific headcount.
Fiscal magnitude—The text imposes restrictions on official travel spending and establishes budget scorekeeping rules during automatic funding periods, but does not specify a dollar appropriation, authorized sum, or fee amount.
Reach58provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
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Who it affects

Who it helps · who it burdens.

Who it helps

  • Nominees for Supreme Court seats and Level I Executive Schedule positionsPermits the Senate to take up their nominations after the 30th day of an automatic continuing appropriation period, creating an exception to the strict prohibition on non-spending floor business.provisional

Who it burdens

  • Members of Congress and congressional staffProhibits the use of official funds for travel during periods of automatic continuing appropriations (with narrow exceptions for a single return trip to Washington, D.C., local travel in the Capital region, or national security emergencies) and restricts legislative business and recesses to spending and debt limit measures.provisional
  • Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officers and employeesBars the expenditure or obligation of official funds for official travel during automatic continuing appropriation periods, except for local travel within the National Capital Region, a single return trip to D.C., or emergency continuity-of-government operations.provisional

Dollar-level funding (FEC sector totals) is coming in a later phase.

What it does

The provisions, in plain language.

  1. Bars Members of Congress, congressional staff, and Office of Management and Budget employees from spending official funds on travel during automatic continuing funding periods, except for a single return trip to Washington, D.C., local travel within the National Capital Region, or emergency continuity-of-government operations.

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  2. Restricts House and Senate floor business during an automatic funding period to spending bills, debt limit measures, and quorum motions, while permitting high-level executive and Supreme Court nominations and temporary program extensions after 30 days.

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  3. Bans the House and Senate from adjourning or recessing for more than 23 hours during an automatic funding period, and mandates a daily noon quorum call in the Senate.

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  4. Requires a two-thirds supermajority vote in the House or Senate to waive legislative floor and adjournment restrictions, limiting any single waiver to no more than 7 days.

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How your members of Congress line up

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Timeline

How it moved.

  1. Jun 1, 2026Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 424.
  2. May 21, 2026Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
  3. May 21, 2026Introduced in Senate

The original text

Read it for yourself.

Read the original text →

Sources & provenance

Congress.govrefreshed 23 days ago

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