March 13, 2025
What happens to the Federal Register during a government shutdown?
To All Federal agencies:
As explained in the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) notice that published March 13, 2025 (90 FR 11999) html | pdf , an agency wishing to transmit a document to the OFR during an appropriations lapse must attach an exception letter to the document which provides justification and certifies that publication in the Federal Register is necessary for one of the following reasons:
Unfunded Agencies or Programs
- To safeguard human life, protect property, or
- To provide other emergency services consistent with the performance of functions and services exempted under the Antideficiency Act.
Funded Agencies or Programs
- Because delaying publication until the end of the appropriations lapse would prevent or significantly damage the execution of funded functions at the agency.
The OFR may be able to accept documents transmitted for publication if delaying publication would significantly damage the execution of funded functions at the agency.
For more information (and for letter templates), visit our Government Shutdown FAQs page.
The OFR may suspend the regular three-day publication schedule to permit a limited number of exempt personnel to process documents transmitted during an appropriations lapse. Agency officials will be informed as to the schedule for filing and publishing individual documents should an appropriations lapse occur.
For questions related to this bulletin not covered by our FAQs, contact our Legal Affairs and Policy Staff at fedreg.legal@nara.gov.
Thank you.
Oliver A. Potts, Director
Office of the Federal Register
