Federal Register Bulletin Newsletter February 2026

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 February 2, 2026 (91 FR 4635) html | pdf, an agency wishing to transmit a document to the OFR during an appropriations lapse must attach an exception letter to the document explaining how the document meets an exception to the Antideficiency Act (ADA). 

For more information (and for the letter template), visit our Government Shutdown FAQs page.

At the onset of an appropriations lapse, the OFR may suspend the regular publication schedule to permit a limited number of excepted personnel to process excepted documents. Agency officials will be informed as to the schedule for filing and publishing individual documents.

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