[1] The 113th United States Congress failed to pass any of the twelve regular appropriations bills before the beginning of Fiscal Year 2014.

A second continuing resolution extended funding until January 18, 2014, giving both the House and the Senate enough time to vote on this bill.

However, it is Congress that actually establishes the budget, as the U.S. Constitution (Article I, section 9, clause 7) states that "No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time."

[6] President Obama submitted his Fiscal Year 2014 budget proposal on April 10, 2013, two months past the February 4 deadline.

The House passed the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 (H.R.

If no appropriations had been made by October 1, 2013, when Fiscal Year 2014 began, the federal government would have to shut down due to lack of funding.

With the October 1, 2013 deadline nearing, Congress turned its attention to passing a continuing resolution, which would allow the government to be funded at its existing levels for a set period of time, a move intended to give Congress more time to work out final appropriations without shutting down the government.

[8] Congress was unable to agree on a final version of the bill due to a controversy over defunding the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as "Obamacare".

[14] After several more months of debate, Representative Paul Ryan and Senator Patty Murray announced a compromise budget on December 10, 2013.

The Space Launch Liability Indemnification Extension Act was introduced into the United States House of Representatives on November 20, 2013 by Rep. Lamar Smith (R, TX-21).

The House leadership intended to vote on an amendment to the bill on January 15, 2014 so that the Senate would have a chance to work on it before the deadline.

[19] That amendment turned out to be 1,500 pages long and included all of the consolidated appropriations needed to fund the federal government until October 1, 2014.