Federal Funding and Government Shutdown Update

Dear Independent Living Community,

We know many of you are very anxious about the status of federal funding. We have an update for you regarding federal funding for the Independent Living Program and the government shutdown.

On November 12, 2025, Congress passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to reopen the government and it was signed by President Trump. The CR includes temporary funding for all agencies through January 30, 2026, except for full year appropriations for three agencies: the Legislative Branch, Veterans Affairs, and Department of Agriculture. The full year funding for the Department of Agriculture includes full year funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). This means that these agencies are funded through the end of the current federal fiscal year. They will remain operational and funded should there be another government shutdown in January.

How will this affect Independent Living Program funding?

The Independent Living Program has two appropriations line items of federal funding. We frequently refer to these line items as Part B and Part C funds, in reference to their authorization within the Rehabilitation Act. Part B funds are provided to the states to support and expand independent living services. State governments pay these out to the Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs) that rely on them in accordance with the State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL).  

Part C funds support local community-based, consumer-controlled Centers for Independent Living that offer direct services to people with disabilities. Part C funding is a direct award from the Administration for Community Living (ACL) to CILs.

Part B and Part C funds have different grant cycles. Here is how the recently-passed continuing resolution impacts the distribution of each fund.  

Part B Funding

The Part B awards grant cycle runs alongside the federal fiscal year, beginning on October 1. The recent continuing resolution provided level funding for Part B through January 30, 2026. This means that Part B FY 2026 funding to states for the current grant cycle has only been appropriated through the end of January. If there is another government shutdown in January, we may see another disruption of this funding.

NCIL has already reached out to ACL regarding when states would see notices of award issued for the current Part B funding cycle. ACL staff are currently looking into this, and we are hoping to be able to provide additional information on a timeline for awards next week.

Part C Funding

Part C grant awards begin on September 30, the last day of the federal fiscal year. The funds for the grant cycle that began on September 30 are Federal FY 2025 funds. So the funds being awarded from the current Federal FY 26 budget process would not be awarded until September 2026. As long as a full year of appropriations is passed through either an appropriations package or a combination of continuing resolutions, we should not see a disruption of the Part C funding. NCIL will push for timely notices of award for the next Part C grant cycle.

If you have any questions, please contact NCIL Director of Advocacy and Public Policy Jessica Podesva at jessica@ncil.org. Please feel free to reach out to share how the shutdown has impacted your organization, or if you have any questions about Part B and C funding.