A set of forced budget cuts due to take effect on March 1 isn't the only fiscal headache facing Congress. On March 27, the so-called continuing resolution that funds federal programs runs out and the government could shut down without a new spending agreement.
By the numbers, here's a look at how Congress has delayed on fiscal and budgetary matters through the years:
5 - Continuing resolutions on budget appropriations enacted for fiscal year 2012.
0 - Times Congress enacted the regular appropriations acts on time between fiscal years 1952 and 1976.
156 - Number of continuing resolutions on budget appropriations enacted for fiscal years 1977 - 2011.
129.6 days - Average length of time covered by continuing resolutions enacted during fiscal years 1998 - 2011.
42 - Number of continuing resolutions that lasted seven days or less during fiscal years 1998 - 2011.
17 - Number of funding gaps between fiscal years 1977 and 2011.
4 - Times since fiscal year 1977 that funding gaps have occurred multiple times in a single fiscal year: three in FY1978, two in FY1983, two in FY1985, and two in FY1996.
21 days - Length of the longest U.S. government shutdown in history, from December 15, 1995, until January 6, 2006.
34 - Percent of Americans who told Gallup in mid February that they felt economic conditions were poor.
43 - Percentage of respondents who said Congress should prevent forced spending cuts from taking effect on March 1, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll.
22 - Percentage of respondents in the same Quinnipiac University poll who said they wanted the spending cuts to happen.
32- Percentage of respondents in the Quinnipiac poll who had no opinion about whether the forced spending cuts should take effect.
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