House Republicans have made a lot of noise about breaking Washington’s habit of relying on an end-of-year, colossal catchall spending bill to fund the federal government, but they have made little progress in finishing the work.

After three stopgap bills to avert shutdowns and lingering disagreements over spending, passing all 12 annual spending bills one by one appears impossible.

Congress is quickly approaching a pair of government funding deadlines, with one week to go before a potential partial shutdown and lawmakers at an impasse with no clear plan in place to avoid it.

On Friday, the federal government will formally initiate the process of preparing for a potential shutdown, participating in the mandatory-but-standard process of releasing shutdown guidance to agencies ahead of the March 1 funding deadline. That means federal departments and agencies impacted by the first deadline will need to update and review their shutdown plans.

Leaders in both parties are racing to secure a deal on government spending as the negotiation window quickly closes and the fears of a shutdown grow more pronounced.

Congress returns to Washington next week facing a pair of looming funding deadlines — March 1 for a handful of agencies and March 8 for the rest — leaving lawmakers with little time to iron out their differences and get bills to the floor to keep the government open.