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REPORT ON UNAUTHORIZED APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPIRING AUTHORIZATIONS
 
 
January 15, 1988
 
 
INTRODUCTION

The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-177) requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to report to the Congress on unauthorized appropriations and expiring authorizations. Section 221(b) of the Act added this requirement to Section 202(f) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as amended:

"(3) On or before January 15 of each year, the Director, after consultation with the appropriate committees of the House and the Senate, shall submit to the Congress a report listing (A) all programs and activities funded during the fiscal year ending September 30 of that calendar year for which authorizations for appropriations have not been enacted for that fiscal year, and (B) all programs and activities for which no authorizations for appropriations have been enacted for the fiscal year beginning October 1 of that calendar year."

The new requirement expanded functions CBO had performed at the request of the Budget Committees for a number of years. The conference report on the Balanced Budget Act states that the purpose of the requirement is "to help Congress use the early months of the year to adopt authorizing legislation that must be in place before the thirteen regular appropriation bills can be considered."

The body of this report consists of two appendices listing unauthorized FY 1988 appropriations and authorizations that will expire by the end of FY 1988. The listings include data on all public laws enacted during the First Session of the 100th Congress. The information is contained in CBO's Legislative Classification System (LCS) and estimates of the current level of federal spending for FY 1988.

CBO has used the LCS since 1976 to compile and update information on laws that authorize appropriations. At the request of recipients of the January 1987 version of this report, CBO revised the LCS to reduce and simplify the information the System contains on each authorizing statute. The changes were designed to make the report more readable and useful to Members and Congressional staff. Appendices A and B reflect these changes.

This document is available in its entirety in PDF.