This report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) satisfies the requirements of section 221(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. The purpose of the report is to identify authorizing legislation that must be in place before the Congress considers the 13 regular appropriation bills.

Assigning authorizations of programs and activities to the correct authorizing committees is critical to the usefulness of this report. CBO used the best and most recent available information to convert the authorization data to the new committee structure in the House of Representatives. Many jurisdictional issues remained uncertain, however, as this report went to press. If necessary, CBO will reissue the House of Representatives portion of the report after those issues are decided.

Ellen Hays of CBO's Special Studies Division prepared the report under the supervision of Marvin Phaup and Robert Hartman. The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of analysts in CBO's Budget Analysis Division and numerous committee staff members. Christian Spoor edited the report, and Marlies Dunson typed it.

Robert D. Reischauer
Director
January 1995
 
 

OVERVIEW

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 that act added the following 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 [of CBO], 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 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 substance of this report consists of two appendixes. Appendix A specifies programs that have received appropriations for fiscal year 1995 but lack specific authorizations of appropriations for that year. Appendix B lists programs whose specific authorizations of appropriations will expire by the end of fiscal year 1995. The appendixes reflect all public laws enacted during the second session of the 103rd Congress. The information about authorizations is maintained in CBO's Legislative Classification System. The information about amounts appropriated for fiscal year 1995 is gleaned from 1995 appropriation laws, conference reports, and advice provided by CBO analysts and executive agency budget staff.
 

PROGRAMS FUNDED IN FISCAL YEAR 1995 WITHOUT SPECIFIC AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS

A total of $94.0 billion worth of appropriations were provided for fiscal year 1995 for programs and activities that lack authorizations of appropriations for that year (see Appendix A for a summary).

The Congress at one tune provided explicit authorizations for those programs, but the authorizations have expired and have not been renewed. Appendix A shows the last funding level authorized for each of the programs. If the applicable fiscal year 1995 appropriation bills or the legislative history provided explicit funding levels for the programs, those amounts are also shown. When no explicit amounts were provided-as when a small program was funded at an unidentified level in a large appropriation account--the appendix simply notes that a specific dollar amount is not available.

Two caveats should accompany the list in Appendix A. First, even if the 1995 appropriation for a program or activity has not been specifically authorized, the agency may still obligate and spend the funds in most cases. Second, the appendix may not include all programs and activities funded in fiscal year 1995 that lack an authorization. CBO does not track expiring authorizations that do not explicitly authorize appropriations, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs' authority to provide respite care.

Approximately $42.9 billion of the $94.0 billion in fiscal year 1995 appropriations listed in Appendix A is for programs or activities whose most recent authorizations expired at the end of fiscal year 1994. The largest of those are housing and community development programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development ($25.7 billion) and operations of the Coast Guard ($3.7 billion).

The other $51.1 billion in unauthorized appropriations is for programs whose authorizations expired before fiscal year 1994. That category includes $14.4 billion for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (expired at the end of 1993), $8.9 billion for foreign assistance (expired at the end of 1987), and $8.4 billion for the Department of Justice. The annual authorization for most of the Department of Justice programs has not been enacted since 1979, although the appropriation act continues to extend the old authorization.

Nearly all House and Senate committees have jurisdiction over some programs and activities with expired authorizations (see Tables 1 and 2 for a breakdown by committee). The 1995 funding levels for those programs with more than $500 million in appropriations are shown in Table 3, by the last authorizing law.

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