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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 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 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 content of this report consists of two appendixes. Appendix A summarizes programs that have received fiscal year 1991 appropriations, but which 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 1991. The listings include data on all public laws enacted during the Second Session of the 101st Congress. The information on authorizations is contained in CBO's Legislative Classification System (LCS). The information on amounts appropriated for fiscal year 1991 is from CBO's estimates of the current level of federal spending.

This document is available in its entirety in PDF.