Testimony on Appropriations With Expired Authorizations
Report
CBO Director Keith Hall testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on appropriations whose explicit authorizations have expired. CBO has identified $310 billion in such appropriations for 2016.
Spending authorizations are the first component of the long-standing two-part legislative practice of distinguishing between the laws that establish federal entities or programs that are to be funded through annual appropriations, and the laws that fund them. Once the authorizations are in place, funding for the agencies, programs, or activities is then provided separately in annual appropriation laws.
