H.R. 143, Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act

H.R. 143 would establish a schedule to reduce the aggregate spending levels in the Congressional budget resolution when any federal program lacks an authorization of appropriations over a three-year period starting in fiscal year 2026. As statutorily required, CBO tracks authorizations of appropriations that have specified expiration dates and annually identifies appropriations provided for expiring and expired authorizations. Most recently, CBO identified 1,326 authorizations of appropriations as having expired before the beginning of fiscal year 2025 and 304 authorizations that were set to expire before the end of fiscal year 2025.[1] CBO also identified $500 billion in appropriations for 2025 that were associated with 457 expired authorizations. H.R. 143 also would limit the purposes for which funding could be obligated for programs that remain unauthorized for more than two fiscal years.

CBO expects that implementing the bill would not significantly affect federal spending because aggregate spending levels for 2026 for the Committees on Appropriations have been set, and any changes to those levels beyond that year would be subject to future appropriation actions. To the extent that the Congress appropriates amounts different than what is projected in CBO’s baseline, those differences will be reflected in future CBO projections. CBO estimates that the administrative costs necessary for CBO and the House and Senate Committees on the Budget to implement the bill would be less than $500,000 over the 2026-2031 period; any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.