Sec. 504. Policy statement on unauthorized appropriations
245 words·~1 min read·
/bill/115/hconres/71/rh/section-504·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The House finds the following: Article I of the Constitution vests all legislative power in Congress. Central to the legislative powers of Congress is the authorization of appropriations necessary to execute the laws that establish agencies and programs and impose obligations. Clause 2 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives prohibits the consideration of appropriations measures that provide appropriations for unauthorized programs. In fiscal year 2016, more than $310 billion was appropriated for unauthorized programs, spanning 256 separate laws.
Agencies such as the Department of State have not been authorized for 15 years. The House adopted a requirement for the 115th Congress, as part of H. Res. 5, that requires each standing committee of the House to adopt an authorization and oversight plan that enumerates all unauthorized programs and agencies within its jurisdiction that received funding in the prior year, among other oversight requirements. In the House, it is the policy of this concurrent resolution that legislation should be enacted that— establishes a schedule for reauthorizing all Federal programs on a staggered five-year basis together with declining spending targets for each year a program is not reauthorized according to such schedule; prohibits the consideration of appropriations measures in the House that provide appropriations in excess of spending targets specified for such measures and ensures that such rule should be strictly enforced; and limits funding for non-defense or non-security-related Federal programs that are not reauthorized according the schedule described in paragraph (1).