Appropriations Act

Appropriations Act
Name	Appropriations Act
Long title	Appropriations Act
Enacted by	United States Congress
Signed by	President of the United States
Status	Varies by enactment

Contents

Appropriations Act is a statutory authorization for allocating public funds to specific federal agencies, departments, programs, and projects within a fiscal period. Enacted periodically by legislatures such as the United States Congress, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Knesset, the Bundestag, and the Dáil Éireann, these acts translate budgetary proposals from executives like the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Prime Minister of Australia into legal spending authority. Appropriations Acts interact with laws such as the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Antideficiency Act, and constitutional provisions like Article One of the United States Constitution.

Overview

An Appropriations Act provides statutory authority for obligating and expending public funds by naming recipients such as the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency. It is distinct from a budget resolution and from revenue measures like the Internal Revenue Code and interacts with oversight bodies including the Government Accountability Office, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (Canada), the Office for Budget Responsibility (UK), and the Congressional Budget Office. Appropriations language often references specific programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start Program, National Institutes of Health, Federal Aviation Administration grants, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program allocations. The act may contain riders affecting entities such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations.

In bicameral legislatures like the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, Appropriations Acts originate in appropriation committees including the United States House Committee on Appropriations and the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations, with subcommittees named for jurisdictions like Defense Subcommittee (House) and Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Subcommittee (Senate). The process follows stages found in parliaments such as the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the Bundesrat (Germany): committee markup, floor consideration, conference committees or joint committees, and final passage. Executives including the President of the United States and the Governor of New York may issue vetoes; legislatures may override with majorities as in the United States Constitution or adjust through mechanisms like a continuing resolution or a supply and appropriation bill in the Parliament of Australia. Judicial review by courts such as the Supreme Court of the United States or the High Court of Australia can resolve constitutional disputes over appropriations.

Appropriations Acts commonly fall into categories like annual regular appropriations, supplemental appropriations, and continuing appropriations. Regular appropriations fund annual operations of entities such as the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Supplemental appropriations respond to events involving the Federal Emergency Management Agency, conflicts like the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War, or disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Continuing appropriations, also called continuing resolutions, maintain funding at prior-year levels and affect agencies including the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation. Special appropriations may include emergency funding for institutions like the Federal Reserve System or targeted grants to entities such as the National Institutes of Health during pandemics like COVID-19 pandemic.

In the United Kingdom, appropriation powers trace to statutes like the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act and debates in the House of Commons, with treasury control by the HM Treasury and ministers such as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In Canada, Parliament enacts appropriation acts following estimates presented to the House of Commons of Canada and oversight by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. The European Parliament and the European Commission coordinate appropriations across the European Union budget under the Multiannual Financial Framework. Other national systems include appropriations by the Knesset in Israel, the Bundestag in Germany, the Dáil Éireann in Ireland, and state legislatures such as the Texas Legislature and the California State Legislature. Subnational appropriations allocate funds to entities like the City of New York, the State of California, and the Province of Ontario.

Appropriations Acts influence public policy areas embodied in programs like Social Security, Veterans Affairs, Public Health Service, National Endowment for the Arts, and Department of Agriculture initiatives. Controversies arise over policy riders affecting issues tied to the Roe v. Wade debate, foreign policy toward nations like Israel and Ukraine, defense spending for contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, and earmarks for projects linked to members of the United States Congress. Fiscal disputes involve rating agencies like Standard & Poor's and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and can culminate in events like the 2011 United States federal government shutdown and debt ceiling standoffs involving the United States Secretary of the Treasury. Transparency and accountability debates engage watchdogs such as ProPublica and OpenSecrets.

Notable appropriations include the postwar funding mechanisms after the Marshall Plan, wartime appropriations during the American Civil War and the World War II, Cold War-era appropriations for programs like the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, and supplemental packages after crises such as the September 11 attacks and the 2008 financial crisis. Specific landmark measures include omnibus appropriations enacted during administrations of presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. International parallels include appropriation practices tied to the Treaty on European Union budgetary procedures and emergency funds mobilized by governments responding to events like the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Category:Legislation