Principles of Federal Appropriations Law - US Government ...

Chapter 4
Availability of Appropriations: Purpose
implementing a new law, prior to the receipt of substantive appropriations
for the new program. Again, the appropriation is available provided it is
sufficiently broad to embrace expenditures of the type contemplated. Thus,
the National Science Foundation could use its fiscal year 1967
appropriations for preliminary expenses of implementing the National Sea
Grant College and Program Act of 1966, 8 enacted after the appropriation,
since the purposes of the new act were basically similar to the purposes of
the appropriation. 46 Comp. Gen. 604 (1967). The preliminary tasks in that
case included such things as development of policies and plans, issuance of
internal instructions, and the establishment of organizational units to
administer the new program.
Similarly, the Bureau of Land Management could use current
appropriations to determine fair market value and to initiate negotiations
with owners in connection with the acquisition of mineral interests under
the Cranberry Wilderness Act, 9 even though actual acquisitions could not
be made until funding was provided in appropriation acts. B-211306, June 6,
1983. See also B-153694, Oct. 23, 1964; B-153694, Sept. 2, 1964.
Where Congress has not made a specific appropriation available to fund
additional or new duties and an existing appropriation is used based upon a
determination that the new duties bear a sufficient relationship to the
purpose for which the existing appropriation was made, the agency may
not reimburse the existing appropriation that was used once the new
appropriation is available. 30 Comp. Gen. 258 (1951); B-290011, supra. The
shifting of money from one appropriation to another in the absence of
statutory authority is prohibited by 31 U.S.C. § 1532. 10 Compare B-300673,
July 3, 2003, where GAO concluded that the Chief Administrative Officer
(CAO) for the House of Representatives was allowed to use the CAO fiscal
year 2003 Salaries and Expenses appropriation to reimburse the House of
Representatives Child Care Center revolving fund for certain payments
incurred by the Center at the beginning of fiscal year 2003 during a period
covered by a continuing resolution, before enactment of the fiscal year 2003
appropriation. In this case, CAO’s fiscal year 2003 appropriation expressly
8 Pub. L. No. 89-688, 80 Stat. 998 (Oct. 15, 1966).
9 Pub. L. No. 97-466, 96 Stat. 2538 (Jan. 13, 1983).
10 Section 1532 provides in pertinent part, “[a]n amount available under law may be
withdrawn from one appropriation account and credited to another …only when authorized
by law.”
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