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Backdoor spending authority (view source)
Revision as of 04:50, January 11, 2013
, 04:50, January 11, 2013no edit summary
From the perspective of the appropriations committees, funding by these forms of spending authority slips away from their control through legislative back doors. However, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 gave those committees some control over new borrowing and contract authority.
From the perspective of the appropriations committees, funding by these forms of spending authority slips away from their control through legislative back doors. However, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 gave those committees some control over new borrowing and contract authority.
==Origins and issues==
Originally created by a parliamentary ruling of the House of Representatives in 1949, "backdoor spending" devices have been held not to constitute appropriations. The ruling permitted legislative committees, which are specifically prohibited from handling appropriations matters, to authorize agencies to obtain funds via the "backdoor" method. In some cases these spending authorizations
do not come before the appropriations committees for review.<ref>[http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/pn51-2.pdf pp. 13-14 pdf].
*One type of backdoor is contract authority which permits an agency to obligate funds in advance of appropriations. The matter comes before the appropriations committees only when money is needed to liquidate the obligation, too late for them to exercise any meaningful control.
*Another backdoor strategy is to authorize agencies to borrow funds from the Treasury or from the public. Borrowing authority outside the appropriations process has been authorized since this backdoor was opened in 1932.
*The third and most prevalent form of backdoor is a mandatory entitlement of specified payments to eligible beneficiaries. Most entitlements are open-ended: their cost depends on the varying number of claimants and amounts allowable to each, rather than on current legislative decisions. Most entitlements are also in the form of permanent appropriations that bypass the appropriations committees altogether. Even when the entitlements go through the regular appropriations process (as is the case with public assistance and veterans' benefits) the appropriations committees have no real say over the amounts that are to be spent.
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