{ "id": "R43482", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R43482", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 599953, "date": "2019-06-10", "retrieved": "2019-12-20T18:48:43.682027", "title": "Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding: Concepts, Practice, and Budget Process Considerations", "summary": "Funding in annual appropriations acts is for a designated fiscal year unless otherwise specified. Federal agencies that receive funds in those acts may obligate the funds during a period that starts at the beginning of that fiscal year, except where funds are made available for obligation over a different time period (such as one that begins after the start of the fiscal year). Three types of alternate periods are discussed in this report: \u201cadvance appropriations,\u201d \u201cforward funding,\u201d and \u201cadvance funding.\u201d \nAdvance appropriations become available for obligation one or more fiscal years after the budget year covered by the appropriations act. Although advance appropriations are provided in order to manage specific planning concerns, they also have implications for the prevention of funding gaps and the avoidance of continuing appropriations for those programs. Advance appropriations are usually enacted at an interval of one fiscal year prior to when such appropriations become available. For accounts that receive advance appropriations, the amount of budget authority that will become available once the fiscal year commences is sometimes adjusted in subsequent appropriations acts through supplemental appropriations or rescissions.\nForward funding becomes available beginning late in the budget year and is carried into at least one following fiscal year. Its main purpose is to facilitate obligations during the summer months for certain programs at the Department of Education and Department of Labor that start their activities during the fall. Forward funds tend to become available at an interval that starts on July 1 and may be obligated during at least two fiscal years. This funding schedule is usually combined with annual or advance appropriations so that only the portion of the program that requires summer obligations is funded in this manner.\nAdvance funding is additional authority that becomes available late in the budget year; any use of the advance funds authority is charged to the following fiscal year\u2019s appropriation. This authority generally has been provided to accounts that fund mandatory payments to individuals. This is because the aggregate amount of such payments may be particularly sensitive to changes in eligible beneficiaries or difficult to predict more than a year in advance. In such instances, providing extra funds that become available late in the fiscal year might lessen or eliminate the potential for a funding shortfall and the need for separate supplemental appropriations. In the two cases where advance funds are currently provided, they are available only during the final weeks of the fiscal year.\nChoosing an alternate period of availability for funding may have budget process implications due to the scorekeeping rules that govern the fiscal year to which such funds are attributed. Generally, advance appropriations are scored as new budget authority for the fiscal year in which the funds become available for obligation, not when the appropriations are enacted. Congress has imposed limits on both the overall level of discretionary appropriations available for a fiscal year (through statutory spending caps under the Budget Control Act) and on the level of advance appropriations that may be enacted for a given year (through points of order established in budget resolutions or House rules). In certain circumstances, making funds available for an alternate period may also violate House and Senate rules that prohibit unauthorized appropriations and other types of legislative provisions.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43482", "sha1": "88d1e0c8bf2ad626fbd4a3dc2ea04962f3768e76", "filename": "files/20190610_R43482_88d1e0c8bf2ad626fbd4a3dc2ea04962f3768e76.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R43482_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190610_R43482_images_3cc2c8f917ff51c58644e308cdcaab907c051ce7.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43482", "sha1": "813cced0d195176d868db9d7ae6cb15eceafdbb2", "filename": "files/20190610_R43482_813cced0d195176d868db9d7ae6cb15eceafdbb2.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4905, "name": "Education Budget & Appropriations" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 446239, "date": "2015-10-08", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:13:40.994916", "title": "Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding: Concepts, Practice, and Budget Process Considerations", "summary": "Federal programs that are funded through the annual appropriations process in regular appropriations acts may typically obligate those funds during a period that starts at the beginning of that fiscal year. For certain programs, however, the period of availability for some or all of their funds may be delayed until after the start of the fiscal year or even until a future fiscal year. Three types of delayed periods of availability are discussed in this report: \u201cadvance appropriations,\u201d \u201cforward funding,\u201d and \u201cadvance funding.\u201d \nAdvance appropriations become available for obligation one or more fiscal years after the budget year covered by the appropriations act. Although advance appropriations are provided in order to manage specific planning concerns, they also have implications for the prevention of funding gaps and the avoidance of continuing appropriations for those programs. Advance appropriations are typically enacted at an interval of one fiscal year prior to when such appropriations become available. For accounts that receive advance appropriations, the amount of budget authority that will become available once the fiscal year commences is sometimes adjusted in subsequent appropriations acts through supplemental appropriations or rescissions.\nForward funding becomes available beginning late in the budget year and is carried into at least one following fiscal year. This period of availability\u2019s main implication is that it facilitates obligations during the summer months for programs that start their activities during the fall, particularly for the Department of Education and Department of Labor. Forward funds tend to become available at an interval that starts on July 1 and are available during at least two fiscal years. Typically, this schedule of availability is combined with annual or advance appropriations so that only the portions of the program that require summer obligations are funded in this manner.\nAdvance funding becomes available late in the budget year and is in addition to the funds for that entire fiscal year; any expenditure of the advance funds is charged to the following fiscal year\u2019s appropriation. This period of availability has tended to be used for accounts that fund mandatory payments to individuals. The aggregate amount of such payments may be particularly sensitive to changes in eligible beneficiaries or difficult to predict more than a year in advance. In such instances, providing extra funds that become available late in the fiscal year might lessen or eliminate the potential for a funding shortfall and the need for separate supplemental appropriations. In the two cases where advance funds are currently used, they are available only during the final weeks of the fiscal year.\nChoosing a delayed period of availability when funding a program may have budget process implications due to the scorekeeping rules that govern the fiscal year to which such funds are attributed. The congressional budget resolution has also imposed various limits on advance appropriations for discretionary spending since FY2001. For FY2014, these limits were established in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. In certain circumstances, making funds available for a delayed period of availability may also violate House and Senate rules that prohibit unauthorized appropriations and other types of legislative provisions.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43482", "sha1": "7aa294b0c1e57c502acf5c4795536133ee5977f2", "filename": "files/20151008_R43482_7aa294b0c1e57c502acf5c4795536133ee5977f2.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43482", "sha1": "2168964391433b0301ba7c0414511620d8d747cc", "filename": "files/20151008_R43482_2168964391433b0301ba7c0414511620d8d747cc.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc287958/", "id": "R43482_2014Apr16", "date": "2014-04-16", "retrieved": "2014-06-05T20:55:02", "title": "Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding: Concepts, Practice, and Budget Process Considerations", "summary": "This report discusses the federal programs that are funded through the annual appropriations process in regular appropriations acts, which may typically obligate those funds during a period that starts at the beginning of that fiscal year.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20140416_R43482_2913b27a1f8f5181c458e6280b06464b5a31c2ea.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20140416_R43482_2913b27a1f8f5181c458e6280b06464b5a31c2ea.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Budgets", "name": "Budgets" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Appropriations", "name": "Appropriations" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Funds", "name": "Funds" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Budget process", "name": "Budget process" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Appropriations", "Domestic Social Policy" ] }