{
  "id": "R43862",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R43862",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 437145,
      "date": "2015-01-16",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T19:39:29.577723",
      "title": "Changes in the Purposes and Frequency of Authorizations of Appropriations",
      "summary": "The congressional budget process distinguishes between \u201cauthorizations,\u201d which establish or define the activities of the federal government, and \u201cappropriations,\u201d which finance those activities. The purpose of this report is to discuss the changes in the form and frequency of authorization laws that have occurred over the past century.\nAs the congressional approach to authorizations and appropriations developed over the nineteenth century, distinct roles for these types of laws were established. However, that approach began to shift in the early twentieth century as the size and scope of federal government activities increased, and the legislative committees began to explore new methods of influencing budgetary outcomes, both with respect to the action of the appropriators and for the agencies under their jurisdiction. Toward that end, those committees began to include provisions that explicitly authorized appropriations in authorization acts. In addition, these committees began to use these provisions to establish periodic schedules of review for revisions to authorization laws for certain agencies and departments, instead of enacting such laws on an as-needed basis. \nThe types of provisions periodically authorizing appropriations that were developed during the mid-twentieth century have continued to be in use through the present day. Such provisions can generally be divided into two schedules of review: \u201cannual\u201d and \u201cmultiyear.\u201d Annual authorizations of appropriations explicitly authorize appropriations for a single fiscal year. Multiyear authorizations of appropriations explicitly authorize appropriations for more than one fiscal year at a time, typically between two and five of them. \nThe evolution of the form and frequency of authorizations since the 1920s have been characterized by a number of general themes. Annual reauthorization schedules were often adopted due to the legislative committee\u2019s desire for increased involvement in agency and congressional budgetary decisions. Annual authorizations tended to be characterized by more incremental program changes, whereas multiyear authorizations tended to involve more widespread policy changes. Over the past thirty years many agencies on annual schedules have been transitioned to multiyear or long-term schedules. These transitions have often been motivated by delays in the enactment of annual authorizations each year, or the legislative committee\u2019s decision to conduct more extensive reviews of agency programs and policies on a less frequent schedule. The amounts annually authorized have tended to be more similar to the amount eventually appropriated when compared to multiyear authorizations. In particular, the outyears of multiyear authorizations have tended to be characterized by a growing gap between the amount authorized and amount appropriated.\nTo illustrate the themes identified in the first section of the report, the second section describes aspects of the authorization histories of the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Peace Corps. In general, all three of these agencies experienced eras of annual reauthorization, and then most recently transitioned to a more long-term or intermittent schedule.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43862",
          "sha1": "30dbd232772eb1b444090a54badf05e4769d9d41",
          "filename": "files/20150116_R43862_30dbd232772eb1b444090a54badf05e4769d9d41.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43862",
          "sha1": "f16e4fb3066fd966aea350f9fba999c30f3f6b52",
          "filename": "files/20150116_R43862_f16e4fb3066fd966aea350f9fba999c30f3f6b52.pdf",
          "images": null
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}