Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding

Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding

Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding,
and Advance Funding
Sandy Streeter
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
November 22, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RS20441
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repared for Members and Committees of Congress

Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding

pppropriations acts generally make budget authority (or BA)1 available for use (or
obligation) at the start of the fiscal year covered by the act. For example, the FY2010
A appropriations acts generally made budget authority available on October 1, 2009.2
Sometimes appropriations bills provide a different date for specified budget authority within the
act to become first available so that the funding cycle does not coincide with the fiscal year
generally covered by the act. There are three types of this kind of budget authority: advance
appropriations, forward funding, and advance funding.
Advance Appropriations
Advance appropriations means that budget authority will become available one or more fiscal
years after the fiscal year covered by the act. An FY2010 appropriations act, for example,
provided specific funds for certain activities that were not available until October 1, 2010—the
start of FY2011. The act also provided funds for specific activities that will not be available until
the start of FY2012.
For purposes of enforcement, appropriations are generally scored3 in the fiscal year the funds first
become available. Therefore, an advance appropriation (and resulting outlays) for FY2011 that
was provided in an FY2010 appropriations act would be included for calculating total budget
authority and outlays for FY2011, but not FY2010. The budget authority and outlays would not
be included in calculations to determine if the appropriations act violated FY2010 spending
ceilings established under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 19744 or
additional spending ceilings associated with the annual budget resolution.5 During times of
budgetary constraint, therefore, advance appropriations may be used to provide spending that
would be counted against future, rather than current, limits.
In response to concern about this, Congress typically includes in the annual budget resolution a
total spending ceiling for most advance appropriations and identifies those accounts that may be
funded through advance appropriations. The budget resolutions provide for similar Senate and
House enforcement mechanisms during floor consideration of appropriations measures.6

1 Budget authority is the authority provided by federal law to incur financial obligations that will result in immediate or
future expenditures (or outlays) involving federal funds. Examples of financial obligations are entering into a contract
to build a submarine or purchase supplies.
2 The principle applies even in cases in which all the regular appropriations bills are not enacted by October 1.
3 Scoring refers to estimates of budget authority, outlays, revenues, and deficit levels resulting from congressional
budgetary action. These estimates are usually prepared by the Congressional Budget Office and Office of Management
and Budget and compare congressional action to targets and ceilings, such as budget resolution spending ceilings.
4 2 U.S.C. 621-645; P.L. 93-344, as amended. In particular, section 311 establishes a point of order against spending
that breaches the total spending level established in the budget resolution, and section 302 establishes a point of order
against spending that would breach a committee’s spending allocation. Section 303 of the Congressional Budget Act
exempts certain advanced appropriations from the prohibition against considering spending legislation until after
Congress has agreed to the budget resolution for the fiscal year. For more information on Congressional Budget Act
points of order, see CRS Report 97-684, The Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction, by Sandy
Streeter, and CRS Report 97-865, Points of Order in the Congressional Budget Process, by James V. Saturno.
5 For example, see section 401 of S.Con.Res. 13 (111th Cong.) established a point of order in the Senate against
discretionary spending in excess of specified levels for FY2009 and FY2010.
6 For an example, see sections 402 and 424 of S.Con.Res. 13 (111th Cong.), Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for
Fiscal Year 2010.
Congressional Research Service
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Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding

Forward Funding
Forward funding is a term that applies to budget authority that generally becomes available for
obligation in the last quarter of the fiscal year of the appropriations act and whose availability
continues the following fiscal year. Forward funding in an FY2010 appropriations act may have
provided that the budget authority for specified activities would not become available until July 1,
2010, and remain available through FY2011.
This budget authority is scored in the fiscal year in which it first becomes available. Budget
authority in an FY2010 appropriations act would be included in the FY2010 calculations. Since
forward funding generally becomes available near the end of the fiscal year, the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) may estimate7 that
most of the outlays will occur in subsequent fiscal years. Such forward funding outlays would not
be scored for the first fiscal year, but would be scored for subsequent fiscal years in which they
are projected to occur.
Advance Funding
Advance funding is budget authority authorizing obligations late in the fiscal year, if needed.
However, unless used, the budget authority is charged to the succeeding fiscal year. Advance
funding is contingency funding for a few programs that require federal payments in which the
funds are borrowed from the succeeding fiscal year.
Advance funding is used to fund benefit payments that are difficult to predict, such as
unemployment compensation. An appropriations act would provide a specific amount of budget
authority, but would also state that, if needed, an agency may obligate additional funds to meet
benefit needs. If advance funding is used, budget authority for that fiscal year is increased by the
amount obligated and budget authority for the succeeding fiscal year is reduced by that amount.

Author Contact Information

Sandy Streeter

Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
sstreeter@crs.loc.gov, 7-8653

7 Outlay estimates are used in scoring appropriations measures and in calculating the federal deficit. Information on
actual outlays is not available until the fiscal year is completed. OMB and CBO provide outlay estimates for each
appropriation based on historical patterns.
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