GAO Releases Report on Expired Appropriations
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, at the request of Chairman Arrington, Majority Leader Scalise, Chairman Comer, and Representative Spartz, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an exhaustive report highlighting federal spending that was unauthorized in the 2023 omnibus funding bill. GAO’s analysis of 17 cabinet-level agencies and their authorization status echoes the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) report released in July of this year.
These reports show that Congress repeatedly provides funding for over 1,300 programs despite the fact that their authorizations have expired. By so doing, Congress is falling short of the detailed review and oversight that comes with the reauthorization process.
When Congress passes a law that creates a department, agency, or program, it generally outlines the scope of the program and authorizes funding from the Appropriations Committee for a set period of time.
The primary reason for establishing expiration dates for funding is to give Congress the opportunity to:
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Review the program to ensure that it is meeting its mission,
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Ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly, and
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Make necessary modifications to the agency or program that address changes in technology, the economy, or the priorities of the American people.
BACKGROUND
Congress has fallen short of its responsibility to regularly review these programs, departments, and agencies. The report released by GAO is limited to unauthorized appropriations within the 2023 omnibus funding bill. The report shows that new accounts that had never been authorized before were created in the bill and given over $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.
CBO’s report on unauthorized appropriations further highlights the significance of unauthorized spending. As visualized in the chart below, nearly 29 percent of the $1.75 trillion in discretionary spending in 2025 is identified as unauthorized.
![ahlgjhdpsiwdlKFVJNLAWV[73]](https://budget.house.gov/imo/media/image/ahlgjhdpsiwdlKFVJNLAWV[73]_1iyxmvt9ed58v.png)
According to CBO’s recent report:
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“$500 billion in funding for fiscal year 2025 can be attributed to 457 of the 1,326 expired authorizations.” This is nearly one-third of all fiscal year 2025 spending. In fact, $500 billion is more than two times the combined annual budgets of the Departments of Energy, Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security.
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“Nearly two-thirds ($307 billion) of that $500 billion was provided for activities whose authorizations expired more than a decade ago.” According to CBO, the oldest expired authorization is from 1980—over 40 years ago, around the same time the first emails were sent in the House of Representatives
Having just passed the largest-ever reforms to mandatory spending in the One Big Beautiful Bill, Congress now has an opportunity to regularly review and reauthorize programs to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent in a fiscally responsible manner.
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