Page 1 GAO-25-107294 Authorizations and Appropriations
July 24, 2025
Congressional Requesters
Federal Budget: Authorization and Appropriation Information for Selected Agencies
Authorizations are statutory provisions that establish and provide for the continuing operation of
federal programs or activities. Some authorizations also include an authorization of
appropriations, which authorizes Congress to provide appropriations to fund the programs or
activities. However, there is no general requirement, either constitutional or statutory, that an
appropriations act be preceded by a specific authorization of appropriations. In general, an
authorizing statute imposing substantive functions upon an agency is itself sufficient
authorization for any subsequent appropriations.
1
You asked us to review authorizations and authorizations of appropriations for federal agencies.
This report provides information for selected agencies about:
• agency-level authorizations;
• authorizations and authorizations of appropriations by appropriations account i
n the
C
onsolidated Appropriations Act, 2023;
2
and
• new
appropriations accounts in fiscal year 2023, specifically accounts that were provi
ded
budget auth
ority in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, that had
not been
pr
ovided budget authority previously.
We selected 17 agencies that were included in the President’s Cabinet when we began our
review and are subject to the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990.
3
These agencies account for
approximately two-thirds of the accounts funded in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,
and approximately 90 percent of appropriations in fiscal year 2023. For more information on our
scope and methodology, see appendix I.
We conducted this performance audit from January 2024 to July 2025 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and
perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained
provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
1
GAO, Principles of Federal Appropriations Law, GAO-16-464SP (Washington, D.C.: March 2016). For information
on the relationship between authorizations and authorizations of appropriations, see 4
th
edition, chapter 2, part C.1.
2
Pub. L. No. 117-328, 136 Stat. 4459 (2022).
3
31 U.S.C. § 901(b).
