Fiscal 2011 spending bill: Appropriations or continuing resolution?

The government has funding to operate for the rest of fiscal 2011 under a spending bill that became law April 15. Since then, people have asked the question: Is the legislation actually an appropriations bill or simply a continuing resolution (CR) for funding agencies?

The answer, unfortunately, is yes.

Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at Deltek FedSources, said it’s both.

The fiscal 2011 Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 1473) includes $1.05 trillion in spending and reflects an agreement that Congress reached late on the night of April 8 to avert a government shutdown. Congress passed the new bill April 14, and President Barack Obama signed it into law April 15.

As you would figure, who’s living under a CR and who has fresh 2011 appropriations depends on whom you’re talking to.

The bill provided specific appropriations for specific accounts, Bjorklund said. But for any account not appropriated specific dollars in this bill or in any of the preceding CRs for this fiscal year, those accounts are still under CR-like rules. The effects on the accounts without a specific appropriation in H.R. 1473 are similar to CR conditions. It’s essentially living like it was last fiscal year, although tempered by plans for reducing government spending.

For the accounts mentioned in the bill, they are declared to have received their fiscal 2011 appropriations.

Unsure of what you have in your funding account? The administration will let you know in time. Officials have to make apportionment decisions and instruct the agencies as to how much they can draw from the Treasury for those accounts, Bjorklund said.

Welcome to the waiting room of the Office of Governmental Ambiguity. We’re glad you joined us. Here’s a book to read: "The Red Book" by the Government Accountability Office.

Posted by Matthew Weigelt on Apr 20, 2011 at 12:19 PM