Appropriations bill (United States)

[2] Regular appropriations bills are passed annually, with the funding they provide covering one fiscal year.

If Congress has not enacted the regular appropriations bills by that time, it may pass a continuing resolution, which generally continues the pre-existing appropriations at the same levels as the previous fiscal year (or with minor modifications) for a set amount of time.

Appropriations bills are one part of a larger United States budget and spending process.

Traditionally, regular appropriations bills have provided most of the federal government's annual funding.

[4] Agencies cannot move money from one account to another without permission from Congress (or having the president declare a national emergency), which can be found in some appropriations bills.

[5] When a new fiscal year starts on October 1 and Congress has not passed some or all of the regular appropriations bills, Congress may extend their funding and budget authority based on the previous year, with possible minor modifications, using a continuing resolution.

[6] The funding extends until a specific date or regular appropriations bills are passed, whichever comes first.

Other committees and lawmakers in Congress write legislation creating programs and reauthorizing old ones to continue.

The appropriations committees have power because they can decide whether to fund these programs at the maximum level authorized, a lesser amount, or not at all.

For example, in 2013, Congress failed to agree on any regular appropriations bills prior to the start of fiscal year 2014.

An attempt was made to pass the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 (H.J.Res 59) prior to October 1, but the House and Senate could not agree on its provisions, leading to the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government.