| Abstract |
Provisions of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (P.L. 94-344) require that the Congress and the President enact appropriations which provide finding for federal agencies to operate in a new fiscal year by October 1, the first day of the new year. In the event that appropriations are not enacted by October 1, one of two scenarios is in effect: (1) The Congress passes and the President signs into law a Continuing Resolution Authority (CRA) which provides budget authority to federal agencies to continue operations for a specified length of time, or until regular appropriations are enacted. (2) A 'funding gap' exists when neither appropriations nor a continuing resolution has been enacted by October 1 (or the expiration date of the previous CRA). The Department of Defense (DoD) operates under two appropriations acts. The DoD Appropriations Act provides funding for military personnel, operation and maintenance, procurement, research, development, test and evaluation, and other miscellaneous appropriations. The Military Construction Appropriations Act provides funding for the military construction and family housing construction and operations appropriations. The DoD and Military Construction acts are normally enacted at separate times; often, Military Construction appropriations are enacted prior to DoD appropriations. It is, therefore, conceivable that the Military Construction appropriations could operate under a normal appropriations act while the other DoD appropriations would still operate under the restrictions of a CRA, or vice versa. |
