ABSTRACT
One of the most basic distinctions in federal spending is between appropriations and authorizations. Appropriations laws generally address program funding, as opposed to program content or substantive policy. Congress has long tried to keep those two functions separate. An explicit ban on using appropriations bills to modify program content has been around since 1885, when the House adopted a rule barring "any provision changing existing law" from an appropriations bill or amendment. Authorizing laws generally address program content or substantive policy. Most authorizations are for specific periods of time. A concept of Budget authority (BA) is what an agency needs in order to spend money. When Congress appropriates funds, whether mandatory or discretionary, it confers budget authority on the agency in question to start spending that money. BA is what sets the spending process in motion, and satisfies the constitutional requirement that no money be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by Law.
