ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS

An advance appropriation is one made to become available one year or more beyond the year for which the appropriations act is passed. Advance appropriations in 2017 appropriations acts will become available for programs in 2018 or beyond. Since these appropriations are not available until after 2017, the amounts will not be included in the 2017 totals, but will be reflected in the totals for the year for which they are requested.

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (31 U.S.C. 1105(a)(17)) requires inclusion in the budget of ''information on estimates of appropriations for the fiscal year following the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted for grants, contracts, and other payments under each program for which there is an authorization of appropriations for that following fiscal year when the appropriations are authorized to be included in an appropriation law for the fiscal year before the fiscal year in which the appropriation is to be available for obligation.'' In fulfillment of this requirement, the accompanying table lists those accounts that have either received discretionary or mandatory advance appropriations since 2015 or will request, in 2017, advance appropriations for 2018 and beyond and cites the applicable authorizing statute.

For additional information on advance appropriations, please refer to the Budget Process chapter in the Analytical Perspectives volume.

Advance Appropriations by Agency in the 2017 Budget (Budget authority in millions of dollars)
Pre-cancellation Enacted Levels
Agency/Program 2015 2016 2017 2018 Request
Discretionary One-year Advances:
Department of Education (20 U.S.C. 1223):
Education for the Disadvantaged 10,841 10,841 10,841 10,841
Special Education 9,283 9,283 9,283 9,283
Career, Technical, and Adult Education 791 791 791 791
School Improvement Programs 1,681 1,681 1,681 1,681
Department of Housing and Urban Development (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.):
Tenant-Based Rental Assistance 4,000 4,000 4,000 4,000
Project-Based Rental Assistance 400 400 400 400
Department of Labor:
Training and Employment Services (29 U.S.C. 2801 et seq.) 1,772 1,772 1,772 1,772
Department of Veterans Affairs (P.L. 111–81):
Medical Services 45,016 47,603 51,673 44,887
Medical Support and Compliance 5,880 6,144 6,524 6,654
Medical Facilities 4,739 4,915 5,074 5,435
Medical Community Care1 ....... ....... (7,246) 9,409
Enacted (P.L. 113–235 and P.L. 114–113) Cancellations and Reappropriations2 -1,750 -1,750 ....... .......
2015 Enacted Cancellations (P.L. 113–235) -37 ....... ....... .......
General Services Administration (40 U.S.C. 592):
Federal Buildings Fund3 ....... ....... ....... 10,164
Postal Service:
Payment to Postal Service Fund (39 U.S.C. 2401) 71 41 ....... .......
Discretionary Two-year Advances:
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (47 U.S.C. 396)4 445 445 445 445
Subtotal, Discretionary Advance Appropriations 83,132 86,166 92,484 105,762
Mandatory:
Department of Agriculture:
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (7 U.S.C. 2027) ........ ........ ........ 19,647
Department of Health and Human Services:
Grants to States for Medicaid (42 U.S.C. 1396–1) 103,472 113,272 115,582 125,219
Payments to States for Child Support Enforcement and Family Support (24 U.S.C. Ch. 9) 1,250 1,160 1,300 1,400
Payments for Foster Care and Permanency (P.L. 96–272) 2,200 2,300 2,300 2,500
Department of Labor:
Special Benefits for Disabled Coal Miners (30 U.S.C. 921) 24 21 19 16
Department of Veterans Affairs (P.L. 113–235):5
Compensation and Pensions ....... ....... 86,083 89,941
Readjustment Benefits ....... ....... 16,341 13,683
Veterans Insurance and Indemnities ....... ....... 92 108
Social Security Administration:
Supplemental Security Income Program (42 U.S.C. 1381) 19,700 19,200 14,500 15,000
Total, Advance Appropriations 209,778 222,119 328,701 373,276
1Consistent with section 4003 of the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (P.L. 114–41), the Budget requests $7.2 billion be reallocated from the 2017 advance appropriation enacted in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114–113) to the new Medical Community Care account and includes the new account in its advance appropriations request for veterans medical care for 2018.2The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 113–235) cancelled $1,750 million from the one-year funds advance appropriated for 2015 in P.L. 113–76 and reappropriated an equal amount with an extended period of availability. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114–113) cancelled $1,750 million from the one-year funds advance appropriated for 2016 in P.L. 113–235 and reappropriated an equal amount with an extended period of availability.3The requested advance appropriation for the General Services Administration will be fully offset in 2018 by collections in the Federal Buildings Fund.4The 2017 request includes a 2019 advance appropriation for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of $445 million, consistent with the historical practice of providing the Corporation a two-year advance appropriation.5The 2018 amounts are net of the $178 million in savings for Compensation and Pension and $26 million in savings for Readjustment Benefits that will result from enactment of authorizing legislation that is proposed as part of the 2017 President's Budget.