United States Capitol Police--Current Rate for Operations Under the 2007 Continuing Resolution
Highlights
When calculating the current rate for operations under the 2007 Continuing Resolution for its General Expenses appropriation, the United States Capitol Police should include $4,513,671 reprogrammed within its General Expenses appropriation in fiscal year 2006. It should not include $5,486,329 transferred into its General Expenses appropriation from its Salaries appropriation in fiscal year 2006, nor should it include any unobligated no-year and multi-year balances held in the General Expenses appropriation at the end of fiscal year 2006.
B-308773, United States Capitol Police--Current Rate for Operations Under the 2007 Continuing Resolution, January 11, 2007
Decision
Matter of: United States Capitol Police—Current Rate for Operations Under the 2007 Continuing Resolution
DIGEST
When calculating the current rate for operations under the 2007 Continuing Resolution for its General Expenses appropriation, the United States Capitol Police should include $4,513,671 reprogrammed within its General Expenses appropriation in fiscal year 2006. It should not include $5,486,329 transferred into its General Expenses appropriation from its Salaries appropriation in fiscal year 2006, nor should it include any unobligated no-year and multi-year balances held in the General Expenses appropriation at the end of fiscal year 2006.
DECISION
The General Counsel of the United States Capitol Police (USCP) has requested a decision regarding the amount appropriated to USCP under the Continuing Appropriations Resolution (CR), 2007, Pub. L. No. 109-289, div. B, 120 Stat. 1257, 1311 (
The question arises because of the formula contained in the CR for determining the amount of funds available during the pendency of the CR. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that no-year and multi-year funds reprogrammed within the General Expenses appropriation are part of USCP's fiscal year 2006 General Expenses appropriation for purposes of calculating the current rate. On the other hand, the no-year funds that USCP transferred from its Salaries appropriation to its General Expenses appropriation are not. The amount transferred should be used in calculating the current rate under the CR for USCP's Salaries appropriation.
BACKGROUND
All federal agencies are currently operating under a continuing resolution with the exception of the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The CR was enacted on
USCP has two appropriations relevant to this decision: the General Expenses appropriation and the Salaries appropriation. Congress provided $32 million in fiscal year funds for USCP's General Expenses appropriation in fiscal year 2006. Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-55, title I, 119 Stat. 565, 572 (
On
At the beginning of fiscal year 2006, USCP's General Expenses appropriation contained unobligated no-year and multi-year balances in addition to its 2006 fiscal year funds.
At the beginning of fiscal year 2006, USCP's Salaries appropriation had available for obligation an unobligated balance of no-year funds.
The question here arises because of the CR's formula for determining the amount of funds available to USCP during the pendency of the CR. The CR provides that when an agency's appropriation act has been passed by only the House of Representatives and not by the Senate as of November 15, 2006, as is the case with USCP's appropriations, the agency's projects and activities[4] will continue at a rate for operations not exceeding the current rate or the rate permitted by the action of the House, whichever is lower. Pub. L. No. 109-289, div. B, sect. 101(d)(1). USCP receives its funding through the annual Legislative Branch appropriations act, which as of
ANALYSIS
The issue before us is whether USCP should include the $10 million for purposes of calculating the current rate under the CR for its General Expenses appropriation. The term current rate as used in the CR refers to the total funds appropriated for a program or activity in the previous fiscal year as well as any other amount that Congress made available for use in that fiscal year, such as unobligated no-year and multi-year funds carried forward into the fiscal year, less any unobligated balances available at the end of that fiscal year. 58 Comp. Gen. 530 (1979); B-152554,
In determining the current rate for purposes of USCP's General Expenses appropriation, we must distinguish between the $4,513,671 reprogramming and the $5,486,329 transfer because reprogramming and transferring are fundamentally different transactions.
A reprogramming is the application of funds already in an appropriation for uses other than those contemplated at the time the funds were appropriated. B-164912,
In fiscal year 2006, USCP reprogrammed $4,513,671 of unobligated no-year and multi-year funds already held in the General Expenses appropriation to make them available for fiscal year 2006 operational needs, specifically to fund its Office of Information Services and pay for fuel. Because Congress had already made available the $4,513,671 for General Expenses purposes (albeit without fiscal year limitation), USCP should consider this amount as part of its current rate under the CR. See, e.g., 58 Comp. Gen. at 532-33. USCP properly carried these no-year and multi-year balances in the General Expenses appropriation forward into fiscal year 2006 from prior fiscal years; the only change that USCP effectuated with its reprogramming was to make the $4,513,671 available for other General Expenses uses (that is, fiscal year 2006 operational needs) than those anticipated at the time Congress appropriated the funds to USCP.[6]
In contrast, a transfer is the shifting of funds between appropriations. Cf. 31 U.S.C. sect. 1532. Agencies may only transfer funds when Congress grants them statutory authority to do so. Id; B-286929,
USCP also asks whether it may include the transfer from Salaries to General Expenses as part of its fiscal year 2006 General Expenses appropriation for purposes of calculating the current rate under the CR. In 1980, we considered whether an agency may include transfers when calculating the current rate and concluded that transfers made at an agency's discretion pursuant to its general transfer authority, and not directed by law, should not be included in the calculation. See B-197881,
The same principle we formulated in B-197881 applies to the transfer of $5,486,329 from USCP's Salaries appropriation to its General Expenses appropriation. Congress appropriated $31.6 million to USCP for General Expenses in fiscal year 2006, as well as the no-year funds in the General Expenses appropriation at the beginning of fiscal year 2006. Pub. L. No. 109-55, 119 Stat. at 572. In contrast, Congress did not transfer in law the $5,486,329, although the conference report signaled a willingness to consider favorably USCP's decision to transfer that amount. To include the transfer as part of USCP's fiscal year 2006 General Expenses appropriation would be inconsistent with the long-held understanding of current rate as the amount that Congress (not the agency) had made available, in this case, in fiscal year 2006. See generally 58 Comp. Gen. 530; B-152554. Therefore, for purposes of calculating the current rate for General Expenses under the CR, USCP should not include as part of its fiscal year 2006 appropriation the funds transferred from the Salaries appropriation to the General Expenses appropriation. Of course, consistent with the standard established in B-197881, USCP should include that amount in calculating the current rate for its Salaries appropriation.
Accordingly, to calculate the current rate for General Expenses under the CR, USCP should add $31.6 million (the amount of fiscal year funds appropriated in fiscal year 2006), plus $4,513,671 (the amount of no-year and multi-year balances reprogrammed within the General Expenses appropriation), plus any other unobligated amounts in the General Expenses appropriation carried over into fiscal year 2006. To the extent that USCP carried forward into fiscal year 2007 unobligated no-year or multi-year balances in its General Expenses appropriation, these balances must be deducted from USCP's determination of the current rate. See 58 Comp. Gen. 530 at 535; Cf. OMB Bulletin No. 06-04, Apportionment of the Continuing Resolution(s) for Fiscal Year 2007, Attachment (
Section 101(d)(1) of the CR, as previously discussed, funds USCP at a rate for operations not exceeding the current rate or the rate permitted by the action of the House ($38.5 million), whichever is lower. Therefore, if the current rate is greater than $38.5 million, the CR appropriates $38.5 million to USCP for General Expenses. If the current rate is less than $38.5 million, the CR appropriates the lower amount for General Expenses.
CONCLUSION
Consistent with the foregoing analysis, funds reprogrammed in one fiscal year should be considered part of that year's appropriation for purposes of calculating the current rate for that appropriation under a continuing resolution for the following fiscal year. Funds transferred into an appropriation during one fiscal year by other than statutory direction should not be considered part of that year's appropriation when calculating the current rate for the receiving appropriation under a continuing resolution for the following fiscal year. Thus, of $10 million made available for General Expenses through reprogramming and transfer, USCP should consider the reprogrammed $4,513,671 as part of its 2006 General Expenses appropriation when calculating the current rate under the CR, but it must exclude the transferred $5,486,329. USCP should include the $5,486,329 when calculating the current rate for its Salaries appropriation.
Gary L. Kepplinger
General Counsel
[1] Specifically, USCP used the reprogrammed and transferred balances to fund its Office of Information Services and pay for fuel costs during fiscal year 2006. Stamilio Letter.
[2] USCP may sell its surplus property and deposit the proceeds in its General Expenses appropriation. 2 U.S.C. sect. 1906. The funds remain available for obligation for the purposes of that appropriation during the fiscal year in which they are received and the following fiscal year.
[3] USCP transferred this amount under authority of section 1001 of the 2006 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act. E-mail from Gretchen E. DeMar, Acting General Counsel, USCP, to Wesley Dunn,
[4] When used in a continuing resolution to denote the level of funding provided, the term projects and activities refers to the appropriation as enacted in the previous fiscal year, as opposed to the various activities financed by that appropriation. B'204449,
[5] This amount represents only fiscal year funds, and does not include any other balances that may be available for inclusion in the current rate calculation for General Expenses.
[6] Indeed, because the reprogrammed amounts were unobligated no-year and multi-year balances carried over into fiscal year 2006, the fact that USCP reprogrammed them is not central to our determination that USCP should include them when calculating the current rate.
[7] Section 1001 of the 2006 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act provides that amounts appropriated to USCP for Salaries may be transferred to the General Expenses appropriation. Pub. L. No. 109-55, sect. 1001.
[8] Cf. OMB Bulletin No. 06-04, Apportionment of the Continuing Resolution(s) for Fiscal Year 2007, Attachment (