Advocacy Glossary
Authorization
An authorization is a law that creates a program, sets its rules, and permits spending on it. It does not provide the money. Funding comes separately through appropriations.
The two-step design means a program can be authorized and never funded, or keep receiving money years after its authorization technically expired. Congress does both regularly.
Advocates need to know which step their issue is stuck on. Asking an appropriator to fix an authorization problem, or vice versa, wastes the meeting.
Related terms
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