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B-317450 1 (2009-03-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadauc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 B-317450 March 23, 2009 The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye Chairman Committee on Appropriations United States Senate The Honorable Thad Cochran Ranking Minority Member Committee on Appropriations United States Senate Subject: Antideficiency Act-Applicability to Statutoiy Prohibitions on the Use of Appropriations In a letter dated October 30, 2008, the Committee requested our opinion regarding the applicability of the Antideficiency Act to statutory prohibitions on the use of appropriations. Letter from Robert C. Byrd, Chairman, and Thad Cochran, Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, to Gene Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General, GAO, Oct. 30, 2008. Specifically, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has concluded that when an agency obligation or expenditure violates a statutory prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, the agency violates the Antideficiency Act only if the prohibition was enacted in the appropriations act from which the appropriations were obligated.' Under this interpretation, agencies would not be required to report violations of statutory prohibitions on the use of appropriations unless the prohibition is incorporated in an appropriation. As we explain below, we disagree with OLC's narrow construction of the Act. In our opinion, neither the text of the statute nor the history and evolution of 'Memorandum for the General Counsel, Environmental Protection Agency, Use of Appropriated Funds to Provide Light Refreshments to Non-Federal Participants at EPA Conferences, OLC Opinion, Apr. 5, 2007 (2007 OLC Opinion). OLC subsequently restated its position in a 2008 letter to the Federal Aviation Administration. Letter from Steven A. Engel, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, to Kerry B. Long, Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration, Re: Whether the Federal Aviation Administration ' Finalizing and Implementing of Slot Auction Regulations Would Violate the Anti-DeficiencyAct, Oct. 7, 2008 (2008 OLC Letter).