Washington, DC, has long been the stage for ghoulish fiscal horror, but a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows just how dire the unchecked spending situation has become. The report, titled “Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024,” reveals a staggering $516 billion in appropriations tied to expired authorizations – programs legally dead but still consuming resources and dragging taxpayers along as unwilling victims.
Nearly two-thirds of this $516 billion – $320 billion, to be precise – funds programs whose authorizations expired more than a decade ago. According to the CBO, 49% of the acts tied to this funding have been expired for over ten years. These aren’t harmless oversights. As investigative journalist Jeremy Portnoy put it, they’re fiscal zombies – rotting relics of bad governance.
Where Do the Zombies Feast?
The real horror isn’t just the expired authorizations; it’s what happens to the money. Once appropriated, these funds vanish into the shadowy executive branch labyrinth, where often they’re repurposed – Washington’s favorite euphemism, meaning the money is redirected without oversight.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, were these funds quietly returned to the Treasury or did they go to padding bureaucratic budgets, bloated climate initiatives, or ideological experiments disguised as “equity” programs? It’s as if zombies were handed a blank check and invited to snack freely on taxpayer dollars, while Congress refused to ask what’s on the menu.
Let’s not let Congress off the hook, either. The undead appropriations shuffle along because lawmakers lack the courage to kill them. Sunsetting expired authorizations would require Congress to do something radical: read bills, conduct audits, and make tough decisions. But in Washington, punting the problem down the road is always easier than risking political fallout by cutting even the most absurd programs. […]
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