Introduction
In Washington, programs may expire but the spending lives on, with nearly half a trillion dollars flowing this year to expired programs.
With limited exceptions, federal programs are supposed to be reauthorized by Congress before they continue to receive funding. Authorizations are typically time-limited, often lasting from one to ten years, and are intended to require periodic review to stay funded. But Congress routinely passes appropriations bills that include funding for these unauthorized programs, sometimes dubbed “zombie programs.” Hundreds of programs continue to receive appropriations after they expire, often without meaningful congressional oversight.
A new analysis finds 457 expired programs received nearly $500 billion in appropriations in fiscal year 2025. To address this breakdown in oversight, Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL) has introduced the Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act (H.R. 143), which would phase out funding for programs that are not reauthorized within three years. Restoring regular authorization would not eliminate federal deficits overnight, but it would reassert Congress’s responsibility to scrutinize how taxpayer dollars are spent.
Why does this happen?
The budget is created within a two-step process. First, laws are written by congressional authorizing committees in each house chamber. These laws define either a specific budget authority or leave funding open-ended by stating: “such sums as may be necessary.” Authorizations for programs are either set as a specific number of years or are open-ended. Second, the appropriations committees provide the funding for departments and agencies controlling the programs Congress authorized.
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) make annual reports identifying federal programs whose authorizations have expired and those that are about to expire. This is supposed to notify Congress of programs that require review and formal reauthorization. In theory, this transparency should incentivize lawmakers to reevaluate the effectiveness of programs and whether they are fiscally justified.
In practice, CBO’s alert system is largely ignored and nothing prevents lawmakers from appropriating funds for unauthorized programs. House and Senate rules permit points of order against such appropriations, however, these objections are usually waived. This leaves many appropriations without authorization in spending bills as lawful. If these points of order were enforced, then federal programs would have to be reauthorized. Because points of order must be raised and enforced by members of Congress, they are inconsistently applied, allowing unauthorized spending to continue year after year. If these procedural safeguards were taken seriously, expired programs would either be reauthorized through regular order or allowed to lapse. Instead, the current system permits funding to continue without meaningful review.
How much taxpayer money goes into these programs?
CBO finds that, at the end of 2025, there were 1,326 programs with expired authorizations. Among these, CBO identified $500 billion in spending for 457 expired authorizations in fiscal year 2025. Some examples of these zombie programs include the FBI and NASA, but lesser-known programs include:
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), whose authorization expired in the 1990s. A recently passed budget bill appropriated $207 million to the NEA. Even though the NEA already receives billions of dollars in private funding each year, the program regularly receives large injection packages from Congress.
The Presidential Election Campaign Fund, which holds over $400 million in taxpayer dollars. The fund hasn’t been used by a candidate since 2016, likely attributable to its restrictive limitations. Congress could either reexamine the fund to better fit campaign needs or absorb the hundreds of millions of dollars that are sitting idle, but has failed to do either.
Fiscal year 2025 spending on expired appropriations showed little improvement from the year before. In 2024, there was $516 billion spent on 491 expired authorizations of appropriations. By the end of 2026, an additional 157 programs are set to expire, with over $219 billion in their respective outlays already. The total number could be well over 1,700 expired authorizations if Congress doesn’t make any changes to authorizations.
Unauthorized spending also limits the accuracy of CBO budget projections on which legislative proposals are scored. When CBO provides 10-year baseline spending and revenue projections, it is based on spending that is authorized by current law. Without being able to consider unauthorized spending, CBO projection accuracies are crippled and underestimate budget projections.
Solutions for taxpayers
Recent CBO analysis estimates a $1.9 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2026 that is expected to grow to $3.1 trillion by 2036. With taxpayer dollars at stake, stronger oversight of unauthorized spending by Congress is needed to ensure fiscal accountability. Rep. Cammack’s Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act would promote government transparency and restore fiscal discipline. The bill would phase out funding for unauthorized programs over three years, then eliminate funding entirely if Congress fails to reauthorize them. This incentivizes Congress to hold hearings and authorize federal programs if they are to continue.
Conclusion
Record-level debt places pressure on Congress to dependably wield the “power of the purse.” Congress has a duty to spend taxpayer money responsibly and should uphold transparency and mitigate wasteful spending. This obligation includes conducting proper oversight of federal programs. Rep. Kat Cammack’s Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act would help restore accountability by requiring Congress to confront expired programs. Lawmakers should not be able to fund programs indefinitely without reviewing whether they remain effective, necessary, or fiscally responsible.