Appropriation for AID FY 1980 Operating Expenses Account

A Treasury Department official requested a decision on the amount of money appropriated for the Operating Expenses account of the Agency for International Development (AID) by the Joint Resolution making continuing appropriations for fiscal year (FY) 1980. Specifically, it was asked whether, in calculating the current rate for this account under the resolution, to deduct from the amount appropriated for FY 1979 the amount which was transferred from the Operating Expenses account to the International Disaster Assistance account in September 1979. The continuing resolution appropriates sufficient funds to continue activities under this account at a rate for operations not exceeding the lower of the current rate or the rate provided by the Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1980 as it passed the House of Representatives. The AID view was that the current rate is the full $254 million appropriated for the Operating Expenses account for FY 1979, without any deduction for funds administratively transferred during the FY. GAO agreed with AID that the current rate of the Operating Expenses account, under the continuing resolution, is the total amount of funds appropriated for the account for FY 1979, or $254 million. Funds administratively transferred from the account during the FY, under authority contained in substantive legislation, should not be deducted in determining the current rate.