Don't Come to Work on October 1; Or a Clearly Deficient Situation

This article appeared in the OGC Adviser, Vol. 4, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 1980. The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal officers or employees from incurring an obligation on behalf of the United States prior to Congress enacting an appropriation to pay for it. In recent decisions, both the Comptroller General and the Attorney General have interpreted the Act as forbidding agencies from allowing their employees to work at the beginning of a fiscal year, unless the agency has an appropriation with which to pay them. Several bills have been introduced in Congress to continue the pay of Federal employees during future periods of expired appropriations. Presently, the only way the head of an agency can avoid violating the Antideficiency Act is to suspend the operations of the agency and instruct employees not to report to work until an appropriation is enacted. In response to a congressional inquiry, the Comptroller General stated that he believes that Congress does not intend that Federal agencies actually close down during periods of expired appropriations. He stressed the language in recent continuing resolutions which specifically ratifyed obligations incurred prior to, and in anticipation of, their enactment. However, he stated that despite what he perceived as the intent of Congress, agencies that continued to operate after their appropriations expired were in violation of the law. The Attorney General stated that under the Antideficiency Act, when an agency's appropriation has expired, the head of the agency must take immediate action to terminate the agency's activities in an orderly way. He also stated that the Department of Justice will begin enforcing the criminal provisions of the Antideficiency Act.