Federal Budget: Remaining Budget Authority from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023
Fast Facts
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized trillions of dollars to federal agencies to obligate—i.e., commit to pay for goods and services—during FY 2023 and beyond.
10 agencies are responsible for obligating most of this money. These agencies are the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration.
As of September 30, 2025, these agencies had obligated over 98% of these funds.
A pile of U.S. paper money of different denominations with a magnifying glass over the great seal on the back of the $1.
Highlights
What GAO Found
Every year, Congress appropriates funds to support federal activities and address national priorities. Congress generally appropriates funding, or budget authority, to an agency for use during a specific period, known as the period of availability. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 authorized trillions of dollars to federal agencies to obligate, or commit to pay for goods and services, during fiscal year 2023 and beyond.
GAO found that 156 of the 258 appropriation accounts in GAO’s review of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 had budget authority available for obligation in fiscal year 2026 or later, as of September 30, 2025. These accounts had approximately $20.9 billion in unobligated budget authority, or about 1.97 percent of the approximately $1 trillion initially appropriated that had a period of availability of fiscal year 2026 or later. The unobligated budget authority is unexpired, and is comprised of multiple periods of availability (see table).
Table: Unobligated Budget Authority from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 by Period of Availability, for Selected Agencies
|
Period of availability |
Budget authority provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (in USD) |
Unobligated budget authority, as of September 30, 2025 (in USD) |
Unobligated budget authority as a proportion of budget authority provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2026 |
$25,370,407,254 |
$1,705,579,606 |
6.72% |
|
2027 |
$60,291,452,000 |
$9,033,188,722 |
14.98% |
|
Indefinite |
$980,222,929,895 |
$10,208,442,784 |
1.04% |
|
Total |
$1,065,884,789,149 |
$20,947,211,112 |
1.97% |
Source: GAO analysis of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 and data from the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration. | GAO-26-108476
Detailed information about the amount of unobligated budget authority by appropriation account is in a downloadable dataset, which can be accessed via a link on this page.
Why GAO Did This Study
GAO was asked to identify any remaining budget authority provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 that is unexpired and still available for obligation. This report provides information on these amounts still available to selected agencies to obligate in fiscal year 2026 or later, and key characteristics, such as the appropriation account name; type of budget authority; and the associated programs, projects, or activities.
To conduct this work, GAO reviewed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 to select the 10 federal agencies with the largest amount of budget authority potentially available for obligation in fiscal year 2026 or later. These agencies are the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration, and represent 258 appropriation accounts that included budget authority available for obligation in fiscal year 2026 or later.
GAO used a data collection instrument to collect the amount of unobligated budget authority from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 in each appropriation account and related information from the 10 selected agencies. In some cases, GAO conducted follow-up interviews with agency officials to gain additional clarity on the data and information they provided. GAO analyzed the data to calculate summary statistics and to populate a downloadable dataset.
For more information, contact Jeff Arkin at ArkinJ@gao.gov.