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Budget and Spending: The Policy of Full Funding for Federal Activities

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date Feb. 22, 1978
Report No. 105094
Subject
Summary:

Full funding permits an agency to contract for the full cost of items, knowing that completion of work will not be held up by budget cuts or funding delays. Expansion of the full funding concept could permit multiyear contracting with substantial annual savings. Some arguments against full funding are: (1) it results in agencies having substantial unobligated fund balances, that portion of an agency's appropriation that is available for obligation at a certain time, throughout and at the end of a given fiscal year; (2) it could reduce shortrun control over outlays by Congress; and (3) it could increase the fluctuation of budget estimates. However, the full funding concept is economically advantageous for many operations, and its concepts have general applicability to most federal agencies.

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