Report of Rescission and Deferrals of Budget Authority

One rescission and three deferrals of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, budget authority should have been, but were not, reported to the Congress by the President pursuant to the Impoundment Control Act.

Despite the fact the USDA documents appear to indicate that all of the funds appropriated to the Forest Service under Public Law 95-26 were made available for obligation and expenditure, this is not the case. Pursuant to directions from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), USDA personnel ceilings are being reduced, and, although no final decision has yet been made, the Forest Service will not fully utilize all of the funds appropriated in Public Law 95-26 due to OMB hiring restrictions. The OMB-imposed hiring limitation will preclude the obligation of money allocated to certain Forest Service programs prior to the end of fiscal year 1977. For one of these programs, the budget authority will be unobligated on the last day that it is available for use. Thus, these funds constitute an undisclosed proposal to rescind budget authority. In three other programs there will also be unobligated budget authority at the end of fiscal year 1977, but the funds in these programs will not lapse if unused at that time. Since there is no indication of any intention never to use these funds, they constitute undisclosed deferrals of budget authority.