Topline: Congress allocated at least $516 billion for federal programs with expired authorizations in fiscal year 2024, and likely far more, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
These “zombie” programs have no legal mandate to exist, yet they receive funding from Congress every year
Key facts: Many laws passed by Congress include money that must be used for a specific purpose. The same law will authorize Congress to provide more funds for the same purpose in the future, but only for a set number of years. Once the deadline passes, Congress must pass a new law to provide more funding.
Legislators are not following that simple rule, and have not been for a long time.
Congress funded 1,264 “zombie” programs this year, the CBO found. Half of them expired at least 10 years ago, and one has not been authorized since 1980.
Analysts were only able to find dollar amounts for 491 of the programs, totaling $516 billion. It is unknown how much funding the other 773 programs received.
The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, for example, expired in 2003, and legally should no longer exist. Yet Congress funded 24 of the Act’s programs with $38.4 billion in 2024, allowing legislators to influence the White House’s foreign policy and security assistance to other nations.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce, led by Rep. Cathy Rodgers (R-WA), funded 346 expired programs, more than any other committee, the CBO found.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions spent more identifiable money than any other group: $153.5 billion. It is chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT).
The total federal budget in 2024 was $6.8 trillion, meaning expired programs take up at least 8% of the budget, and likely much more.
Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.
Critical quote: In a letter obtained by the Epoch Times, Rep. Greg Lopez (R-CO) called on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — leaders of the new nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency — to pressure Congress into ending “zombie” programs.
“This spending is a result of Congress blatantly shirking their main oversight responsibility: fiscal accountability,” Lopez wrote.
“It is our hope that DOGE exposes the zombie programs to the American people and to the Trump Administration so that Congressmen of every party may be forced to change their ways. The only way that happens is through rigorous scrutiny by DOGE [and] pressure by the Trump Administration.”
Summary: Congress already spends enough money without skirting the democratic process and funding programs that legally should not exist.
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