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1 1 (January 4, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govekco0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A A Congressional Research Service Inknrning the Ieg~sIative debdP~ since 1914 0 January 4, 2023 Potential Causes of Delayed Disbursements of Supplemental Grant Funding Introduction Congress uses an annual appropriations process to fund the routine activities of most federal agencies, including appropriating funding for federal grant programs. Congress may also appropriate additional funds to supplement federal grant programs. For example, Congress provided $674.3 billion to state, local, and tribal governments to address the response and recovery activities for the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as more than $500 billion in new federal spending for infrastructure through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, P.L. 117-58). When supplemental grant program funding is provided, federal agencies may face challenges in administering both normal and supplemental appropriations for federal grant programs. In particular, supplemental funding can impact the ability of federal agencies to review and process federal grant applications, as well as disburse grant funding in a timely fashion (for both regular appropriations and supplemental appropriations). Delays in disbursing federal grant funds may impact the ability of federal grant recipients at the state and local level to begin or continue grant funded projects, or may otherwise impact program objectives established by Congress. There are several potential causes for delays in disbursing supplemental grant program funding that occur during the administration of the grant programs. These may include a delayed or duplicative grant application process, implementation of statutory requirements attached to the supplemental funding that may differ from regular program requirements, and general grant management challenges. Figure I. Life Cycle of a Federal Grant Source: Congressional Research Service, December 2021. Federal Grant Life Cycle There are four phases of a federal grant life cycle: pre- award, award, grant administration, and post-award. Figure 1 illustrates key components of each phase of the grant life cycle. Supplemental funding potentially affects each phase of the cycle. The impact of the supplemental funding may be influenced by certain provisions contained within the supplemental funding measures that might provide specific direction to federal grant administering agencies regarding funding for certain programs. The grant administration practices affected by supplemental funding may vary depending on the timing of the supplemental funding measures, with respect both to the administration of regular appropriations and the process for awarding supplemental funding. Overview of Federal Grant Funding Federal outlays for grants to states and local governments under regular appropriations have grown from $16.4 billion in 1940 to $734.9 billion in 2020, and there are currently approximately 1,700 federal assistance programs authorized by Congress. Federal assistance programs are also commonly referred to as federal grant programs. Grant Pre-award Phase Delays in disbursing supplemental appropriations for grant programs may be due to the way in which applications for the supplemental funding are processed. Federal grant program administration practices are generally structured to begin with the pre-award phase at the onset of the federal fiscal year. During the pre-award phase of the federal grant life cycle, federal grant administering agencies evaluate congressional appropriations provided for grant programs and establish funding allocation methodologies. Supplemental appropriations for federal grant programs are generally provided in separate legislation from regular appropriation bills. Consequently, federal agencies will have to determine how to process the applications for both the regular appropriations and the supplemental appropriations for grant programs. In some cases, a federal agency may determine that the supplemental appropriations can be combined with regular appropriations and the federal agency may use the normal application process to disburse the supplemental funding. However, if supplemental appropriations were provided after applications were already received for the regular appropriations and federal agencies added the supplemental appropriations

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