Summary

In a letter dated January 30, 2008, you requested our opinion on the legal effect of seven appropriations provisions in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-161, 121 Stat. 1844 (Dec. 26, 2007). The seven provisions at issue incorporate by reference an explanatory statement of the House Committee on Appropriations that was printed in the Congressional Record on December 17, 2007. You asked whether the agencies' use of the appropriations enacted in the seven provisions must comply with the referenced allocations contained in the explanatory statement.

For the reasons stated below, we conclude that each of these provisions binds the agency's use of the enacted appropriation to the referenced allocations contained within the explanatory statement. Thus, the affected agencies are required to obligate and expend the appropriations in accordance with the referenced provisions of the explanatory statement.