Appropriation bill
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An appropriation bill or supply bill is a legislative motion which authorizes the government to spend money. In most democracies, approval of the legislature is necessary for the government to spend money.
In a parliamentrary system, the defeat of an appropriation bill in a parliamentary vote generally necessitates either a resignation of a government or the calling of a general election. The most famous defeat of a supply bill in Australian history happened in 1975, where the Senate refused to approve the supply bill, prompting then-Governor General Sir John Kerr to dismiss then-Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and call a double dissolution, appointing Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister until the next election (where the Fraser government was elected).
United States
Under the U.S. Presidential system, the support of the Congress for his appropriation requests is not necessary for the separately-elected President to remain in office, but can severly limit his ability to govern effectively.
In the United States, two types of legislation are used to spend money. An authorization establishes a program that will later spend the money, but may not provide any funding. A mandatory program is one that does not need an additional piece of legislation known as an appropriation in order for spending to occur. The means of funding the mandatory program is included in the authorization legislation. Social security benefits are an example of a "mandatory" program. An authorization can create programs and make known the intent of the Congress about the level of spending for programs that also require an appropriation. What distinguishes a mandatory program from a discretionary program is that after Congress enacts a law creating a mandatory program, the program is permitted to spend funds until the program expires based on a provision in law, or until a subsequent law either terminates the program or reauthorizes it. "Discretionary" programs typically require annual appropriations legislation.
An appropriation bill is used to actually provide money to "discretionary" programs. Appropriations are generally done on an annual basis, although multi-year appropriations are occasionally passed. According to the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8, clause 12), military appropriations cannot be for more than two years at a time. An annual appropriation requires that the monies appropriated be committed by the end of the fiscal year of the appropriation. Once the fiscal year ends, no more money can be spent on the prior year's appropriation. A new appropriation for the new fiscal year must be passed in order for continued spending to occur, or passage of a bill known as a continuing resolution, which generally permits spending for a short period of time at prior year levels. The Anti Deficiency Act makes any attempt to spend money for which there is no current appropriation void.
According to the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 7, clause 1), all Congressional appropriation bills must originate in the House of Representatives, consistent with the Westminster system requiring all money bills to originate in the lower house; in practice, this provision is often circumvented by allowing the amendment process to be used to rewrite every word of a bill following its title.