Congress Should Slay These Zombie Programs
Federal programs using taxpayer dollars should not continue indefinitely without periodic congressional review. On September 30, 2026, which is the end of fiscal year (FY) 2026, congressional authorization for 157 programs and budget items, which collectively received $219.7 billion in direct appropriations, will expire. To avoid spawning more “zombie” programs, Congress should either reauthorize these programs, if they are meeting their mission requirements, or determine whether to rescind some or all of their appropriations. To aid in that process, Congress should enact legislation like H.R. 143, the Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act (USA Act) that would phase out spending on programs if their authorizations have expired.
A May 16, 2023, Congressional Research Service report noted that while program authorizations are intended to guide congressional oversight and establish funding parameters, Congress frequently appropriates funds after authorizations expire, neglecting the opportunity to evaluate whether these programs are effective or necessary. A July 2025 Congressional Budget Office report found that 1,326 federal program authorizations expired before the beginning of FY 2025 (up 4.9 percent from FY 2024), yet Congress appropriated $500.05 billion in FY 2025 for these expired items. They included the Department of State, which has not been comprehensively reauthorized since 2003; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has lacked authorization since 2008; and 34 Department of Veterans Affairs programs collectively costing $122.2 billion annually that have not been reauthorized since 1998. In the most egregious example of a zombie program, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) was last reauthorized in 1977. While its authorization expired in 1980, the program continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually. In FY 2026, the LSC received a $540 million appropriation.
The USA Act was first introduced in 2016, in the 114th Congress, and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) was involved in drafting the legislation. It would incrementally reduce funding for programs with expired authorization over a period of three fiscal years by 10 percent, 15 percent, and a further 15 percent, respectively, and terminate their appropriations unless Congress acts to reauthorize them by the end of the third unauthorized year. The bill would also require all future program authorizations to include three-year sunset clauses, ensuring that federal programs receive regular congressional review rather than continuing indefinitely on autopilot.
Thirty-nine states have adopted some form of sunset law requiring periodic evaluations of state programs, agencies, or regulatory boards. One of the oldest is the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, which since 1985 has been reviewing state agency authorizations every 12years and has saved taxpayers an estimated $1 billion through the elimination of 42 government agencies and consolidation of 53 others. During the 2024-2025 review cycle alone, the commission recommended several funding recissions, subsequently enacted by the Texas legislature, that will save $135.4 million over five years.
CCAGW has long supported sunset review reforms, including the USA Act, to require Congress to periodically justify all federal appropriations, a proven method of saving money and improving efficiency at the state level. Requiring periodic program reauthorization through sunset clauses would eliminate zombie spending and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent only on programs that can earn a consistent reaffirmation by Congress.
— Rohan Pai and Alec Mena
