Roslyn Layton: Congressional authorizations avoid orderly policy for agencies

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What do NASA, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Communications Commission have that the State Department lacks? Authorization by Congress. The State Department has not been re-authorized since 2003. The National Weather Service has been on autopilot since 1993. Roslyn Layton, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, argued appropriations without authorizations are no mere administrative detail. They let Congress avoid the crucial function of providing orderly policy. She discussed the matter on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.