Government Affairs is also responsible for the creation and dissemination of a model for grassroots activism for nursing deans, collaborating with other groups on health care workforce issues, advocating fair reimbursement for nursing services, and supplying information on federal legislative and regulatory issues affecting nursing education, practice and research. Government Affairs produces monthly bulletins on legislative matters and funding opportunities, all of which are available on-line. Programs are typically authorized for a number of years, usually 3 to 5, and are legislative issues only in the year of their scheduled reauthorization. The congressional committees that authorize determine exactly what types of programs will be supported.
Legislation creating programs contains spending ceilings called authorization levels.
But no money can be spent until funds are appropriated by an Appropriations Committee. The appropriations process typically begins with the submission of the President's budget for the next fiscal year in January or February, congressional budget activity, hearings being held by appropriations committees, passage by both houses of Congress, and a presidential signature before the fiscal year begins. The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Technically, if a program is not authorized it cannot receive an appropriation. If a program is scheduled for reauthorization, past congressional practice has allowed an appropriation that permits the program to continue to function based on the language of the expiring statute.