Source: https://budgetcounsel.com/laws-and-rules/congressional-budget-act-of-1974-2/%C2%A7134-section-404-gao-studies/
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 22:50:30+00:00

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Sec. 404. The General Accounting Office shall study those provisions of law which provide mandatory spending and report to the Congress its recommendations for the appropriate form of financing for activities or programs financed by such provisions not later than eighteen months after the effective date of this section. Such report shall be revised from time to time.
This section is classified to the U.S. Code at 2 U.S.C. 654.
 The “Government Accountability Office” was formerly known as the “General Accounting Office”, and the report required under this section was issued using name.
 The term “mandatory spending” is commonly used as a synonym for “direct spending” though it is not defined in law as is the latter term. “Direct spending” is the more appropriate term in proper drafting.
GAO initially issued two reports in order to comply with this section: Budget Issues: The Use of Spending Authority and Permanent Appropriations Is Widespread, Government Accountability Office, (GAO: AFMD-87-44, July 17, 1987) and Budget Issues: Inventory of Accounts With Spending Authority and Permanent Appropriations, 1987, Government Accountability Office, (GAO: AFMD-87-44A, July 17, 1987).
The latter report was updated in 1996: Budget Issues: Inventory of Accounts With Spending Authority and Permanent Appropriations, 1996, Government Accountability Office, (GAO: AIMD-96-79, May 31, 1996). This was followed up by Budget Issues: Inventory of Accounts With Spending Authority and Permanent Appropriations (1997 Supplement); Report to the Committee on Budget, U.S. Senate. OGC‑98‑23, B‑266063.
The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-177) amended the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-344) to require a General Accounting Office (GAO) study of the provisions of law which provide “permanent appropriations” and “spending authority” not provided by prior appropriations. It also requires GAO to recommend the appropriate form of financing for activities or programs financed by such provisions of law.
To fulfill this requirement, congressional staff from the House Committees on Rules, Appropriations, Budget, and Public Works and Transportation and the Senate Committees on Appropriations and Budget agreed that GAO should use a two-phased approach. This report, Inventory of Accounts With Spending Authority And Permanent Appropriations, 1987 (GAO/AFMD-87-44A) presents the results of the first phase. For accounts with spending authority and permanent appropriations, this report includes selected information, such as an account description, the legal citation providing the spending authority or permanent appropriation, the amounts used, and reasons given by agency officials for having the authority. An associated report, Budget Issues: The Use of Spending Authority and Permanent Appropriations Is Widespread (GAO/AFMD-87-44), summarizes and provides observations on the data in the inventory. The second phase of our work to fulfill the statutory will be to analyze in detail selected accounts or types of authority in order to evaluate the appropriate form of financing or budget treatment.
Pub. L. 99–177, title II, §214, Dec. 12, 1985, 99 Stat. 1059 The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985) added three new sections to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93–344, title IV), those being sections 405, 406, and 407. This section was at that time numbered as section 405, but was later redesignated as section 404. See immediately below.
Pub. L. 105–33, title X, §10116(c)(1) and (2), Aug. 5, 1997, 111 Stat. 692 (Budget Enforcement Act of 1997). This Act renumbered §405 to the current §404.
Pub. L. 108–271, §8(b), July 7, 2004, 118 Stat. 814 (GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004) changed the name of the “General Accounting Office” to “Government Accountability Office” in the heading and text.
A prior section 404 of Pub. L. 93–344, relating to the jurisdiction of the Congressional Committees on Appropriations, which is not classified to the Code, was renumbered section 403 by Pub. L. 105–33, title X, §10116(c)(1), Aug. 5, 1997, 111 Stat. 692.
Pub. L. 108–271 substituted “Government Accountability Office” for “General Accounting Office” in section catchline and text.
This section became effective on Dec. 12, 1985, and applicable with respect to fiscal years beginning after Sept. 30, 1985, see section 275(a)(1) of Pub. L. 99–177 (BBEDCA), formerly set out as an Effective and Termination Dates note under section 900 of Title 2 of the U.S. Code. It was subsequently repealed by Pub. L. 112–25, title I, §104(a), Aug. 2, 2011, 125 Stat. 246 (Budget Control Act of 2011).
 The Notes from the U.S. Code on section 654 uses this cross-reference: “section 651(c)(2) of this title”. “Section 401(c)(2)” is the reference to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 as set forth in Pub. L. 105-33.

References: §214
 §10116
 §405
 §404
 §8
 §10116
 §104