Reading Room Document

Use of Appropriated Funds to Provide Light Refreshments to Non-Federal Participants at EPA Conferences

Light refreshments are "subsistence expenses" to which the prohibition of 31 U.S.C. § 1345 applies, and various statutory provisions that authorize the Environmental Protection Agency to hold meetings, conduct training, and provide grants do not satisfy the "specifically provided by law" exception to the prohibition. A violation of section 1345 does not, by its own force, also violate the Anti-Deficiency Act. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/451186/download.

April 5, 2007