10 USC § 2204 - Obligation of appropriations

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t10/s2204"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "10 USC § 2204 - Obligation of appropriations"
title_number: 10
title_name: "ARMED FORCES"
section_number: "2204"
section_name: "Obligation of appropriations"
chapter_number: 131
chapter_name: "PLANNING AND COORDINATION"
part_number: "IV"
part_name: "SERVICE, SUPPLY, AND PROPERTY"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Added Pub. L. 87–651, title II, § 207(a), Sept. 7, 1962, 76 Stat. 520.)"
---


# § 2204. Obligation of appropriations

To prevent overdrafts and deficiencies in the fiscal year for which appropriations are made, appropriations made to the Department of Defense or to a military department, and reimbursements thereto, are available for obligation and expenditure only under scheduled rates of obligation, or changes thereto, that have been approved by the Secretary of Defense. This section does not prohibit the Department of Defense from incurring a deficiency that it has been authorized by law to incur.

---

**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 87–651, title II, § 207(a), Sept. 7, 1962, 76 Stat. 520.)

| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2204 | 5:172c. | July 26, 1947, ch. 343, § 404; added Aug. 10, 1949, ch. 412, § 11 (7th par.), 63 Stat. 587. |

The words “on and after the beginning of the next fiscal year following ,” are omitted as executed. The last sentence is substituted for the proviso in .