38 USC § 313 - Availability of appropriations

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t38/s313"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "38 USC § 313 - Availability of appropriations"
title_number: 38
title_name: "VETERANS’ BENEFITS"
section_number: "313"
section_name: "Availability of appropriations"
chapter_number: 3
chapter_name: "DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS"
part_number: "I"
part_name: "GENERAL PROVISIONS"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-21"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Added Pub. L. 102–83, § 2(a), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 383.)"
---


# § 313. Availability of appropriations

**(a)** Funds appropriated to the Department may remain available until expended.

**(b)** Funds appropriated to the Department may not be used for a settlement of more than $1,000,000 on a construction contract unless—

**(1)** the settlement is audited by an entity outside the Department for reasonableness and appropriateness of expenditures; and

**(2)** the settlement is provided for specifically in an appropriation law.

---

**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 102–83, § 2(a), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 383.)

## Editorial Notes

### Prior Provisions

Prior section 313 was renumbered .

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in  prior to repeal by .

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Recurring Expenses Transformational Fund

> “There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United States a fund to be known as the ‘Recurring Expenses Transformational Fund’ (the Fund):
> 
> , That unobligated balances of expired discretionary funds appropriated in this or any succeeding fiscal year from the General Fund of the Treasury to the Department of Veterans Affairs by this or any other Act may be transferred (at the end of the fifth fiscal year after the last fiscal year for which such funds are available for the purposes for which appropriated) into the Fund:
> 
> , That amounts deposited in the Fund shall be available until expended, and in addition to such other funds as may be available for such purposes, for facilities infrastructure improvements, including nonrecurring maintenance, at existing hospitals and clinics of the Veterans Health Administration, and information technology systems improvements and sustainment, subject to approval by the Office of Management and Budget:
> 
> , That prior to obligation of any amounts in the Fund, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall request from the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress the authority to make such obligation and such Committees issue an approval, or absent a response, a period of 30 days has elapsed.”

, , , provided that: