The Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, requested GAO's legal opinion regarding whether the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) complied with reprogramming notification requirements when it eliminated the positions of two administrative law judges (ALJs) and their associated support staff and terminated one of the ALJs through a reduction-in-force (RIF). Specifically, section 730 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012 (Act) requires CFTC to notify the appropriations committees prior to obligating or expending funds through a reprogramming to undertake certain enumerated activities.CFTC told us that although it continues to maintain an Office of Proceedings, the unit to which the ALJs were assigned, CFTC has not yet obligated the $755,109 that it saved from eliminating the ALJ positions. Therefore, we conclude that, at this time, CFTC has not reprogrammed funds to carry out any of the activities enumerated in section 730--the event that would trigger the reprogramming notification requirement. CFTC advised us that prior to reprogramming any of the cost savings to effectuate any of the activities set forth in section 730, it will notify the appropriations committees.
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