Money & budgets
unfunded mandate
A federal requirement imposed on states, localities, or the private sector without the money to carry it out.
In full
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires CBO to estimate the cost of mandates above a threshold and creates a point of order against considering them, but it does not prohibit them. Conditions attached to federal grants are generally not counted as mandates, since a state can in theory decline the money.
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