Reading Room Document

Authority of the Secretary of the Treasury Under the New York City Loan Guarantee Act of 1978

The authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to issue guarantees under the New York City Loan Guarantee Act of 1978, P.L. No. 95-339 and P.L. No. 95-415, was not affected by a rider in the Senate appropriation bill, H.R. 7631, under § 101(a)(3) of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, P.L. No. 96-369, 94 Stat. 1351. Section 101(a)(3) of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution was intended to distinguish between matters considered by both the Senate and the House of Representatives in their appropriations bills, for which the more restrictive of the two provisions on an agency's authority is to govern, and matters considered by only one House in its appropriations bill, for which the authority and conditions of FY 1980 appropriations are to govern. The restriction on the Secretary of the Treasury's authority to issue guarantees under the New York City Loan Guarantee Act of 1978 is found only in the Senate version of the appropriations bill pertaining to the New York City Loan Guarantee program and had not been considered by the House of Representatives; therefore, the Senate rider did not operate (under § 101(a)(3) of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution) to restrict the Secretary's authority to issue New York City loan guarantees. The Attorney General does not have the authority to issue opinions on questions arising out of a business transaction between a private person and the government when the private person has insisted on receiving an Attorney General opinion for his benefit and the requesting department head has no real concern about the question. The Attorney General will issue opinions related to business transactions between the government and private persons only when the transaction raises a substantial and genuine issue of law arising in the administration of a Department. 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/22301/download.

October 2, 1980