Which specific FY2026 appropriations text (bill or explanatory statement) contains the SSA Limitation on Administrative Expenses line item and its dollar amount?

1. Where the dollar amount is published: SSA’s own FY2026 budget justification

The specific dollar amount identified for FY2026—$14.793 billion for the total LAE appropriation—comes from the Social Security Administration’s FY2026 Justification of Estimates for Appropriations, which is part of the SSA budget materials included in the President’s FY2026 budget package ^{[1] [2]}. SSA’s Congressional Justification documents break down LAE components (for example, SSI administrative expenses and other program shares) and explicitly state the FY2026 request figure and component estimates ^{[5] [6]}.

2. Where that line normally appears in statutory appropriations texts

By long-standing practice the LAE account is funded through the “Related Agencies” section of the annual Labor-HHS-Education and Related Agencies appropriations act, and CRS reporting confirms the LAE is traditionally provided in that appropriations vehicle ^{[3] [4]}. Congressional Research Service summaries and appropriations primers repeatedly locate SSA’s LAE within the LHHS bill’s Related Agencies title, rather than in a standalone SSA appropriation bill ^{[3] [4]}.

3. What the authoritative legislative record provided shows (and what it does not)

The CRS “In Brief” report for FY2026 LAE and SSA budget materials contains tables of requested and enacted LAE through FY2026 and summarizes the FY2026 commissioner’s budget request, but the publicly available CRS product in the search results supplies the requested figure and context rather than an enacted FY2026 appropriations statute or explanatory statement that locks in an FY2026 LAE appropriation in law ^{[7] [8]}. The sources do not include a final LHHS FY2026 appropriations act or accompanying explanatory statement that would show an enacted FY2026 LAE line and dollar amount in the congressional statute or report text ^{[3] [4]}.

4. Interim measures and contingency language that also reference FY2026 LAE funding

Separate legislative items in the FY2026 cycle address temporary or contingency funding mechanisms: for example, H.R.5893 (the GUARD Act) was introduced to provide FY2026 appropriations to SSA for administrative expenses during any lapse in appropriations, which is a statutory vehicle to assure LAE-like funding continuity during a funding lapse ^[9]. House appropriations “continuing” or stopgap measures and the section-by-section continuing appropriations documents also reference how agencies would be covered in the absence of full-year enacted bills ^[10], but the sources do not present a final enacted LAE appropriation figure tied to an enacted FY2026 LHHS bill.

5. Bottom line and reporting limitations

The only specific FY2026 LAE dollar figure in the provided documentation is the SSA/President’s Budget request of $14.793 billion, published in SSA’s FY2026 justification and President’s budget materials ^{[1] [2]}. The question asked for “which specific FY2026 appropriations text (bill or explanatory statement) contains the SSA Limitation on Administrative Expenses line item and its dollar amount?”—based on the supplied record, the requested line item and dollar amount appear in the SSA FY2026 Congressional Justification and the FY2026 President’s Budget ^{[1] [2]}, while the customary appropriations vehicle that would enact that line— the LHHS and Related Agencies appropriations act and its explanatory statement—does not appear in the provided sources as a completed, enacted FY2026 text showing an enacted LAE amount ^{[3] [4]}. There is also legislative contingency language (e.g., H.R.5893) that would supply administrative funding in a lapse, but that is not the same as an enacted FY2026 LHHS appropriations act with an LAE line ^{[9] [10]}.