Final answer:
Appropriations made by Congress allow for the legal operations of federal programs by specifying funding and any accompanying mandates. Categorical grants, a common form of federal aid, often come with strings attached, requiring compliance with certain conditions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The legal operations of a federal program for a particular type of obligation or expenditure within a program is permitted by appropriations made by the United States Congress. Appropriations are part of the federal budgeting process where the Congress, after receiving the President's suggested annual budget, decides on the allocation of federal funds to various programs and services in the budget. These appropriations provide the authority to incur obligations and make payments from the Treasury for specified purposes.
For instance, categorical grants are a type of federal aid provided to state and local governments that are to be used for specific purposes, such as funding highway projects. Along with the funding, federal grants often come with mandates or conditions that require state and local governments to follow certain policies or regulations. If these mandates are unfunded, this means that the federal government does not provide additional funds to cover the costs incurred by state and local governments in complying with such mandates, making them a contentious issue.