49 U.S.C. § 331 — Service, supplies, and facilities at remote places

(a) When something is necessary and not otherwise available, the Secretary of Transportation may provide for, build, or maintain -- for Department of Transportation officers and employees, and their dependents, stationed in remote places -- (1) emergency medical services and supplies; (2) food and other subsistence supplies; (3) messing facilities; (4) motion picture equipment and film for recreation and training; (5) living and working quarters and facilities; and (6) reimbursement for food, clothing, medicine, and other supplies an officer or employee provided in an emergency for the temporary relief of people in distress.
(b) The Secretary must prescribe reasonable charges for medical treatment provided under (a)(1) and for supplies and services provided under (a)(2) and (3). Amounts collected this way are credited back to the appropriation the expenditure came from.
(c) If appropriations for a fiscal year's aviation duties and powers have not been made before June 1 just before that fiscal year begins, the Secretary may designate an officer and authorize that officer to commit to buying and transporting supplies for those duties at installations outside the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. The amount committed this way in a fiscal year cannot exceed 75% of the amount available for buying and transporting supplies to those installations for the current fiscal year. Payment for these obligations comes from the next fiscal year's appropriations once available.