Several media outlets report that a cabinet secretary has authorized the use of department funds for projects that are not part of the department’s legislative mandate.

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

Well. here we do not have a question. It is just a statement.

Although you forgot to include the question, we can comment on the following general terms.

If several media outlets reported that a cabinet secretary has authorized the use of department funds for projects that are not part of the department’s legislative mandate, then there is a controversial issue here because the cabinet secretary has a special budget previously authorized by the United States Congress and the President to be used for specific activities or specific situations.

If the Secretary has decided to use the funds for other activities, then it has to offer a clear explanation about the reason why he/she authorized it, and it has to offer proper arguments to support its decision.

otherwise, the issue would cause doubts and critics in mass media and public opinion.

dark grey, relational                                  

Explanation:

Relational learning: In psychology, the term "relational learning" is described as one of the different forms of learning that occurs in the context where there's a possibility of a relationship that exists between learning examples or where the given examples might have a "complex" internal structure i.e, possesses various components and there's a possibility of having a relationship between mentioned components.

In the question above, the given statement signifies the relational learning.