Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

Titles I through IX of the law are also known as the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Title II created the Congressional Budget Office. Title III governs the procedures by which Congress annually adopts a budget resolution, a concurrent resolution that is not signed by the President, which sets fiscal policy for the Congress. This budget resolution sets limits on revenues and spending that may be enforced in Congress through procedural objections called points of order. The budget resolution can also specify that a budget reconciliation bill be written, which the Congress will then consider under expedited procedures.

The act has been amended several times, including provisions in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The original 1974 legislation, however, remains the basic blueprint for budget procedures today.

The limitation on debate that prevents a budget reconciliation bill from being filibustered in the Senate (requiring a three-fifths vote to end debate) led to frequent attempts to attach amendments unrelated to the budget to the reconciliation bills. In response, the budget reconciliation acts of 1985, 1986, and 1990 adopted the "Byrd Rule" (Section 313 of the Budget Act).[1] The Byrd Rule allows Senators to raise points of order (which can be waived by a three-fifths majority of Senators[2]) against provisions in the reconciliation bills that are "extraneous".[3]

Provisions are considered extraneous if they:

1. do not produce a change in outlays or revenues;
2. produce changes in outlays or revenue which are merely incidental to the non-budgetary components of the provision;
3. are outside the jurisdiction of the committee that submitted the title or provision for inclusion in the reconciliation measure;
4. increase outlays or decrease revenue if the provision's title, as a whole, fails to achieve the Senate reporting committee's reconciliation instructions;
5. increase net outlays or decrease revenue during a fiscal year after the years covered by the reconciliation bill unless the provision's title, as a whole, remains budget neutral; or
6. contain recommendations regarding the OASDI (social security) trust funds.

Title X of the Act, also known as the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, specifies that the President may request that Congress rescind appropriated funds. If both the Senate and the House of Representatives have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation. Congress is not required to vote on the request and has ignored most Presidential requests.[4] In response, some have called for a line item veto to strengthen the rescission power and force Congress to vote on the disputed funds.

The Act was passed because Congressional representatives thought that President Nixon had abused his power of impoundment by withholding funds for programs he opposed. The Act, especially after Train v. City of New York (1975), effectively removed the presidential power of impoundment.[5]

In late November 2019, the Impoundment Control Act made news during the Trump impeachment investigation, as two budget office staffers resigned over their concerns over apparent improprieties regarding the hold of approved Ukraine military funds. Among the concerns was the questionable transfer of decision-making authority to Michael Duffey, a political appointee.[6][7][8][9] Further emails released showed that Acting Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Elaine McCusker emailed the White House Office of Management and Budget expressing her concerns beginning in July 2019 that the White House withholding fund from Ukraine could be violating the Impoundment Control Act.[10]

On January 16, 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a decision on the "Matter of: Office of Management and Budget- Withholding of Ukraine Security Assistance." The GAO report found that, "In the summer of 2019, OMB withheld from obligation approximately $214 million appropriated to DOD for security assistance to Ukraine. (...) OMB withheld amounts by issuing a series of nine apportionment schedules with footnotes that made all unobligated balances for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) unavailable for obligation. (...) Pursuant to our role under the ICA, we are issuing this decision. (...) we conclude that OMB withheld the funds from obligation for an unauthorized reason in violation of the ICA.1 See 2 U.S.C. § 684. We also question actions regarding funds appropriated to the Department of State (State) for security assistance to Ukraine."[11][12] The Center for Public Integrity found that, "OMB’s actions did not comply with any of the exceptions to the law’s demand that a president carry out congressional spending orders, the GAO said in its nine-page report. 'OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted,' the report states. 'Therefore we conclude that OMB violated' the act."[12]

• Reconciliation (United States Congress)

• Dauster, William G. (1993). Budget Process Law Annotated: 1993 Edition. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-16-041726-0.
• Garrett, Elizabeth; Jackson, Howell; Graddy, Elizabeth, eds. (2008). "The Congressional Budget Process". Fiscal Challenges: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Budget Policy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 4–38. ISBN 978-0-521-87731-2.
• Hogan, Joseph J. (1985). "Ten Years After: The US Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974". Public Administration. 63 (2): 133–149. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1985.tb00896.x.
• Kosar, Kevin (October 21, 2015). "So... this is Nixon's Fault?". Politico.
• Middlekauff, Wm. Bradford (1990). "Twisting the President's Arm: The Impoundment Control Act as a Tool for Enforcing the Principle of Appropriation Expenditure". Yale Law Journal. 100 (1): 209–228. doi:10.2307/796769. JSTOR 796769.
• Pfiffner, James P (1979). The President, the Budget, and Congress: Impoundment and the 1974 Budget Act. Westview Press. ISBN 0-89158-495-1.

• Frumin, Alan S. (1992). "Congressional Budget" (PDF). Riddick's Senate Procedure. 502–642. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
• Keith, Robert (2008). "Introduction to the Federal Budget Process" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 14, 2009.
• The Peter G. Peterson Foundation (July 9, 2014). "Q&A: Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974".
• U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on the Budget. "Compendium of Laws and Rules Relating to the Congressional Budget Process" (PDF).

• Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 as amended (PDF/details) in the GPO Statute Compilations collection