Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

The Congressional Budget and impoundment Control Act is a federal law of the United States, which defines the role of the Congress in the preparation of the budget.

Procedures for establishing the budget

The first nine sections of the Act, collectively referred to as the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the process determines establishing the budget. The second section requires the creation of the Congressional Budget Office. The third section describes the decision making process for the Budget, Concurrent Resolution one that is used as a basis for the allocation of financial resources and does not require the approval of the President. Using special parliamentary agent can enforce compliance with the budget during the allocation process and the adoption of the necessary legislation be accelerated.

These sections have been amended repeatedly since its first adoption, for example through the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. The provisions of the original law, however, are preserved to this day.

Retention of funds

The tenth section of the Act gives the president the opportunity to ask Congress not to use certain allocated funds. If the Senate and the House of Representatives do not agree to this request within 45 days, the funds must be delivered to the intended purpose. The Congress is free, if he performs a vote on these requests, in most cases he has ignored so far.

This scheme was introduced to be used in response to the repeated refusal granted President Nixon's agent.

As a counter reaction was repeated but so far without success a line item veto proposed that would allow the president to remove certain items of expenditure from laws. A federal law providing for this possibility was in 1998 declared in its judgment in the case Clinton v. City of New York by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.