Brief History of Impoundment

Impoundment includes any executive action to withhold or delay the spending of appropriated funds. As a result of a compromise in conference, the ICA differentiated deferrals, or temporary delays in funding availability, from rescissions, or permanent cancellations of designated budget authority, with different procedures for congressional review and control of the two types of impoundment. In the case of a rescission, the ICA provided that the funds must be made available for obligation unless both houses of Congress take action to approve the rescission request within 45 days of "continuous session" (recesses of more than three days not counted). 100-119 ), Congress enacted several budget process reforms. Section 206 of P.L. Over the years many bills and resolutions (mainly proposed constitutional amendments) have been introduced, but action in Congress on item veto proposals, beyond an occasional hearing, has been limited. In the 101 st Congress, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on proposed constitutional amendments permitting an item veto on April 11, 1989, and reported two such amendments, without recommendation, on June 8. In the 102 nd Congress, the House voted on language providing item veto authority for the President. 104-130 ) represented such hybrids. The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 (LIVA) amended the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 ( P.L. The act authorized the President to cancel in whole any dollar amount of discretionary budget authority (appropriations), any item of new direct spending (entitlement), or limited tax benefits with specified characteristics, contained in a bill otherwise signed into law. To facilitate judicial review, the act provided for (1) expedited review by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia of an action brought by a Member of Congress or an adversely affected individual on the ground that any provision of this act violates the Constitution; (2) review of an order of such Court by appeal directly to the Supreme Court; and (3) expedited disposition of such matter by the Supreme Court. The act became effective on January 1, 1997. In Congress, disapproval bills to overturn the cancellations by the President were introduced, along with alternative measures for providing the President with expanded rescission authority, bills to repeal the Line Item Veto Act, and even a bill to correct an apparent "loophole" in the original Act. 9 , H.J.Res. 30 , and S.J.Res. 31 ), and to provide alternative statutory means for conveying expanded impoundment authority to the President ( S. 100 and S. 139 ). H.J.Res. On March 6, 2006, President Bush sent a draft bill titled the Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 2006 to Congress, and the measure was introduced the next day ( see H.R. 4890 . Measures Reported in the 109th Congress

H.R. H.R. S.J.Res. The House passed H.R. On May 24, 2010, President Obama transmitted an Administration draft bill to Congress, the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010, which would provide expedited rescission procedures for consideration of certain requests from the President. On June 17, 2010, the House Budget Committee held a hearing titled the "Administration's Proposal for Expedited Rescission." Chairman Spratt, who has supported expedited rescission measures in the past and introduced H.R. Measures Introduced in the 111th Congress

H.R. S. 907 (Carper et al.) . S. 1808 (Feingold) . This title of the omnibus budget reform measure is virtually the same as H.R. 1294 and S. 524 . S. 3423 (Kerry) . Constitutional amendment.
Conflicting budget priorities of the President and Congress accentuate the institutional tensions between the executive and legislative branches inherent in the federal budget process. Impoundment, whereby a President withholds or delays the spending of funds appropriated by Congress, provides an important mechanism for budgetary control during budget implementation in the executive branch; but Congress retains oversight responsibilities at this stage as well. Many Presidents have called for an item veto, or possibly expanded impoundment authority, to provide them with greater control over federal spending.
The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Title X of P.L. 93-344), established two categories of impoundments: deferrals, or temporary delays in funding availability; and rescissions, or permanent cancellation of budget authority. With a rescission, the funds must be made available for obligation unless both houses of Congress take action to approve the President's rescission request within 45 days of "continuous session."
Consideration of impoundment reform increasingly became joined with that of an item veto for the President. While Constitutional amendment proposals have not disappeared (see H.J.Res. 15 and S.J.Res. 22 ), many who originally favored an item veto constitutional amendment turned to expanded rescission authority for the President as a functionally similar mechanism achievable more easily by statutory change.
The Line Item Veto Act was signed into law on April 9, 1996 (P.L. 104-130), and it became effective January 1, 1997. Key provisions allowed the President to cancel any dollar amount of discretionary budget authority, any item of new direct spending, or certain limited tax benefits contained in any law, unless disapproved by Congress. On June 25, 1998, the Supreme Court, in the case of Clinton v. City of New York, held the law unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated the presentment clause; in order to grant the President true item veto authority, a constitutional amendment would be needed (according to the majority opinion).
Measures seeking to provide a constitutional alternative to the 1996 law have been introduced in each subsequent Congress. In the 109th Congress, the House passed H.R. 4890, the Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 2006, by a vote of 247-172, but no further action on the measure occurred before the 109th Congress adjourned.
Several measures have been introduced in the 111th Congress that would establish expedited rescission procedures, including H.R. 1294, H.R. 1390, H.R. 4921, S. 524, S. 640, S. 907, and S. 3423. Other proposals would provide for expedited rescission along with various other budget process reforms, such as increased earmark accountability or spending controls. In the 111th Congress, H.R. 3268, H.R. 3964, S. 1808, and S. 3026 provide examples of such omnibus budget process bills. Two Constitutional amendment proposals have been introduced, H.J.Res. 15 and S.J.Res. 22. The Obama Administration has endorsed an expedited process for congressional consideration of rescission requests and announced on May 24, 2010, the transmittal of a proposal to Congress, titled Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010. The Administration bill has been introduced as H.R. 5454 and S. 3474. In the 111th Congress, three committees have held hearings on expedited rescission measures, the most recent being on June 17, 2010, by the House Budget Committee. This report will be updated as events warrant.