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The Obligation to Spend: Presidential Impoundment of Congressional Appropriations

A recent major controversy has arisen over the habitual impoundment (a term herein defined) of Congressional appropriations by the President through the O.M.B. President Nixon, who made unprecedentedly frequent resort to the practice, claimed both constitutional and statutory authority as well as citing historical precedent. These claims are successively examined, and almost wholly rejected (as indeed they already have been by the federal courts). Rather, impoundment appears as a device whereby President Nixon substituted his own legislative priorities for those of the Congress. The latter therefore strictly limited the practice by statute and sought, as a counterpoise, to improve its own budgetary procedures. This recent reform is in turn evaluated, and the balance of responsibility as between President and Congress in this fiscal area is weighed.