Reading Room Document

Informal views on the applicability of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to impoundments which were effected prior to July 12, 1974, the date the Act was signed by the President.

The document is a response to a request for informal views on the applicability of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to impoundments that were effected prior to July 12, 1974. The conclusion reached in the document is that the Act's requirements of submission by the President of special messages to Congress are applicable to pre-Act impoundments and to impoundment of pre-Act budget authority. The document presents questions for review, including the applicability of the Act to impoundments ordered prior to July 12, 1974, and budget authority enacted before that date, as well as the potential impact on the President's veto power and the language of the Act's provisions concerning submission of special messages to Congress.

September 11, 1974