Digital Commons Network^™

Budget Reform And Impoundment Control, L. Harold Levinson, Jon L. Mills

Vanderbilt Law Review

Impoundment has become a household word within the past two years, as controversy has raged over President Nixon's cutbacks of funds. Numerous significant governmental programs have been curtailed or disrupted. State and local governments face confusion about future funding. In dozens of cases, the lower federal courts have reviewed the exercise of Presidential discretion during the execution of appropriations, and in most cases the courts have determined that the President acted improperly. The underlying problem evidenced by impoundment remains unsolved, however, since it arises from tensions that build up throughout the budget process of the federal government, from the preparation …