Law Commons^™

The Problem Of Appropriations Riders: The Bipartisan Budget Bill Of 2013 As A Case Study, Irene Scharf

Faculty Publications

This article tells the story of the enactment of the bill containing Section 2013. It also provides context for Congress's widespread practice of inserting substantive provisions into appropriations bills, and argues that this practice is inappropriate and counterproductive. Enacted in haste, at the end of a lengthy and historically contentious legislative session plagued by threats of an unfunded government, Section 203 was slipped into a bill about a wholly different topic - "keeping the government open and functioning" - without input from key legislators or stakeholders. Hence, its difficulties were foreseeable.

Part II of this piece offers background about the …