WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) reintroduced legislation to repeal the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) of 1974.

“The presidential power to impound funds is key to restoring fiscal sanity to our nation’s capital,” said Congressman Clyde. “For nearly 200 years, every President from George Washington to Richard Nixon possessed the constitutional impoundment authority until the Impoundment Control Act unjustly complicated this power. The devastating consequences of this imprudent law are evident in our dire fiscal crisis. Removing the unconstitutional roadblock that the ICA presents will ensure President Trump has every tool at his disposal to decline wasteful spending, tame our ballooning national debt, and reverse course on our unsustainable economic outlook.”

“The Impoundment Control Act is a Watergate-era relic of misguided overreach,” said Senator Lee. “For nearly two centuries, presidents exercised the authority to impound funds as a critical check on runaway spending. The ICA's unconstitutional limitations on this power have contributed to a fiscal crisis. Repealing this law will restore the balance of power envisioned by our Constitution and empower the President to reject wasteful, unnecessary spending by administrations that voters resoundingly rejected.”

Bill text is available HERE.

Original cosponsors include (25): Representatives Mark Amodei (NV-02), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Lauren Boebert (CO-04), Tim Burchett (TN-02), Eric Burlison (MO-07), Ben Cline (VA-06), Eli Crane (AZ-02), Byron Donalds (FL-19), Brandon Gill (TX-26), Paul Gosar (AZ-09), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14), Andy Harris (MD-01), Mark Harris (NC-08), Clay Higgins (LA-03), Wesley Hunt (TX-38), Mary Miller (IL-15), Cory Mills (FL-07), Barry Moore (AL-01), Troy Nehls (TX-22), Chip Roy (TX-21), Keith Self (TX-03), Victoria Spartz (IN-05), Greg Steube (FL-17), Tom Tiffany (WI-07), and Randy Weber (TX-14).

Background

Impoundment is the President’s constitutional power, vested in Article II of the U.S. Constitution, to decline to spend the full amount of funds that Congress appropriates. In other words, congressionally appropriated funds present a ceiling, not a floor. This authority was utilized by Presidents for nearly 200 years for reasons ranging from efficiency to foreign affairs.

At the height of the Watergate scandal, Congress unnecessarily and unlawfully complicated the presidential power of impoundment with passage of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The ICA is unconstitutional, as it violates the President’s Article II authority.

With a ballooning national debt, an out-of-control deficit, soaring interest payments, and crushing inflation, returning fiscal sanity is central to getting our country and our economy back on track. The President’s constitutional power of impoundment is essential to carrying out this mission for the American people.