1803 Thomas Jefferson - Power of Impoundment

"Congress passes  $1.8 trillion tax and spend bills" ...  How did we get here?  It is partly due to the loss of power of impoundment.  Prior to 1974, the President of the United states had the power of not spending money that had been appropriated by the U.S. Congress.  In 1803, Thomas Jefferson was the first president to use this power, called impoundment.  Prior to the Louisiana purchase, the U.S. Congress had appropriated $50,000 to provide gunboats on the Mississippi river.   Now that the purchase had been negotiated, and the "right of deposit" in New Orleans had been peaceably obtained for American merchants, there was no longer a need for the gunboats.  In 1803, President Jefferson used his third state of the union address to announce his intent to use the power of impoundment.

"The sum of $50K appropriated by Congress for providing gun boats remains unexpended. The favorable and peaceable turn of affairs on the Mississippi rendered an immediate execution of that law unnecessary, and time was desirable in order that the institution of that branch of our force might begin on models the most approved by experience."

Later in Jefferson's term, he refused to spend amounts authorized by Congress for the salaries of certain government officials.   Eventually Jefferson retreated on that, but he did set a precedent regarding the use of impoundment for economy and efficiency in government.  This was all changed by Franklin Roosevelt who faced depression and World War II.   Roosevelt cited a time of crisis and used impoundment to prune specific programs.  Eventually in 1974, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act which required that the rescinding of appropriated funds be approved by the House and the Senate within 45 days.  And since there was no requirement that either house of Congress had to actually hold a vote, it effectively removed the impoundment power from the President.   Nixon signed the act with little protest since he was then embroiled in the Watergate scandal.   Recent presidents including Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton an Obama have all supported the restoration of the power, but it has yet to be restored.  

In 2011, Congressman Paul Ryan sponsored House Resolution 3521 (Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto an Recissions Act) to restore the power of impoundment to the President by giving the president the power to require a vote in Congress within 60 days and without amendment.   It was limited to discretionary spending and could not be used to restrict entitlement programs or individual tax provisions.  In 2011 Congressman Ryan said that "the bill would require lawmakers to 'think twice' about adding provisions to spending bills, because they may end up having to publicly defend the provisions if the president seeks to cancel them".  Along with democrats, 41 Republicans voted against the bill including more conservative  Congressmen like Steve King and Duncan Hunter.  Much of the cynicism surrounding the bill pointed to the fact that the line item veto act passed in the 1990's was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impoundment_of_appropriated_funds
https://www.uakron.edu/dotAsset/a62fd478-04cc-4165-a101-3f19e314f3c1.pdf
http://www.redstate.com/diary/pilgrim/2012/02/11/a-boring-process-bill-can-lead-to-greatness/
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