Impoundment

There are situations in which a President may desire to not apportion the budget authority contained in an appropriations act – even though he signed that act into law. The Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 permits the President some latitude in the release of that appropriated funding. Under the provisions of that law, the President may identify a specific amount of funding contained in an appropriations act for a specific purpose and initiate an impoundment action. There are two types of impoundment actions specified in the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974: deferral and rescission.