Executive must determine spending. Second, Congress should guarantee there is some procedural mechanism to review whether or not any particular Executive impoundment is in keeping with the intent of Congress. As to the first recommendation we suggest Congress enact a general appropriation law which would formally embody what we believe is existing Congressional intent and what such intent would legally be construed to be, viz.: as to every appropriation, the Executive must spend whatever amount of appropriated funds is necessary (up to and including the entire appropriation,) to fully achieve the purposes and satisfy the Governments' duties under the substantive law involved, and no other interests whatsoever may be considerd in determining the amount to spend, (including, for example, avoiding inflation or high taxes,) except insofar as explicitly provided by Act of Congress. (Under such a law Congress would, of course, retain the power to explicitly provide in extraordinary situations that the Executive must spend the entire amount of any specific appropriation if Congress should judge that was necessary. Similarly the above formulation is not intended to disturb the requirement of the AntiDeficiency Act, 31 USC Sec. 665 (e) (1) (3) that all monies be spent efficiently. As to the second recommendation, we note that private citizens and groups have already begun to go to federal courts to challenge impoundments, e.g. State Highway Commission of Missouri and Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco, supra, and believe that it is important to preserve this avenue of review. If Congress sufficiently narrowed the Executive's discretion to impound as suggested in recommendation one, judicial review might well be a sufficient procedure to effectuate Congressional intent. In this case, periodic Congressional review, as outlined in Sen. 373 might be unnecessary and burdensome on Congress. On the other hand, insofar as Congress is to be directly involved in the process of periodically reviewing impoundments we have two major reservations about the approach in Sen. 373. The bill's formulation may encourage the Executive to impound whenever it desires to on the ground it has a 60 day grace period to impound and will have a "second bite at the apple" to persuade Congress not to spend funds Congress already decided at the appropriation stage it intended to spend. This could lead to weakening of important social programs. Second, Sen. 373 might effectively preclude judicial review of Executive decisions to impound because if Congress subsequently approved the impoundment plaintiff's argument that the impoundment violated the substantive law might be eliminated by the subsequent Congressional ratification of Executive action. STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE JOE L. EVINS (D-TENN.), CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION APPROPRIATIONS, FEBRUARY 6, 1973 I want to thank the distinguished Chairman and Members of this Committee for this opportunity to share with you my strong views on the importance of regaining and restoring to Congress the eroded powers and prerogatives which have been captured by the Executive Branch of our Government. I want to commend and congratulate the distinguished Chairman for his great work in this most important area. As one of the great constitutional lawyers of our time, the Chairman has great influence and prestige throughout the Nation-which immeasurably enhances the caliber, esteem and impact of these hearings. As you may know, I have voiced my concern over the continuing loss and erosion of Congressional power for more than a decade-it has been obvious for several years that the Bureau of the Budget-now glamorized as the Office of Management and Budget-has assumed ever-increasing power at the expense of the Congress. The rising curve reflecting the increasing power of the OMB can be compared with a falling curve demonstrating the decrease in power of the Congress. To employ a trite, but nevertheless true, analogy, like the fictitious Dr. Frankenstein we have created a monster that is operating out of our control. In my opinion, it is time to bring this monster back to the laboratory and perform some corrective surgery-perhaps some legislative surgery to remove some of the powers of OMB and restore this office to its natural role as a budget agency, rather than a super-bureaucracy seeking to impose its will on both the Executive and Legislative branches of Government. The OMB, for example, tells officials in Departments and Agencies precisely what they can request of Congress and from Congress. They are directed not to volunteer any information contrary to the budget they are directed to support. Further, officials of Departments and Agencies are instructed to provide certain information to OMB but to withhold that information from Congress. For example, our Subcommittee on Public Works and Atomic Energy Commission Appropriations-which I am honored to serve as Chairman-now finds that OMB has prohibited the U.S. Corps of Engineers from providing the Committee with information concerning the capability of the Corps of Engineers on specific projects. So, in addition to substantially negating the appropriations process through impoundments, and the legislative process through executive termination of programs authorized and funded by Congress, the OMR is restricting the oversight function. My first recommendation is that the Committee carefully examine the possibility and desirability of repealing all prior legislation relating to impoundment and OMB and recommended legislation responsive to the challenge which OMB has directed at our constitutional system of checks and balances. At this point I should like to call attention to a partial listing of impoundments which my staff has compiled, based on information provided by officials of agencies and departments. OMB has refused to provide this information. This listing is provided as an addendum to my testimony. I should like now to just briefly point out that a reading of the Federalist papers and other documents relating to the work of the Constitutional Convention shows clearly that Congress was to be the sole author and finisher of legislative faith and power. Our founding fathers had been through the ordeal of executive tyranny and as the distinguished historian, Dr. Charles A. Beard, pointed out in The Republic. "The framers of the Constitution expected that Congress should be the dominant branch of the Federal Government . . . They vested in Congress immense legislative powers. They gave it the power of the purse and the power of the swordthe two mighty engines of government. They authorized Congress to determine the structure of the executive departments, the powers of all administrative officers, the number of justices in the Supreme Court, the appellate jurisdiction of that court, and the form and jurisdiction of inferior Federal courts." However, in our time the Executive has waged war without consent of Congress—withheld appropriations at will-negated legislation through executive fiat-drastically revised the structure of the Federal Government without the approval of Congress evading testimony by claim of Executive privilege and generally proceeding to go as far as it can go in assuming legislative power and prerogatives. With that background in mind, my further recommendations are as follows: *I have co-sponsored in the House (H.R. 1843) the bill S. 373 introduced in the Senate by the distinguished Chairman, curtailing and circumscribing powers which the President has assumed to impound, freeze and withhold funds appropriated by the Congress. Although I have some reservations concerning even a tacit concession of the right to impound-this bill is a strong, constructive action and I believe we need strong action at this point. I urge that this bill be reported and passed in the public interest. *I further recommend that the Joint Committee established in the debt ceiling legislation passed at the conclusion of the 92nd Congress be made a permanent Committee to strengthen the fiscal control process internally in the Congress, with a staff of such sufficient quality and size that Congress can be provided with full information on budgetary and fiscal matters-uncolored by Executive and OMB dogma, interpretations and prejudice. *In vital and important appropriations, the expenditure of funds for specified purposes can be directed and mandated in specific instances. *All who understand the depth of the threat to legislative independence and power should encourage our Colleagues to stand with us on a bipartisan basis against Executive encroachment. The time has come to stand and fight for principle and for Congress as a strong co-equal branch of Government. *We must be strong because we are faced with strong posture from the Execu tive. Some Committee Chairmen have indicated they plan to take no action on requests for appropriations unless and until programs cancelled by executive fiat have been restored and funds impounded arbitrarily have been released. Congress will be responsible in this area. *All committees should demand that all information from the Executive Branch required in the exercise of the oversight function of the Congress should be provided-and subpoenaed if necessary. In other words, we must apply some pressure to the Executive Branch rather than being the consistent target of pressure from the Chief Executive-put the shoe on the other foot and let it pinch if necessary. These are my recommendations and I want to again thank the distinguished Chairman and Members of this Committee for this opportunity of presenting my views on this most important subject of separation of powers. JANUARY 15, 1973. CHAIRMAN EVINS RELEASES PARTIAL LISTING OF IMPOUNDMENT BY OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET OF FUNDS APPROPRIATED BY CONGRESS Representative Joe L. Evins (D-Tenn.), a member of the Committee on Appropriations and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Public Works and Atomic Energy Commission Appropriations, today released a partial listing of funds totaling more than $12 billion appropriated by the Congress for Fiscal Year 1973 and which are being withheld, frozen and impounded by the Office of Management and Budget. Evins said OMB had refused to release the information and that some Departments and agencies had complied with his request for the amount of funds withheld. Funds withheld and impounded by OMB include the following: Department of Agriculture, $1,267,076,900. Department of Housing and Urban Development, $523,200,000. Department of Transportation, $2,000,000,000 (for Federal-aid highways, including Interstate). Department of Defense (Corps of Engineers), $20,462,000 (for construction and planning on public works projects). Department of Commerce, $243,000,000 including $109,555,000 for water, sewage and industrial expansion grants by the Economic Development Administration. Environmental Protection Agency, $6,000,000,000. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, $56,997,490. Department of the Treasury, $24,034,197. Atomic Energy Commission, $15,400,000. Department of Defense (Military), $1,940,448,924. Veterans' Administration, $111,786,000 (including $16,786,000 for reduction in apportionment). Appalachian Regional Commission, $65 million. (Further details on impoundments are attached to the release.) Chairman Evins made this comment : "It is interesting to note that the OMB continued its pattern of cavalier treatment of the Congress by refusing to release public information. I am advised by officials of these Departments and agencies that many of the figures provided will probably have been increased by the time the Fiscal Year 1974 budget is submitted to the Congress. "The continued freezing, impounding and withholding of funds represents an encroachment on the constitutional powers and prerogatives of the Congress to appropriate funds in the public interest and this challenge must be met with all means available within the structure of the Congress. "If this trend is not checked, the legislative and appropriations committees of the Congress could well be reduced to exercises in frustration and futility. OMB has usurped Congressional power to the extent that it substitutes its judgment for the legislative intent of the Congress and substitutes is priorities for legislative priorities established by law by Congress. "The Administration describes its major domestic program objectives as providing more power to the people. In reality the policies of this Administration are centralizing powers in the Bureau of the Budget and other executive offices of the President. "With one hand the Administration distributes revenue-sharing checks. With the other hand the Administration takes away far more by eliminating or curtailing Federal programs of assistance to our people in laws passed by Congress. "Revenue-sharing and revenue-freezing call to mind the old shell game-now you see it, now you don't. In my view state and local governments are going to see much less overall Federal assistance under this policy of constant cutbacks. 90-538-73-37 "These practices of OMB are threatening our constitutional system of check and balances. "As one who has fought erosion of Congressional power and executive encroachment on the Congress for many years, I am delighted to note the strong statements made by the Majority leadership in both Houses of Congress indicating a determination to regain the lost power and prerogatives of the Congress in the public interest." Information on impoundments provided by officials of departments and agencies Total, Department of Agriculture_____ Department of Commerce: Economic Development Administration__ Maritime Administration___. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration---- Total, Department of Commerce_. Environmental Protection Agency: Waste treatment grants (2year authorization for fiscal years 1973 and 1974). Department of Health, Education, and Welfare: Direct Federal construction (apportionment awaits development of approved plans and specifications). Postsecondary innovation-- Higher education insured loans__ Social and rehabilitation service.... Total, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare---- $500,000 8,048, 000 1, 650,000 2,046, 000 1,500,000 3, 000, 000 50,000 275,000 100,000 210, 500, 000 10, 000, 000 456, 028,000 120, 000, 000 3,147,000 500,000 367, 500, 000 5,000,000 6, 000, 000 500,000 17, 412, 500 62,500 36,000 900,000 1,214,755, 000 21, 720, 000 12, 601, 900 18, 000, 000 1,267, 076, 900 109, 555, 000 55, 000, 000 30, 000, 000 48, 445, 000 243, 000, 000 6, 000, 000, 000 44, 892, 087 10, 000, 000 1,905, 400 200,000 56, 997, 490 Information on impoundmnts provided by officials of departments and agencies— Department of the Treasury: Continued Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, construction____ Total, Department of the Treasury. Atomic Energy Commission: Operating expenses: Thorium utilization Gas-cooled fast breeder reactor_. Space propulsion___. Plowshare Assistance payments to Richland, Wash....... Plant and capital equipment: Cascade improvement program. 21, 517, 395 2, 516, 802 24, 034, 197 2, 000, 000 1, 000, 000 4, 000, 000 3,200,000 200,000 5, 000, 000 Total, Atomic Energy Commission_-_. 15, 400, 000 Department of Housing and Urban Development: 25, 000, 000 Nonprofit sponsor loan fund (sec. 106a), technical assistance 1, 000, 000 3, 600, 000 7, 500, 000 86, 000, 000 Nonprofit housing sponsor loans (sec. 106b), planning projects New community assistance, supplementary grants for public Rehabilitation loan fund___ Water and sewer facilities grants.. Total, Department of Housing and Urban Development_-_Additional funds expected to be impounded before submission of fiscal year 1974 budget for HUD: General Service Administration: GSA indicated "nothing of significance" is impounded. List has not been made available at this time to Congressman Evins. Veterans' Administration: Funds impounded by OMB: Hospital construction, major construction_. Reduction in quarterly apportionment by OMB: Medical care-- Medical and prosthetic research (artificial limbs, et Medical administration_. Total, Veterans' Administration___. 400, 100, 000 523, 200, 000 50, 000, 000 20, 000, 000 2, 000, 000, 000 5, 040, 000 15, 422, 000 20, 462, 000 60, 000, 000 5, 000, 000 44, 000, 000 2, 430, 000 356, 000 111, 786, 000 |