Legality of Executive Impoundments of Funds

Congressional concern was expressed regarding a GAO analysis of the legality of executive impoundments of funds appropriated for the Solar Energy and Energy Conservation Bank. GAO explained its disagreement on the issue with the Office of Management and Budget and the reasons why it concluded that a withholding of Bank funds was unauthorized. GAO explicitly stated that the withholding of the same funds pursuant to a presidential rescission proposal was also unauthorized. The GAO belief in the correctness of its interpretation of the law had no practical application to the unauthorized withholding of funds from the Bank, since the funds had been released by the time GAO was asked for a decision on the matter. GAO is concerned about the timeliness of its impoundment reviews and is exploring ways to reduce the delays in issuing impoundment reports.