Impoundment Considerations in President's Ninth Special Message

The release of budget authority required to be made available for obligation pursuant to legislation is reported and comments on the President's ninth special message are provided. The funds for the 10 rescission proposals transmitted by the President's fifth special message for fiscal year 1979 were either rescinded or made available for obligation, except for the proposal for the Department of Energy, Fossil Energy Construction, and the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, Payment of Vietnam Prisoner of War Claims. It was felt that in these cases, the submission of deferrals of budget authority after rescission requests had been rejected for the same authority was technically inconsistent with the section of the Impoundment Control Act which requires that the budget authority be made available for obligation. However, no action was planned pending further congressional action. With the exceptions noted above, the information provided in the ninth special message was correct and the actions proposed were accurately stated.