Title 2The CongressRelease 119-73

§685 Transmission of messages; publication

Title 2 › Chapter CHAPTER 17B— - IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCISSIONS, RESERVATIONS, AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET AUTHORITY › § 685

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

When the President sends a special message under section 683 or 684, he must send it to both the House of Representatives and the Senate on the same day. If a chamber is not in session, the message must go to the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate. Each message must be sent to the right committees and printed as a document of each House. A copy must also go to the Comptroller General the same day. The Comptroller General must review the message and tell both Houses, as soon as possible, the facts and likely effects: for section 683 messages, about proposed rescissions or reservations of budget authority; for section 684 messages, about proposed deferrals and whether they are allowed by current law. If the President later changes the information, he must send a supplemental message to both Houses and the Comptroller General, and the Comptroller General must update Congress. Every special message and any supplement must be printed in the first issue of the Federal Register after it is sent. The President must also send, by the 10th day of each month during a fiscal year, a report listing all budget authority for that fiscal year for which he has sent section 683 or 684 messages as of the first day of that month. Each monthly report must be printed in the first issue of the Federal Register after it is sent.

Full Legal Text

Title 2, §685

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(a)Each special message transmitted under section 683 or 684 of this title shall be transmitted to the House of Representatives and the Senate on the same day, and shall be delivered to the Clerk of the House of Representatives if the House is not in session, and to the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is not in session. Each special message so transmitted shall be referred to the appropriate committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each such message shall be printed as a document of each House.
(b)A copy of each special message transmitted under section 683 or 684 of this title, shall be transmitted to the Comptroller General on the same day it is transmitted to the House of Representatives and the Senate. In order to assist the Congress in the exercise of its functions under section 683 or 684 of this title, the Comptroller General shall review each such message and inform the House of Representatives and the Senate as promptly as practicable with respect to—
(1)in the case of a special message transmitted under section 683 of this title, the facts surrounding the proposed rescission or the reservation of budget authority (including the probable effects thereof); and
(2)in the case of a special message transmitted under section 684 of this title, (A) the facts surrounding each proposed deferral of budget authority (including the probable effects thereof) and (B) whether or not (or to what extent), in his judgment, such proposed deferral is in accordance with existing statutory authority.
(c)If any information contained in a special message transmitted under section 683 or 684 of this title is subsequently revised, the President shall transmit to both Houses of Congress and the Comptroller General a supplementary message stating and explaining such revision. Any such supplementary message shall be delivered, referred, and printed as provided in subsection (a). The Comptroller General shall promptly notify the House of Representatives and the Senate of any changes in the information submitted by him under subsection (b) which may be necessitated by such revision.
(d)Any special message transmitted under section 683 or 684 of this title, and any supplementary message transmitted under subsection (c), shall be printed in the first issue of the Federal Register published after such transmittal.
(e)(1)The President shall submit a report to the House of Representatives and the Senate, not later than the 10th day of each month during a fiscal year, listing all budget authority for that fiscal year with respect to which, as of the first day of such month—
(A)he has transmitted a special message under section 683 of this title with respect to a proposed rescission or a reservation; and
(B)he has transmitted a special message under section 684 of this title proposing a deferral.
(2)Each report submitted under paragraph (1) shall be printed in the first issue of the Federal Register published after its submission.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was formerly classified to section 1404 of Title 31 prior to the general revision and enactment of Title 31, Money and Finance, by Pub. L. 97–258, § 1, Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 877.

Executive Documents

Ex. Ord. No. 11845. Delegation of Certain Reporting Functions to Director of Office of Management and Budget Ex. Ord. No. 11845, Mar. 24, 1975, 40 F.R. 13299, as amended by Ex. Ord. No. 12608, Sept. 9, 1987, 52 F.R. 34617, provided: By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Public Law 93–344; 88 Stat. 332, (2 U.S.C. 681 et seq.), hereinafter referred to as the Act) [subchapters I and II of this chapter], and section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget is hereby designated and empowered to exercise, as of October 1, 1974 without ratification or other action of the President (1) the functions required by section 1014(b) and 1014(d) of the Act [subsecs. (b) and (d) of this section] of transmitting to the Comptroller General of the United States and to the Office of the Federal Register copies of special messages transmitted pursuant to section 1012 or 1013 (2 U.S.C. 683 and 684) of the Act; and (2) the function conferred upon the President by section 1014(e) of the Act (2 U.S.C. 685(e)) of submitting to the Congress cumulative reports of proposed rescissions, reservations, and deferrals of budget authority.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

2 U.S.C. § 685

Title 2The Congress

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73