§685 Transmission of Messages; Publication

Summary

Each special message sent under section 683 or 684 must go to the House and the Senate on the same day. If the House is not in session, the message goes to the Clerk of the House; if the Senate is not in session, it goes to the Secretary of the Senate. Each message is sent to the right committee in both chambers and printed as a document of each House. A copy must also go the same day to the Comptroller General, who must review the message and tell the House and Senate as quickly as possible: for a section 683 message, the facts about the proposed rescission or reservation and its likely effects; for a section 684 message, the facts about each proposed deferral, its likely effects, and whether the deferral is within existing law. If the information in a special message changes later, the President must send a supplementary message to both Houses and the Comptroller General explaining the change; that follow-up message is delivered, sent to committees, and printed the same way. Every special message and any supplementary message must be printed in the first issue of the Federal Register after it is sent. Also, by the 10th day of each month during a fiscal year, the President must send a report to the House and Senate listing all budget authority for that year for which he has sent section 683 or 684 messages, including the same details as in those messages; each monthly report must appear in the first issue of the Federal Register after it is sent.