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Title 2, The CongressRelease 119-110

§686 Reports by Comptroller General

Title 2 › CHAPTER 17B — IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL › SUBCHAPTER II — CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCISSIONS, RESERVATIONS, AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET AUTHORITY › § 686

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

When the Comptroller General finds that the President, the Director of OMB, a department or agency head, or any other federal officer is creating a reserve or delaying budget authority that should have triggered a special message under sections 683 or 684, and the President did not send that special message, the Comptroller General must report the reserve or deferral and any available details to both Houses of Congress. That report will be treated the same as a special message sent by the President for purposes of sections 682–688 and will be considered a special message under section 683 or 684. If the President did send a special message under section 683 or 684 but the Comptroller General believes it was filed under the wrong section, the Comptroller General must report to both Houses explaining why.

Full Legal Text

Title 2, §686

The Congress, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Failure to transmit special message
If the Comptroller General finds that the President, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the head of any department or agency of the United States, or any other officer or employee of the United States—
(1)is to establish a reserve or proposes to defer budget authority with respect to which the President is required to transmit a special message under section 683 or 684 of this title; or
(2)has ordered, permitted, or approved the establishment of such a reserve or a deferral of budget authority;
and that the President has failed to transmit a special message with respect to such reserve or deferral, the Comptroller General shall make a report on such reserve or deferral and any available information concerning it to both Houses of Congress. The provisions of sections 682 to 688 of this title shall apply with respect to such reserve or deferral in the same manner and with the same effect as if such report of the Comptroller General were a special message transmitted by the President under section 683 or 684 of this title, and, for purposes of sections 682 to 688 of this title, such report shall be considered a special message transmitted under section 683 or 684 of this title.
(b)Incorrect classification of special message
If the President has transmitted a special message to both Houses of Congress in accordance with section 683 or 684 of this title, and the Comptroller General believes that the President so transmitted the special message in accordance with one of those sections when the special message should have been transmitted in accordance with the other of those sections, the Comptroller General shall make a report to both Houses of the Congress setting forth his reasons.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was formerly classified to section 1405 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.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Reaffirmation Pub. L. 100–119, title II, § 206(c), Sept. 29, 1987, 101 Stat. 786, provided that: “section 1015 and 1016 of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 [2 U.S.C. 686, 687] are reaffirmed.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

2 U.S.C. § 686

Title 2, The Congress

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110