PRIA Logo™
Title 2 — The CongressRelease 119-73not60

§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 Apr 3, 2026|Official source

Summary

When the Comptroller General finds that the President, the OMB Director, a department or agency head, or any other federal officer or employee plans to set aside funds or delay using budget authority that needs a special message under section 683 or 684, or has ordered, allowed, or approved that action, the Comptroller General must report the finding to both Houses of Congress. If the President has sent a special message to both Houses under section 683 or 684 but the Comptroller General thinks the message should have been sent under the other section, the Comptroller General must send a report to both Houses explaining why.

Full Legal Text

Title 2, §686

The Congress — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)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;
(b)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

Apr 3, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60