The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act At 50: A Mid‐Life Crisis

Abstract The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act was passed 50 years ago to put the Congress on a more equal footing with the President. The law has controlled Presidential impoundments, but the budget process has gotten less timely. It has enabled the Congress to articulate a different fiscal path than the President, but the budget resolution has degenerated into a vehicle for political messaging. Its most significant results have been the use of reconciliation for major policy changes and the establishment and ascendency of the Congressional Budget Office as the main source of credible information on the federal budget.