Before the 1974 Congressional Budget Act [0], it had been the law for 185 years that the president could simply refuse to spend money Congress had appropriated. He could hold back the cash even if he did spend other funds appropriated in the same law. That was the original line item veto.
Then Nixon tried to exercise his power to target specific projects and congressmen with an aggressive rescission project and Congress changed the system.
The current federal budget process was instituted in that law where Congress first authorizes all plausible spending and then appropriates only a smaller amount dedicated to specific programs and the president must spend that exact amount by law.
Congress tried to compromise between the two systems with a line item veto managed by Congress in 1996. The courts weren't ready to let the executive and legislature share spending power, especially when they were likely to be the referees and the post-1974 system persists.
Or, it persisted until about 1996. In recent years -- including all of the Obama presidency and the latter Bush years -- the Congressional budget process hasn't produced regular appropriations bills and has delivered only irregular authorizations. The process is supposed to produce at least twelve openly debated appropriations bills every year with participation by all of Congress. Instead a new system of continuing resolutions that limit all spending power to the president and the Senate majority leader and the House speaker in secret conferences has taken hold.
> In recent years -- including all of the Obama presidency and the latter Bush years -- the Congressional budget process hasn't produced regular appropriations bills and has delivered only irregular authorizations.
This uses an unusual distinction between "appropriation" and "authorization" (usually, policy language is "authorization", and then actual dedication of money to be spent on an authorized purpose is "appropriation"; CRs are appropriations, not authorizations.)
> The process is supposed to produce at least twelve openly debated appropriations bills every year with participation by all of Congress. Instead a new system of continuing resolutions that limit all spending power to the president and the Senate majority leader and the House speaker in secret conferences has taken hold.
CRs are appropriations. Congress votes on the rules by which CRs are considered, and on the CRs themselves. The negotiations for CRs, as those for regular budgets, often involve the White House and leadership from both Houses of Congress in various configurations, but if Congress chooses not to debate them thoroughly, that's a choice Congress makes. The power is still with the whole body of Congress, even if that body (by a majority in each House) chooses to defer to the leadership in each House.
Then Nixon tried to exercise his power to target specific projects and congressmen with an aggressive rescission project and Congress changed the system.
The current federal budget process was instituted in that law where Congress first authorizes all plausible spending and then appropriates only a smaller amount dedicated to specific programs and the president must spend that exact amount by law.
Congress tried to compromise between the two systems with a line item veto managed by Congress in 1996. The courts weren't ready to let the executive and legislature share spending power, especially when they were likely to be the referees and the post-1974 system persists.
Or, it persisted until about 1996. In recent years -- including all of the Obama presidency and the latter Bush years -- the Congressional budget process hasn't produced regular appropriations bills and has delivered only irregular authorizations. The process is supposed to produce at least twelve openly debated appropriations bills every year with participation by all of Congress. Instead a new system of continuing resolutions that limit all spending power to the president and the Senate majority leader and the House speaker in secret conferences has taken hold.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Budget_and_Impou...