Budget Act of 1974 1973 1974 Congress appropriated money towards environmental project Nixon used executive veto power impoundment to refuse these funds Implied in Article 1 Section 7 Deficit causing high inflation and need to curb gov t spending Congress sees this as an abusive power by Nixon so they passed this Budget Act of 1974 Goals Raise congress power over budget eliminated impoundment power Created standing budget committees in both Houses Established congressional budget office Moved fiscal year from July 1 to October 1 Origin of Government Shutdown Nixon abusive power 1970s Budget Act 1974 Gov t shutdowns 1980s Problem with Budget Act Removed impoundment authority of President and requires congressional approval to impound gov t spending Train vs City of NY 1975 case of judicial review Supreme Court sided with Congress Line Item Veto Act of 1996 Enabled special form of veto on particular provisions of bill Introduced by Congress in 1995 signed by Clinton in 1996 Supreme Court overturned act in Clinton v City of NY 1998 o Judicial review o Argued that veto act violated Presentment Clause o Highly controversial Separation of Powers Checks and Balances Executive check on legislature o Impoundment authority o Presidential veto outlined in article 1 section 7 Legislative check on executive Budget act of 1974 no more impoundment authority Response to Nixon s abuse of power Consequence gov t shutdown Judicial review Train vs city of NY 1975 Clinton v City of NY 1998 Judicial check on executive Article 1 3 major initiatives o Assist 1 6 million college students repay loans o 1 million homeowners meet mortgage payments o 8 000 veterans find their jobs Nature of the times o Republican majority in house lack of bipartisanship o Many bills legislation were small and noncontroversial o Most unproductive session in American history Executive order Until 1952 no rules or guidelines on what could or could not do Drawbacks o Subject to judicial review o Cant appropriate money o Congress can block Eos Two conflicting perspectives 1 display of strong leadership a times of strong opposition in congress b 1948 Integration of armed forces c 1957 Eisenhower desegregation of public schools d Other times when in need of urgent action 2 criticisms abuse of authority political motivations a EO 9066 1942 forced removal of Japs and Germans during wartime b EO 10340 1952 all steel mill under fed control c EO 13233 2001 restricted public access to papers of former presidents Obamacare NSA Benghazi 1 Problems with Obamacare a Pros and cons of Obamacare b Good intentions but who pays for it Middle class 2 NSA spying on allies a I just don t know b Then again does he have to know everything 3 Benghazi Libya incident Sept 11 2012