Sponsor
Richard Lynn Scott
Senator · R-FL
Allows the President, after consulting Treasury and OMB, to withhold obligations of certain budgetary resources to eliminate a projected fiscal-year deficit, excluding Social Security and Medicare.
Senator · R-FL
The bill gives the President short-term fiscal flexibility to lower projected deficits and protect markets while explicitly safeguarding Social Security and Medicare, but it concentrates unilateral authority that can cause sudden funding disruptions, undermine Congressional control, and create planning uncertainty for governments and service providers.
Seniors and Medicare beneficiaries: Social Security (Title II) and Medicare (Title XVIII) funds are explicitly excluded from covered budgetary resources, protecting those benefits from being withheld.
Taxpayers, investors, and middle-class families: The President can withhold obligations to reduce projected deficits and help stabilize markets and interest costs without waiting for new legislation.
Federal budget managers and the executive branch: Provides a short-term executive mechanism to manage projected funding gaps when Congress has not enacted offsetting measures.
Federal employees, contractors, and service recipients: Programs and contracts could face sudden funding delays or pauses if obligations are withheld, disrupting payrolls, payments, and service delivery.
Taxpayers and the constitutional balance: Grants the President substantial unilateral authority to suspend spending obligations, weakening Congressional control over appropriations.
Low-income individuals and local governments: Withholding obligations intended to cut deficits could delay critical services and aid that vulnerable populations and local governments rely on.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Official title: Provide authority and discretion to the President over budgetary resources to achieve a balanced budget.
Introduced February 26, 2026 by Richard Lynn Scott · Last progress February 26, 2026
Allows the President, after consulting Treasury and OMB, to refuse to obligate certain federal budgetary resources in a fiscal year when the President determines the year will end with a deficit, up to the amount needed to eliminate that deficit. The authority covers budgetary resources as defined in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act but explicitly excludes Medicare (Title XVIII) and Social Security OASDI (Title II). The provision operates notwithstanding the Impoundment Control Act.