Sponsors (24)
Official title: To strengthen and enhance the congressional power of the purse, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 9, 2025 by Brendan Francis Boyle · Last progress September 9, 2025
The bill significantly increases transparency, reporting, and oversight of appropriations and emergency spending—boosting accountability for taxpayers and Congress—but does so at the cost of greater administrative burdens, higher legal/operational risk for agencies and officials, and reduced executive flexibility that could complicate urgent or sensitive government responses.
Taxpayers, Congress, state and local governments, and the public gain much greater visibility into unused, expired, cancelled, and emergency-related federal balances, obligations, and legal interpretations, improving fiscal transparency and legislative oversight.
State and local governments and program recipients benefit because agencies are required to make appropriated funds available in time for prudent obligation, reducing delays in spending for programs and services.
Taxpayers may see reduced waste if agencies cancel indefinite-period appropriation balances that meet closure criteria, freeing funds for other priorities.
Federal executives and agencies lose flexibility to delay or reallocate funds, which could hinder the administration's ability to respond quickly to evolving priorities or emergencies.
Federal agencies and staff will face increased reporting, compliance, and oversight burdens that raise administrative costs and divert resources from program delivery.
Expanded publication and disclosure requirements (including OLC opinions and emergency documents) risk revealing sensitive deliberations or classified methods, creating national-security risks and interbranch tensions if mishandled.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Restricts executive withholding/deferral of appropriated funds, increases budget reporting and cancellation authority, and adds emergency-declaration reporting requirements.
Tightens congressional control over federal spending by limiting the executive branch’s ability to defer, withhold, or rescind appropriated funds, temporarily suspending expedited congressional floor procedures tied to rescission messages, and increasing budget transparency and reporting requirements. It also adds new reporting and notice requirements when the President declares or renews national emergencies and requires expanded disclosures in the President’s budget for selected future years. The bill requires agencies to notify key congressional committees when apportionments or conditions on availability could hinder prudent obligation of funds, creates new reporting of expired and cancelled balances in the President’s budget for FY2027–FY2031, authorizes cancellation of certain indefinite appropriation balances, and inserts additional reporting obligations tied to emergency declarations and executive orders invoking emergency statutory authorities. A temporary prohibition on a fast-track congressional procedure is set to expire January 20, 2029, while the new budget-reporting rules apply to FY2027–FY2031 budget submissions.