                          TITLE 2--THE CONGRESS
 
           CHAPTER 17B--IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL AND LINE ITEM VETO
 
  SUBCHAPTER II--CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCISSIONS, 
             RESERVATIONS, AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET AUTHORITY
 
Sec. 684. Proposed deferrals of budget authority


(a) Transmittal of special message

    Whenever the President, the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget, the head of any department or agency of the United States, or 
any officer or employee of the United States proposes to defer any 
budget authority provided for a specific purpose or project, the 
President shall transmit to the House of Representatives and the Senate 
a special message specifying--
        (1) the amount of the budget authority proposed to be deferred;
        (2) any account, department, or establishment of the Government 
    to which such budget authority is available for obligation, and the 
    specific projects or governmental functions involved;
        (3) the period of time during which the budget authority is 
    proposed to be deferred;
        (4) the reasons for the proposed deferral, including any legal 
    authority invoked to justify the proposed deferral;
        (5) to the maximum extent practicable, the estimated fiscal, 
    economic, and budgetary effect of the proposed deferral; and
        (6) all facts, circumstances, and considerations relating to or 
    bearing upon the proposed deferral and the decision to effect the 
    proposed deferral, including an analysis of such facts, 
    circumstances, and considerations in terms of their application to 
    any legal authority, including specific elements of legal authority, 
    invoked to justify such proposed deferral, and to the maximum extent 
    practicable, the estimated effect of the proposed deferral upon the 
    objects, purposes, and programs for which the budget authority is 
    provided.

A special message may include one or more proposed deferrals of budget 
authority. A deferral may not be proposed for any period of time 
extending beyond the end of the fiscal year in which the special message 
proposing the deferral is transmitted to the House and the Senate.

(b) Consistency with legislative policy

    Deferrals shall be permissible only--
        (1) to provide for contingencies;
        (2) to achieve savings made possible by or through changes in 
    requirements or greater efficiency of operations; or
        (3) as specifically provided by law.

No officer or employee of the United States may defer any budget 
authority for any other purpose.

(c) Exception

    The provisions of this section do not apply to any budget authority 
proposed to be rescinded or that is to be reserved as set forth in a 
special message required to be transmitted under section 683 of this 
title.

(Pub. L. 93-344, title X, Sec. 1013, July 12, 1974, 88 Stat. 334; Pub. 
L. 100-119, title II, Sec. 206(a), Sept. 29, 1987, 101 Stat. 785.)

                          Codification

    Section was formerly classified to section 1403 of Title 31 prior to 
the general revision and enactment of Title 31, Money and Finance, by 
Pub. L. 97-258, Sec. 1, Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 877.


                               Amendments

    1987--Pub. L. 100-119 amended section generally, substituting 
substantially similar provisions in subsecs. (a) and (c) and 
substituting subsec. (b) for former subsec. (b) which read as follows: 
``Any amount of budget authority proposed to be deferred, as set forth 
in a special message transmitted under subsection (a) of this section, 
shall be made available for obligation if either House of Congress 
passes an impoundment resolution disapproving such proposed deferral.''

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 682, 685, 686 of this title.
