2018 Fiscal Law Deskbook

Book excerpt: A. The Appropriations Process. 1. U.S. Constitution, Art. I, § 8, grants Congress the ". . . power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States . . . ." 2. U.S. Constitution, Art. I, § 9, provides that "[N]o Money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law." B. The Supreme Court's Fiscal Philosophy: "The established rule is that the expenditure of public funds is proper only when authorized by Congress, not that public funds may be expended unless prohibited by Congress." United States v. MacCollom, 426 U.S. 317 (1976).