Checks and Balances : When They Need Improvement

The 1970's where a decade of great change in the political arena. The aftermath of the civil rights sixties, as well as other political and international developments, such as Vietnam, intruded upon the world. Events moved to the point where the United States was once more forced to intervene in the affairs of others, and during these actions, changes in government were made to facilitate what had to be done.

On November 7, 1973, a law prescribing the balance of power between the president and Congress in declaring war was passed. The act requires the president to inform Congress within forty-eight hours of military action in a hostile area. Forces must be removed within sixty to ninety days unless Congress approves of the action or declares war. The resolution was prompted by the aggressive actions of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon without congressional approval or a declaration of war during the Vietnam War, and was passed even after Nixon's attempted veto.

A year later, the long evolution of centralized presidential influence over the budget process, as well as the specific abuses of the Nixon administration in impounding funds precipitated the Congressional Budget and Impoundments Act of 1974. The act requires both branches of Congress to vote approval of presidential requests to terminate programs through withholding funds, an action also known as "rescission requests". Another point of the act was that through an "impoundment resolution" either branch can also prevent the deferral of appropriated funds.

The real reason for the l974 act, however, was to revamp Congress's own budgetary process. Congress created a staff agency, the Congressional Budget Office, with the capacity to independently assess the budget data submitted by the president. The CBO also enabled Congress to link up spending and revenue policy, and to work from their own data, rather than using the president's budget estimates as a base upon which to make alterations.

Both acts passed by congress have had the effect of decreasing the authority of the executive branch while at the same time increasing the influence of the legislative. In the first, the war powers act, congress makes itself the sole arbitrator of extended military efforts on foreign soil, thereby furthering the influence a purely civilian body holds over military affairs. This act tipped the balance of power further over towards the legislative branch, lightening the load of influence wielded by the president.

The second act, the Congressional Budget and Impoundments Act of 1974, also limited the power the president held, while strengthening that of the congress, although this was a purely domestic matter. The president lost the power to terminate funding for programs at whim, while the congress simultaneously gained a new budget committee, one with the power to meet congressional goals, as well as a further hold over the executive branch with their "impoundment resolutions'.

So in conclusion, because of the political upheaval that occurred during the seventies(both domestic and international) The legislative branch saw fit to impose a few more checks on their executive counterpart, thus attempting to keep in balance the great scales which keep American government both even and just.