Haley Stevens: “The President's advisors cannot change the definition of budget authority to permit him to reach this provision. As a…”

“The President's advisors cannot change the definition of budget authority to permit him to reach this provision. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee I was particularly concerned with the precise nature of the authority delegated to the President, and worked very hard along with my staff to ensure that the definitions were clear and unambiguous. That is the reason for the detailed definition in section 1026 of the Budget Act, as added by the Line Item Veto Act, which incorporates the long established definition of budget authority in section 3 of the Budget Act. Is it the Senator from New Mexico's understanding that prior to the attempted cancellation of section 642 that the President's own documents classified employee contributions to retirement accounts as governmental receipts that are counted as revenue and not offsetting receipts that offset budget authority and outlays?”