143-year-old law stirs fears during shutdown

[Moonglow]

143-year-old law stirs fears during shutdown - Yahoo Finance

Administration officials now live in fear of a 19th-century law that could get them fired, penalized or even imprisoned if they make the wrong choices while the government is shut down.

The law is the Antideficiency Act, passed by Congress in 1870 (and amended several times), which prohibits the government from incurring any monetary obligation for which the Congress has not appropriated funds.

Congress passed the law as part of a struggle-dating back to the nation's founding-for control over the power of the purse. Some presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, would incur obligations for which Congress had to appropriate funds after the fact.