Power of the purse
Also called: Congressional appropriations power · Topic: Parliamentary Procedure, Committees and Privileges · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The power of the purse is a legislature's control over public money. Government cannot tax or spend unless the people's representatives approve it. In India, Art. 265 says no tax can be collected without a law. Art. 266(3) says no money can leave the Consolidated Fund of India (the government's main account) without an appropriation law, which is a law that approves the spending. The Lok Sabha alone votes on demands for grants, the requests for money from each ministry (Art. 113). It may cut or refuse a demand, but it cannot increase one. In the U.S., Congress controls appropriations (approved spending) and uses that control to check the President. This power matters because a government that cannot get money cannot act, so control of money keeps the executive accountable.
Example
In April 2010, the opposition moved cut motions on fuel prices. A cut motion is a proposal to reduce a ministry's demand for money. If any cut motion had passed, the UPA government would have been defeated. The UPA survived the vote.
Don't confuse with
- Charged expenditure: some spending, such as the President's emoluments and Supreme Court judges' salaries, is charged on the Consolidated Fund. Parliament can discuss it but does not vote on it (Art. 113(1)). It is a deliberate exception to the yearly vote.
- Money bill: this is one specific kind of bill under Art. 110, which can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha. The power of the purse is the wider authority over all taxing and spending.