The Statement and Account Clause: A Forgotten Constitutional Mandate for Federal Reporting

The Constitution provides: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. This Clause establishes two related duties: a negative appropriations requirement and an affirmative reporting obligation. While several constitutional scholars have explored the appropriations requirement, there is limited scholarship on the corollary reporting obligation. Even among legal scholars, the Statement and Account Clause has been considered only in the context of national security matters.

This Note marks a first step in filling this void.