Editors' Summary: The Antideficiency Act embodies the constitutional mandate that only Congress is empowered to appropriate public funds. The Act prohibits officers and employees of the United States from spending or contracting to spend funds which have not been duly appropriated by Congress. It therefore may serve to excuse the federal government's failure to comply with or enforce environmental statutes when Congress has not made a specific appropriation for that purpose.

In this Article, the author traces the development of the Antideficiency Act and explores the limits and exceptions to its mandate. He proposes several constitutional and administrative theories under which environmental plaintiffs might force federal compliance with environmental statutes despite the Act's prohibitions. The author concludes that application of these theories will ultimately benefit not only the environment, but the U.S. Constitution and the Act itself.