Administrative, patent, purchasing, and reporting clauses imposed a framework without removing executive flexibility. Reports were due at least every ninety days, but the president could withhold material he considered incompatible with the public interest. Later appropriations could expand the money available beyond the amount named earlier in the act. Congress accepted something close to a strategic blank cheque because aid was sold as the least costly way to keep American forces out of a European war.
Chapter · 1:50:27-1:56:56
Congressional reporting with wide presidential discretion
The act required regular reports but let the president withhold information and draw on later appropriations, producing something close to a strategic blank check.