act of Congress

plural acts of Congress

1. PhilippineUSliterallygovernmentA statute enacted by the United States Congress or Congress of the Philippines.
2. UScolloquialidiomaticAn authorization that is extremely difficult to obtain, especially in a timely fashion.

   Does it take an act of Congress just to get a stop sign on a corner?

   3 more examples

   Should Frederick stick around — and apparently it would take an act of Congress to get him out of the ICU — he might take up where Molly had brutally left off.

   2000, Nevada Barr, Liberty Falling, page 79

   Since it seemed like getting a glass of wine was going to require an act of Congress, I quickly agreed.

   2003, E. Lynn Harris, A Love of My Own, page 54

   Another problem was bureaucratic: the transfer of the ship required, literally, an act of Congress. It was an agonizing process that ground along for twenty-six months, through the tenures of three secretaries of the navy, two presidents, and two mayors of New York.

   2008, Bill White with Robert Gandt, Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship, page 273