Challenging the budgetary order on the ground of law

Based on a field research on the political and administrative staff of the French National Assembly, this article traces the work of writing a law. Between 2013 and 2015, an ecologist deputy seized on the "new wealth indicators" to challenge the budgetary order. Thought as a resource to generalize the use of these tools, the law turns out to be a rigid framework which reduces the scope of her project. This case study helps us to understand how the political balance of power evolves by moving into the realm of the law.