Executive Policymaking: The Role of the OMB in the Presidency

Andrew Rudalevige; Meena Bose

doi:10.5771/9780815737964

Summary

A deep look into the agency that implements the president's marching orders to the rest of the executive branch

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is one of the federal government's most important and powerful agenciesbut it's also one of the least-known among the general public. This book describes why the office is so important and why both scholars and citizens should know more about what it does.

The predecessor to the modern OMB was founded in 1921, as the Bureau of the Budget within the Treasury Department. President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it in 1939 into the Executive Office of the President, where it's been ever since. The office received its current name in 1970, during the Nixon administration.

For most people who know about it, the OMB's only apparent job is to supervise preparation of the president's annual budget request to Congress. That job, in itself, gives the office tremendous influence within the executive branch. But OMB has other responsibilities that give it a central role in how the federal government functions on a daily basis. OMB reviews all of the administration's legislative proposals and the president's executive orders. It oversees the development and implementation of nearly all government management initiatives. The office also analyses the costs and benefits of major government regulations, this giving it great sway over government actions that affect nearly every person and business in America.

One question facing voters in the 2020 elections will be how well the executive branch has carried out the president's promises; a major aspect of that question centers around the wider work of the OMB. This book will help members of the public, as well as scholars and other experts, answer that question.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright Year: 2020
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-3795-7
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-3796-4
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: backcover1
Product Type: Monograph

1. Table of Contents No access
2. Foreword No access
3. Acknowledgments No access
4. Introduction: Challenges and Opportunities for OMB Leadership in U.S. Policymaking Today: The Honorable Jacob J. Lew No access
Understanding OMB's Role in Presidential Policymaking No access Pages 1 - 8
1. OMB, the President, and the Federal Budget No access
2. The Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Process: The View from Capitol Hill No access
3. The President's Budget Powers in the Trump Era No access
1. OMB's Role Inside the White House No access
2. Project Worth the Price: OMB and the Central Clearance of Legislation and Executive Orders No access
3. Learning from Failure: A "Failure CV" for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs No access
1. OMB in Its Management Role: Evidence from Surveys of Federal Executives No access
2. State of the Agency: Internal Developments at OMB No access
3. Guarding the Emperor's New Clothes: OMB, the Presidency, and the "Problem" of Neutral Competence in the Era of Trump No access
4. Conclusion: OMB and Presidential Transitions: Building a More Effective Government through a Transformed OFficed of Management and Budget No access
Appendix No access Pages 279 - 280
Contributors No access Pages 281 - 288
Index No access Pages 289 - backcover1