Executive Office of the President of the United States

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building at night.

In 1937, the Brownlow Committee, which was a presidentially commissioned panel of political science and public administration experts, recommended sweeping changes to the executive branch of the United States government, including the creation of the Executive Office of the President. Based on these recommendations, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 lobbied Congress to approve the Reorganization Act of 1939. The Act led to Reorganization Plan No. 1,[8] which created the EOP,[9] which reported directly to the president. The EOP encompassed two subunits at its outset: the White House Office (WHO) and the Bureau of the Budget, the predecessor to today's Office of Management and Budget, which had been created in 1921 and originally located in the Treasury Department. It absorbed most of the functions of the National Emergency Council.[10] Initially, the new staff system appeared more ambitious on paper than in practice; the increase in the size of the staff was quite modest at the start. However, it laid the groundwork for the large and organizationally complex White House staff that would emerge during the presidencies of Roosevelt's successors.[11]

Roosevelt's efforts are also notable in contrast to those of his predecessors in office. During the 19th century, presidents had few staff resources. Thomas Jefferson had one messenger and one secretary at his disposal, both of whose salaries were paid by the president personally. It was not until 1857 that Congress appropriated money ($2,500) for the hiring of one clerk. By Ulysses S. Grant's presidency (1869–1877), the staff had grown to three. By 1900, the White House staff included one "secretary to the president" (then the title of the president's chief aide), two assistant secretaries, two executive clerks, a stenographer, and seven other office personnel. Under Warren G. Harding, there were thirty-one staff, although most were clerical positions. During Herbert Hoover's presidency, two additional secretaries to the president were added by Congress, one of whom Hoover designated as his press secretary. From 1933 to 1939, as he greatly expanded the scope of the federal government's policies and powers in response to the Great Depression, Roosevelt relied on his "brain trust" of top advisers, who were often appointed to vacant positions in agencies and departments, from which they drew their salaries since the White House lacked statutory or budgetary authority to create new staff positions.

After World War II, in particular during the presidency of Dwight David Eisenhower, the staff was expanded and reorganized. Eisenhower, a former U.S. Army general, had been Supreme Allied Commander during the war, and reorganized the Executive Office to suit his leadership style.[12]

Today, the staff is much bigger. Estimates indicate some 3,000 to 4,000 persons serve in EOP staff positions with policy-making responsibilities, with a budget of $300 to $400 million (George W. Bush's budget request for Fiscal Year 2005 was for $341 million in support of 1,850 personnel).[13]

Some observers have noted a problem of control for the president due to the increase in staff and departments, making coordination and cooperation between the various departments of the Executive Office more difficult.[14]

The president had the power to reorganize the Executive Office due to the 1949 Reorganization Act which gave the president considerable discretion, until 1983 where it was renewed due to President Nixon's administration encountering "disloyalty and obstruction".[14]

The chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office and can therefore ultimately decide what the president needs to deal with personally and what can be dealt with by other staff, in order to avoid wasting the time of the president.

Senior staff within the Executive Office of the President have the title Assistant to the President, second-level staff have the title Deputy Assistant to the President, and third-level staff have the title Special Assistant to the President.[15]

The core White House staff appointments, and most Executive Office officials generally, are not required to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, although there are a handful of exceptions (e.g., the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the chair and members of the Council of Economic Advisers, and the United States Trade Representative).

The information in the following table is current as of January 20, 2021. Only principal executives are listed; for subordinate officers, see individual office pages.

Congress as well as the president has some control over the Executive Office of the President. Some of this authority stems from its appropriation powers given by the Constitution, such as the "power of the purse", which affects the Office of Management and Budget and the funding of the rest of federal departments and agencies. Congress also has the right to investigate the operation of the Executive Office, normally holding hearings bringing forward individual personnel to testify before a congressional committee.[3]

The Executive Office often helps with legislation by filling in specific points understood and written by experts, as Congressional legislation sometimes starts in broad terms.[3]

The United States Constitution provides checks and balances for the U.S. government through the separation of powers between its three branches: the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch.

The executive branch gives veto power to the president, allowing the president to keep the legislative branch in check. The legislative branch can overturn a president's veto with a two-thirds "supermajority" vote by both houses of Congress. The executive branch can also declare executive orders, effectively proclaiming how certain laws should be enforced. This can be checked by the judicial branch however who can deem these orders to be unconstitutional.[19]

Occasionally scholars have suggested the Executive Office has too much influence in the process of checks and balances. Scholar Matthew C. Waxman stated that the ‘executive possess significant informational and operational advantages’ and that the role that congress members face in scrutinizing the executive is ‘insufficient to the task’.[20] He believes that the executive can exert influential pressure over Congress due to the massive public image the role of being the executive has on a nation. The president can portray the legislature or judiciary negatively if they don't follow the executive's agenda. President Trump, in relation to his impeachment, arguably used this implied 'executive power' by criticising the legislature. Trump suggested that the Democrats within the legislature would "badly fail at the voting booth" and stated that the "attempted impeachment" was nothing more than an illegal, partisan coup."[21]

This table specifies the budget of the Executive Office for the years 2008-2017, and the actual outlays for the years 1993-2007.

• Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations
• Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations
• White House Records Office

• Executive Office of the President Archived August 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• The Debate Over Selected Presidential Assistants and Advisors: Appointment, Accountability, and Congressional Oversight Congressional Research Service
• Proposed and finalized federal regulations from the Executive Office of the President of the United States
• Works by Executive Office of the President of the United States at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Executive Office of the President of the United States at Internet Archive