Executive Office of the President of the United States


The Executive Office of the President of the United States is a group of agencies at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The EOP supports the work of the president. It consists of several offices and agencies, such as the White House Office, the National Security Council, and the Office of Management and Budget. Some of these play a very important role in the implementation and regulation of public policy.
The EOP is also referred to as a 'permanent government', with many policy programs, and the people who implement them, continuing between presidential administrations. This is because there is a need for qualified, knowledgeable civil servants in each office or agency to inform new politicians.
The civil servants who work in the Executive Office of the President are also regarded as nonpartisan and politically neutral, so that they can give impartial advice.
With the increase in technological and global advancement, the size of the White House staff has increased to include an array of policy experts to effectively address various fields. There are about 4,000 positions in the Executive Office of the President, most of which do not require confirmation from the U.S. Senate.
The Executive Office is overseen by the White House Chief of Staff, since March 31, 2020 held by Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, appointed by Donald Trump, the incumbent president of the United States.

History

In 1939, during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term in office, the foundations of the modern White House staff were created based on the recommendations of a presidentially commissioned panel of political science and public administration experts, known as the Brownlow Committee, which reported that the 'president needs help'. Roosevelt lobbied Congress to approve the Reorganization Act of 1939. The Act led to Reorganization Plan No. 1, which created the EOP, which reported directly to the president. The EOP encompassed two subunits at its outset: the White House Office 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. 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.
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 for the hiring of one clerk. By Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, the staff had grown to three. By 1900, the White House staff included one "secretary to the president", 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.
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.
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. For example, President Nixon struggled to manage all of his departments effectively.

Organization

The president has 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'.
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.
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.
The information in the following table is current as of July 1, 2019. Only principal executives are listed; for subordinate officers, see individual office pages.
AgencyPrincipal executiveIncumbent
White House OfficeAssistant to the President and Chief of StaffMark Meadows
National Security CouncilAssistant to the President for National Security AffairsRobert O’Brien
Council of Economic AdvisersChairman of the White House Council of Economic AdvisersTyler Goodspeed '
Council on Environmental QualityChairman of the Council on Environmental QualityMary Neumayr
Executive Residence Staff and OperationsWhite House Chief UsherTimothy Harleth
National Space CouncilExecutive Secretary of the National Space CouncilScott Pace
President's Intelligence Advisory BoardChairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory BoardSteve Feinberg
Office of AdministrationDirector of the Office of AdministrationMonica Block '
Office of Management and BudgetDirector of the Office of Management and BudgetRussell Vought
Office of National Drug Control PolicyDirector of National Drug Control PolicyJames W. Carroll
Office of Science and Technology PolicyDirector of the Office of Science and Technology PolicyKelvin Droegemeier
Office of the United States Trade RepresentativeUnited States Trade RepresentativeRobert Lighthizer
Office of the Vice President of the United StatesChief of Staff to The Vice PresidentMarc Short

White House Offices

The White House Office is a sub-unit of the Executive Office of the President. The various agencies of the EOP are listed above.
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.
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.

Executive Role in 'Checks and Balances' System

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.
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 scrutinising the executive is ‘insufficient to the task’. 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 will "badly fail at the voting booth" suggesting that the "attempted impeachment] is nothing more than an illegal, partisan coup."

The president

The president has the power to appoint officials to the various departments and so can try to politicize them, with the goal of having the staff reflect the policy positions of the president. This was a principal aim for President Reagan, who appointed officials with conservative policy goals similar to his own.

Budget history