United States Office of Management and Budget - Definition and Overview

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States which is tasked with coordinating United States Federal agencies. A "stop-and-think shop," it is a senior management team of the White House. The OMB performs this coordination by gathering and filtering budget requests, by issuing circulars dictating agency management practices, and by reviewing agency regulations. The current director is Joshua Bolten.

The OMB was originally set up by Warren Harding as the Bureau of the Budget. It was established in its present form during the Nixon administration: the first Office included Roy Ash (head), Paul O'Neill (assistant director), Fred Malek (deputy director) and Frank Zarb (associate director) and two dozen others. As of 2004, over 500 people were part of OMB.

Jim Lynn was the head of the OMB under Gerald Ford, but left to head Aetna Insurance.

Richard Darman served as Director in the Bush (41)Administration. Leon Panetta, Alice Rivlin, Frank Raines, and Jack Lew each served as Director during the Clinton Administration.

In 2001, George W. Bush selected Mitch Daniels to direct the OMB. Daniels served until 2003, when he left to run for Governor of the state of Indiana. He was replaced by Joshua B. Bolten.

Related Links

• Office of Management and Budget (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/) - organization's web site
• Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs