Office of Management and Budget
Summary
The White House's own budget office, funded at $129 million and about 554 staff in FY2026, writes the President's Budget every year and must approve -- dollar by dollar -- how every other federal agency's appropriation is released before it can be spent, the Good Citizen series' entry on OMB.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
does two things no other office can. Under 31 U.S.C. Section 1105⧉, it prepares and transmits the President's Budget to Congress each year -- by law, no later than the first Monday in February. Under the Antideficiency Act⧉, it must also apportion -- subdivide by time or program -- every dollar of every agency's appropriation before that agency may spend it, within 20 days of the fiscal year's start or 30 days after enactment. Its regulatory arm, OIRA⧉, reviews agencies' economically 'significant' rules under Executive Order 12866 before they may publish.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Congress enacted $129,000,000⧉ for 's FY2026 Salaries and Expenses account -- flat with FY2024's and FY2025's actual $129 million⧉ levels, and $17.1 million (11.7%) below the $146,147,000 OMB itself requested⧉. 's own FY2027 budget submission estimates 554 direct civilian FTEs for FY2026⧉, up from 500 in FY2025. Measured against the Census Bureau's 341.8 million U.S. residents⧉ as of July 2025, that is about $0.38 per person.
View data as table
| FY2024 actual | 129 | flat baseline |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 actual | 129 | flat again |
| FY2026 requested | 146.1 | OMB's own ask: more staff, IT/cyber |
| FY2026 enacted | 129 | flat a third year |
Why is it good for society?
Apportionment turns a congressional appropriation into money an agency may actually spend -- and the reason a transparency check exists is that, in 2019, itself misused that power, withholding $214 million⧉ in Ukraine security assistance through apportionment footnotes. found in January 2020 that OMB violated the Impoundment Control Act⧉, because "faithful execution of the law does not permit" a President "to substitute his own policy priorities for those" Congress enacted into law. Congress answered by requiring OMB to post every apportionment document publicly⧉ within two business days.
- 's FY2026 enacted appropriation ($129M) is flat with FY2024 and FY2025's actual levels -- and $17.1M (11.7%) below what itself requested ($146.147M).
- 's own apportionment power was misused in 2019 -- found a $214M Impoundment Control Act violation -- which is why Congress now requires every apportionment document posted publicly within two business days.
Your handles.* To see a specific regulation currently under White House review, browse OIRA's EO 12866 dashboard⧉ on Reginfo.gov. To see how a specific appropriation was apportioned to any federal agency, check OMB's public apportionment site. To read the instructions sends every agency each year, see Circular A-11 on whitehouse.gov.
Sources(10) ▾
- U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 31 U.S.C. Chapter 11 -- The Budget and Fiscal, Budget, and Program Information (Section 1105, Budget Contents and Submission to Congress) (2026-01-01) — The current U.S. Code text of 31 U.S.C. Sec. 1105, the statutory requirement (originating in the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921) that the President submit an annual budget to Congress -- prepares this submission on the President's behalf. Direct fetch of the official House Code compilation succeeded. uscode.house.gov · original document
- U.S. Government Publishing Office, Title 5, Appendix -- Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1970 (compiled text, 84 Stat. 2085) (2010-01-01) — GPO's compiled U.S. Code Appendix text of Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1970 -- Sec. 102 designates the Bureau of the Budget as the Office of Management and Budget, and the plan's effective-date note ('Eff. July 1, 1970, 35 F.R. 7959, 84 Stat. 2085') is this entry's source for 's creation date under its current name. Direct govinfo.gov fetch succeeded. govinfo.gov · original document
- Congressional Research Service, Office of Management and Budget (OMB): An Overview (RS21665) (2023-06-22) — Congress's own nonpartisan research service's overview of -- source for the 1921 Bureau of the Budget creation (Budget and Accounting Act, 1921) and the 1939 move into the newly created Executive Office of the President (Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1939), plus its description of OIRA's review of 'significant' rules under E.O. 12866. Not primary law, but a legislative-branch analytic product whose statutory citations are independently verifiable. congress.gov · original document
- Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2026 -- Appendix, Executive Office of the President (Office of Management and Budget account) (2025-05-30) — 's own FY2026 Budget Appendix chapter for the Executive Office of the President -- the 'Office of Management and Budget / Salaries and Expenses' account gives the $146,147,000 FY2026 request (bill language), the FY2024 actual budget authority and employment (Program and Financing / Employment Summary tables). Direct govinfo.gov fetch succeeded. govinfo.gov · original document
- Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2027 -- Appendix, Executive Office of the President (Office of Management and Budget account) (2026-04-03) — 's own FY2027 Budget Appendix chapter for the Executive Office of the President, submitted April 2026 -- the most current official source for 's FY2025 actual and FY2026 estimated budget authority and employment, since it postdates enactment of the FY2026 appropriation. Direct govinfo.gov fetch succeeded. govinfo.gov · original document
- 119th Congress / U.S. Government Publishing Office, H.R. 7148 (Enrolled) -- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, enacted as Public Law 119-75 (Division C, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2026) (2026-02-03) — The enrolled bill text of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, signed into law as Public Law 119-75 on February 3, 2026 -- the 'OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET / SALARIES AND EXPENSES' paragraph gives the enacted $129,000,000 FY2026 appropriation this entry's budget KPI is built on. Direct govinfo.gov fetch succeeded. govinfo.gov · original document
- Congressional Research Service, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Reporting on Apportionments (IN12538) (2025-04-10) — Congress's own nonpartisan research service's explainer on 's apportionment function under the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. Sec.Sec. 1511-1519) -- source for the statutory apportionment deadline and the FY2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act requirement that post every apportionment document publicly within two business days. congress.gov · original document
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, Office of Management and Budget -- Withholding of Ukraine Security Assistance (B-331564) (2020-01-16) — 's own legal decision finding that violated the Impoundment Control Act when it used apportionment footnotes to withhold approximately $214 million in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds from the Department of Defense in 2019 -- this entry's mechanism-and-counterfactual source for why apportionment oversight matters. Direct gao.gov fetch succeeded. gao.gov · original document
- Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OMB), EO 12866 Regulatory Review -- Reginfo.gov (2026-07-16) — OIRA's own live public dashboard of regulations currently and historically under E.O. 12866 review -- cited in this entry's 'Your handles' block as a way for a reader to look up a specific pending rule. Direct fetch succeeded. reginfo.gov · original document
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration (Vintage 2025 national population estimate) (2026-01-27) — The Census Bureau's own Vintage 2025 national population estimate release, giving the U.S. resident population as of July 1, 2025 -- the per-resident denominator for this entry's cost-per-person KPI, per better_metrics.md's sourced-denominator discipline. Reused sealed capture already cited by good-citizen-cbo and good-citizen-gao. census.gov · original document
Comments
Always open. Logged-in readers can annotate paragraphs in place.
The Office of Management and Budget traces to the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921⧉ (P.L. 67-13), which created the Bureau of the Budget inside the Treasury Department; Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1939⧉ moved it into the newly created Executive Office of the President. Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1970⧉ renamed it the Office of Management and Budget, effective July 1, 1970. now sits inside the White House compound, turning a President's priorities into the government's actual spending plan.