Executive Order on ‘Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies’

On Feb. 18, the White House released an executive order entitled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies.” The order criticizes “previous administrations” for “allow[ing] so-called independent regulatory agencies’ to operate with minimal supervision,” thereby undermining accountability to the American people. In response, the order puts forward measures “to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch,” including a requirement that agencies “submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Executive Office of the President before publication in the Federal Register.”

The order instructs the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)  to “establish performance standards and management objectives” for agencies and to provide reports on agency performance to the president. OMB will review agency actions for “consistency” with presidential policy and “adjust such agencies’ apportionments by activity, function, project, or object, as necessary and appropriate, to advance the President’s policies and priorities.”

The order provides for additional consultation with the executive, including coordination with the White House Domestic Policy Council and the White House National Economic Council. Agency strategic plans are to be submitted to the director of OMB for “clearance prior to finalization.”

Finally, the order states: 

The President and the Attorney General, subject to the President’s supervision and control, shall provide authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch.  The President and the Attorney General’s opinions on questions of law are controlling on all employees in the conduct of their official duties. No employee of the executive branch acting in their official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General’s opinion on a matter of law, including but not limited to the issuance of regulations, guidance, and positions advanced in litigation, unless authorized to do so by the President or in writing by the Attorney General.

You can read the order here or below: