request that agencies submit their views through a letter. Agencies may also choose to submit a letter on pending legislation without a congressional request. Such testimonies and letters must be submitted to OMB for clearance. OMB circulates legislative testimonies and letters to affected agencies for their review and resolves any issues, which includes ensuring that testimonies and letters comport with Administration policy and the President's Budget.
Other Legislative Communications – All transmittals to Congress communicating legislative views or recommendations must be submitted to OMB for clearance. In addition to testimonies and letters, an agency may communicate in another form, such as submitting talking points to convey comments (often informally) on a bill under consideration by Congress, or responding to questions for the record following a congressional hearing. Also, agencies have numerous requirements to submit certain reports to Congress, and reports that contain any legislative views or recommendations must be submitted to OMB for clearance to ensure consistency with Administration policy and the President's Budget.
Statements of Administration Policy (SAPs) – SAPs allow the Administration to state publicly its views on legislation for the record. Generally, the House releases a weekly schedule that provides notice of bills that will be considered the following week. The Senate schedule is ascertained informally. OMB coordinates with lead agencies and other EOP entities to determine if a SAP is desired on a given bill, and prepare the draft SAP if needed. Once drafted, SAPs are circulated to agencies for review and comment. Once cleared, a SAP is sent to the Congress by OMB's Legislative Affairs Office, and OMB publishes the SAP on its public website. Due to the timing between the notice and congressional action, SAPs are often cleared under tight time constraints. Agencies should anticipate hard deadlines on SAP review requests.
Enrolled Bills – Once a bill passes the House and Senate it is then enrolled and sent to the President for action -- either approval or disapproval. With regard to the timing of Presidential action, the Constitution permits the President ten days from receipt of the enrolled bill to take action (including holidays but excluding Sundays). This ten-day clock begins on the day after the bill is received.
To assist the President in deciding his course of action on a bill, OMB requests that each stakeholder agency submit its recommendation for the President's action on the bill. OMB requests a formal views letter from the lead agency or agencies. This letter must be signed by the head of the agency or another Presidential appointee. All formal enrolled bill views letters must provide a specific recommendation as to whether the President should approve/sign or disapprove/veto the enrolled bill. The enrolled bill views letters should also contain: (1) an analysis of the significant features of the bill; (2) a comparison of the enrolled bill with Administration proposals, if any, on the same subject; and (3) identification of any factors that make it necessary or desirable for the President to act by a particular date. Agencies' enrolled bill views letters are privileged communication, and agencies should be guided accordingly in determining their content. OMB also requests views from other affected agencies, which may provide their recommendations informally. Such agencies may indicate approval, no objection, no comment, or defer to a lead agency informally.
