CHAPTER TEn • THE PREsidEnCy 241
Office of Management
and Budget (OMB)
A division of the Executive
Office of the President.
The OMB assists the
president in preparing
the annual budget,
clearing and coordinating
departmental agency
budgets, and supervising
the administration of the
federal budget.
National Security
Council (NSC)
An agency in the Executive
Office of the President that
advises the president on
national security.White House staff members are closest to the president and may have considerable
influence over the administration’s decisions. Often, when presidents are under fire for
their decisions, the staff is accused of keeping the chief executive too isolated from criti-
cism or help. Presidents insist that they will not allow the staff to become too powerful,
but given the difficulty of the office, each president eventually turns to staff members for
loyal assistance and protection.The office of management and Budget. The Office of management and Budget
(OmB) was originally the Bureau of the Budget, which was created in 1921 within the
Department of the Treasury. Recognizing the importance of this agency, Franklin D.
Roosevelt moved it into the White House Office in 1939. Richard Nixon reorganized the
Bureau of the Budget in 1970 and changed its name to reflect its new managerial func-
tion. It is headed by a director, who drafts the annual federal budget that the president
presents to Congress each January for approval. In principle, the director of the OMB
has broad fiscal powers in planning and estimating various parts of the federal budget,
because all agencies must submit their proposed budget to the OMB for approval. In real-
ity, it is not so clear that the OMB truly can affect the greater scope of the federal budget.
The OMB may be more important as a clearinghouse for legislative proposals initiated in
the executive agencies.The national security Council. The national security council (nsc) is a link
between the president’s key foreign and military advisers and the president. Its members
consist of the president, the vice president, and the secretaries of State and Defense, plus
other informal members. The NSC is managed by the president’s assistant for national
security affairs, also known as the national security adviser.THE viCE PREsidEnCy
The Constitution does not give much power to the vice president. The only formal duty is
to preside over the Senate—which is rarely necessary. This obligation is fulfilled when the
Senate organizes and adopts its rules and also when the vice president is needed to decide
a tie vote. In all other cases, the president pro tem manages parliamentary procedures
in the Senate. The vice president is expected to participate only informally in senatorial
deliberations, if at all.The vice President’s Job
Vice presidents have traditionally been chosen by presidential nominees to balance the
ticket by attracting groups of voters or appeasing party factions. If a presidential nominee
is from the North, it is not a bad idea to have a vice-presidential nominee who is from the
South. If the presidential nominee is from a rural state, perhaps someone with an urban
background would be most suitable as a running mate. Presidential nominees who are
strongly conservative or strongly liberal would do well to have vice-presidential nominees
whose views lie more in the middle of the political road.
In recent presidential elections, however, vice-presidential candidates have often been
selected for other reasons. Barack Obama picked Joe Biden to be his running mate in
2008 to add gravitas (seriousness) and foreign policy experience to the ticket. Republican
presidential candidate John McCain’s choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin balanced the
ticket not only by gender, but also politically. Social conservatives, many of whom were
suspicious of McCain, gave enthusiastic support to Palin. In 2012, Republican presidentialLO5: Evaluate the role of the
vice president, and describe what
happens if the presidency becomes
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