Presidential Documents

6417 

Federal Register 

Vol. 73, No. 22 

Friday, February 1, 2008 

Title 3— 

The President 

Executive Order 13457 of January 29, 2008 

Protecting American Taxpayers From Government Spending 

on Wasteful Earmarks 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the Federal Government to be judicious 

in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. To ensure the proper use of taxpayer 

funds that are appropriated for Government programs and purposes, it is 

necessary that the number and cost of earmarks be reduced, that their 

origin and purposes be transparent, and that they be included in the text 

of the bills voted upon by the Congress and presented to the President. 

For appropriations laws and other legislation enacted after the date of this 

order, executive agencies should not commit, obligate, or expend funds 

on the basis of earmarks included in any non-statutory source, including 

requests in reports of committees of the Congress or other congressional 

documents, or communications from or on behalf of Members of Congress, 

or any other non-statutory source, except when required by law or when 

an agency has itself determined a project, program, activity, grant, or other 

transaction to have merit under statutory criteria or other merit-based decisionmaking. 

Sec. 2. Duties of Agency Heads. (a) With respect to all appropriations laws 

and other legislation enacted after the date of this order, the head of each 

agency shall take all necessary steps to ensure that: 

(i) agency decisions to commit, obligate, or expend funds for any earmark 

are based on the text of laws, and in particular, are not based on language 

in any report of a committee of Congress, joint explanatory statement 

of a committee of conference of the Congress, statement of managers 

concerning a bill in the Congress, or any other non-statutory statement 

or indication of views of the Congress, or a House, committee, Member, 

officer, or staff thereof; 

(ii) agency decisions to commit, obligate, or expend funds for any earmark 

are based on authorized, transparent, statutory criteria and merit-based 

decision making, in the manner set forth in section II of OMB Memorandum 

M–07–10, dated February 15, 2007, to the extent consistent with applicable 

law; and 

(iii) no oral or written communications concerning earmarks shall supersede statutory criteria, competitive awards, or merit-based decisionmaking. 

(b) An agency shall not consider the views of a House, committee, Member, 

officer, or staff of the Congress with respect to commitments, obligations, 

or expenditures to carry out any earmark unless such views are in writing, 

to facilitate consideration in accordance with section 2(a)(ii) above. All 

written communications from the Congress, or a House, committee, Member, 

officer, or staff thereof, recommending that funds be committed, obligated, 

or expended on any earmark shall be made publicly available on the Internet 

by the receiving agency, not later than 30 days after receipt of such communication, unless otherwise specifically directed by the head of the agency, 

without delegation, after consultation with the Director of the Office of 

Management and Budget, to preserve appropriate confidentiality between 

the executive and legislative branches. 


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6418 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 22 / Friday, February 1, 2008 / Presidential Documents 

(c) Heads of agencies shall otherwise implement within their respective 

agencies the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, consistent with 

such instructions as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

may prescribe. 

(d) The head of each agency shall upon request provide to the Director 

of the Office of Management and Budget information about earmarks and 

compliance with this order. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. For purposes of this order: 

(a) The term ‘‘agency’’ means an executive agency as defined in section 

105 of title 5, United States Code, and the United States Postal Service 

and the Postal Regulatory Commission, but shall exclude the Government 

Accountability Office; and 

(b) the term ‘‘earmark’’ means funds provided by the Congress for projects, 

programs, or grants where the purported congressional direction (whether 

in statutory text, report language, or other communication) circumvents otherwise applicable merit-based or competitive allocation processes, or specifies 

the location or recipient, or otherwise curtails the ability of the executive 

branch to manage its statutory and constitutional responsibilities pertaining 

to the funds allocation process. 

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed 

to impair or otherwise affect: 

(i) authority granted by law to an agency or the head thereof; or 

(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

relating to budget, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(b) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable 

law and subject to the availability of appropriations. 

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, 

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by any party 

against the United States, its agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

January 29, 2008. 

[FR Doc. 08–483 

Filed 1–31–08; 9:02 am] 

Billing code 3195–01–P 


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