93d Congress, 1st Session Senate Document No. 93-16

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BU D G ETVETO MESSAGE

MESSAGE

FROM

THE PRESIDENT OE THE UNITED STATES

RETURNING

WITHOUT APPROVAL THE BILL (S. 518) ENTITLED

TO ABOLISH THE OFFICES OF DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY

DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND

BUDGET, TO ESTABLISH THE OFFICE OF DIRECTOR,

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET, AND TRANSFER CERTAIN FUNCTIONS THERETO, AND TO ESTABLISH THE OFFICE OF DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF

MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

Ma y 21, 1973.—Ordered to be printed

S3-0I1

U.s. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 1973
To the Senate of the United States: I am today returning without my approval S. 518, a bill which would require Senate confirmation of those who serve as Director and Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. This legislation would require the forced removal by an unconstitu­ tional procedure of two officers now serving in the executive branch. This step would be a grave violation of the fundamental doctrine of separation of powers. In view of my responsibilities, it is my firm duty to veto this bill. Under present law, the Director and Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget are appointed by the President and serve at his pleasure. S. 518 would abolish these two positions effective thirty days after enactment and then provide for their immediate reestab­ lishment. If the officers now lawfully occupying these Office of Man­ agement and Budget positions were to continue to serve, they would have to be reappointed by the President, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. The constitutional principle involved in this removal is not equivo­ cal : it is deeply rooted in our system of government. The President has the power and authority to remove, or retain, executive officers ap­ pointed by the President. The Supreme Court of the United States m a leading decision, Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52,122 (1926), has held that this authority is incident to the power of appointment and is an exclusive power that cannot be infringed upon by the Congress. I do not dispute Congressional authority to abolish an office or to specify appropriate standards by which the officers may serve. When an office is abolished, the tenure of the incumbent in that office ends. But the power of the Congress to terminate an office cannot be used ns a back-door method of circumventing the President’s power to re­ move. With its abolition and immediate re-creation of two offices, S. 518 is a device—in effect and perhaps in intent—to accomplish Con­ gressional removal of the incumbents who lawfully hold those offices. Disapproval of this legislation is also required because of the nature of the positions it would subject to Senate confirmation. For over 50 years the Office of Management and Budget and its predecessor agency, the Bureau of the Budget, has been headed by a Director appointed by the President without Senate confirmation. The positions of Director and Deputy Director of the Office of Man­ agement and Budget were established in the Executive Office of the President to provide the President with advice and staff support in the performance of his budgetary and management responsibilities. These positions cannot reasonably be equated with cabinet and sub-cabinet posts for which confirmation is appropriate. The responsible exercise of the separate legislative and executive powers is a demonstration of the workability of the American system. But, if it is to remain workable, I must continue to insist on a strong delineation of power and authority, the basis of which is too funda­ mental to allow to be undermined by S. 518.

(1) S. Dor. 93-1
2

The point was made most succinctly by James Madison in 1789: “If there is a principle in our Constitution, indeed in any free con­ stitution more sacred than another, it is that which separates the legis­ lative, executive and judicial powers. If there is any point in which the separation of the legislative and executive powers ought to be main­ tained with great caution, it is that which relates to officers and offices.”

R ichard N ix o n.

The White House, May 18, 1973.

S. Doc. 93-16