Number of legislative proposals per year, 1949-1996

 

Truman (D)                 97.3

Eisenhower (R)         145.9

Kennedy (D)                    287.7

LB Johnson (D)         295.2

Nixon (R)                  136.2

Ford (R)                            111.2

Carter (D)                  134.5

Reagan (R)                  81.3

Bush 41 (R)                 91.8

Clinton (D) (1st term) 111.8

 

Source, Rudalevige, Managing the President’s Program, p. 72

 

 

 

 

SOURCE OF LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS, by PERIOD

 

 

Decentralized

Mixed, Dept-led

Mixed, EOP-led

Centralized

1949-1954

26.6

19.9

27.2

26.3

1955-1960

33.3

32.1

27.7

7.0

1961-1966

27.3

24.1

30.1

18.6

1967-1972

15.6

26.7

26.3

31.4

1973-1978

19.5

26.4

25.6

28.5

1979-1984

16.2

26.0

29.7

28.1

1985-1990

26.2

23.3

24.4

26.1

1991-1996

22.4

22.4

34.1

21.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Average change in probabilities of Department-oriented vs. White House-oriented origin of legislation, correlated with various proposal characteristics

 

                                                                

                                                                                    Department          WHO/EOP

 

Proposal crosses agency jurisdictions                            -19.8                     +22.0

 

Total size of EOP staff                                         -13.1                     +16.0

 

Proposal reorganizes agency                                -14.9                     +22.3

 

New item, not been proposed before                    -25.3                     +18.6

 

Technical complexity of proposal                        +17.2                    -19.5

 

Ideological distance betw. President and Senate   -10.9                     +11.6

 

Size of budget deficit as % of Fed. Spending                 -14.3                     +15.5