Economy, finance and labor

Executive Order 12857: Budget Control

President: Bill Clinton

Created fiscal 1994–1997 direct-spending targets, annual OMB review and a presidential response process for projected overages; the order later expired.

Status: Completed/expired.

Is Executive Order 12857 still in effect? No. Expired at the end of fiscal year 1997.

What does Executive Order 12857 do?

EO 12857 created direct-spending targets for fiscal years 1994–1997 and required OMB to review spending and receipts in presidential budgets. The fiscal 1997 budget’s Analytical Perspectives volume published the mandated comparison of targets, spending estimates and receipts. Its estimates placed projected current-law spending below the adjusted targets for 1995–1997; they were budget projections, not final outcomes. The order expired after fiscal 1997.

Administration position: The order said direct-spending targets and a response mechanism would strengthen budget control. That was the administration’s procedural policy judgment.
SignedAugust 4, 1993
Lead officeOffice of Management and Budget
Target yearsFiscal years 1994–1997

Before and after

Before the order

Budget statutes and the regular presidential budget process applied without this additional target-and-message mechanism.

After the order

OMB tracked the specified targets and the budget process included a defined response to overages during the covered years.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
OMB DirectorCalculate and adjust direct-spending targetsFor fiscal years 1994–1997
OMB and PresidentInclude annual reviews and any triggered special messageWith covered presidential budgets
PresidentRecommend legislation, offsets or no action with reasonsIf an overage triggered a message

What happened next

EO 12857 signed.

OMB published the fiscal 1997 review of direct spending, receipts and adjusted targets.

The order expired at the end of fiscal year 1997.