One of the most important section of The Office of Management and Budget (see below) is the Historical Tables which provides data on budget receipts, outlays, surpluses or deficits, Federal debt, and Federal employment over an extended time period, generally from 1940 or earlier to 2012 or 2016. To the extent feasible, the data have been adjusted to provide consistency with the 2012 Budget and to provide comparability over time. The Tables have outlays by agency starting in 1962 and going to the current year.
The Bureau of the Budget, OMB's predecessor, was established as a part of the Department of the Treasury by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which was signed into law by President Warren Harding. The Bureau of the Budget was moved to the EOP in 1939, and reorganized into OMB in 1970 during the Nixon Administration In the 1990s, OMB was reorganized to remove the distinction between management staff and budgetary staff by combining those dual roles into each given program examiner within the Resource Management Offices. The OMB's predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies. In helping to formulate the President's spending plans, the OMB evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among agencies, and sets funding priorities. The OMB ensures that agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the President's Budget and with Administration policies.