I hereby prescribe the following rules and regulations with regard to the preparation and submission of the budget and the conduct of the Bureau of the Budget:
Revision of the estimates.—Pursuant to the provisions of section 207 of the budget and accounting act, the Bureau of the Budget, under the supervision of the director and subject to review and determination by the President, shall assemble, revise, reduce, or increase the estimates of the departments or establishments as submitted to the bureau. The Director of the Budget shall determine the plan as to the contents, order, and arrangement of the estimates. In increasing or decreasing the estimates of the appropriations necessary for any department or establishment he shall take into consideration any proper reduction in working forces, reduction in compensation, and the elimination of unnecessary activities. Estimates, however, in respect to the principal or interest of the public debt shall be subject to revision only with the concurrence of the Secretary of the Treasury. For the purpose of assisting the President with information in the formation of business policy for the Government the estimates of appropriations and of expenditures and receipts, when assembled and revised by the bureau, shall be transmitted by the director to the President as soon as possible after their receipt from the departments and establishments by the bureau, in the form of a consolidated statement of estimated revenue and expenditure, with supporting schedules.
Concurrently with the transmission of the estimates by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to the President the Secretary of the Treasury shall transmit a statement for the information of the President showing, from the point of view of the Treasury, the relation between the estimated appropriations and expenditures and the estimated receipts of the Government. This statement shall contain all necessary memoranda and tables, together with such other comments as may be pertinent to the subject matter of the budget, including suggestions and recommendations as to how the revenue needs of the Government may be met. The Secretary of the Treasury shall at the same time prepare and transmit to the President, for incorporation in the budget, the figures for the actual expenditures of the Government for the last completed fiscal year, the figures for the actual and estimated receipts for the last, the current, and the ensuing fiscal years, required by subdivisions (b), (c), and (d) of section 201 of the budget and accounting act, and also the financial statements required by the provisions of subdivisions (f), (g), and (h) of the same section. The Secretary of the Treasury shall, if the estimated receipts for the ensuing fiscal year, on the basis of laws existing at the time the budget is transmitted, plus the estimated amounts in the Treasury at the close of the fiscal year in progress available for expenditure in the ensuing fiscal year, are less than the estimated expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year, make recommendations to the President for new taxes, loans, or other appropriate action to meet the estimated deficiency. If, on the other hand, the aggregate of such estimated receipts and such estimated amounts in the Treasury is greater than such estimated expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year, the Secretary, for the information of the President, shall make such recommendations and suggest such financial measures as in his opinion the public interest may require. The Director of the Budget shall make available to the Secretary of the Treasury, at his request, any information in the possession of the bureau or any of its employees in respect to the receipts and expenditures of the Government and any other matters that may be pertinent to the business of the Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury shall make available to the Director of the Budget, at his request, any information in the possession of the Treasury or any of its employees in respect to the receipts and expenditures of the Government and any other matters that may be pertinent to the business of the budget.
The Director of the Budget, in gathering information for the use of the President, acts for the President, and his calls upon the chiefs of bureaus and other administrative officers for purposes of consultation or information take precedence over the Cabinet head of a department or any head of an independent organization.