“The President’s Intergovernmental Management Agenda”
by Bruce McDowell


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Executive Summary

This paper provides an introduction to the intergovernmental management policy arena, and then proceeds to:

• describe the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs,
• explore the elements of an Intergovernmental Management Agenda that should be considered by the next President, and
• call for rebuilding the nation’s capability to address intergovernmental policy issues within the federal government. 

For many generations, the federal government’s role has been expanding into additional program areas that require joint action with state and local governments.   However, when Congress enacted the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, something new began to happen.  The roles, responsibilities, and powers of the federal, state, and local governments began to become more tightly intertwined than ever before. 

The author identifies eight high priority intergovernmental issues for consideration by the next president. 

• Avoid unintended policy consequences by crafting intergovernmentally sensitive legislation and Regulations.
• Be sensitive to the financial health of the state-local sector, especially  as the federal government’s capacity to continue funding discretionary programs shrinks but the requirements of federal-aid programs continue.
• Streamline the design and processes used in federal-aid programs.
• Encourage federal interagency coordination of programs to states and localities. 
• Develop place-based performance and accountability goals and measures.
• Expand the use of incident management approaches for homeland security and emergency management
• Create an intergovernmental policy capacity within OMB or the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.  
• Sponsor an ongoing forum where all levels of government can come together regularly to pursue intergovernmental dialogues about the main issues of the day that affect them all. 

Related Resources

EOM Panel Minutes:
Topic presented at EOM Panel on May 27, 2008.

Associated Presentation Materials:
None

Other Related NAPA Materials:
See materials from the NAPA Standing Panel on the Federal System.