%0 Journal Article
%T The Office of Management and Budget: The Quarterback of Evidence
%A Kathy Stack
%J The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
%@ 1552-3349
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0002716218768440
%X During the Obama administration, the White House Office of Management and Budget¡¯s (OMB) leadership helped to initiate and cement evidence-based policymaking reforms across the federal government, particularly in social services programs. Notable accomplishments were in the design of outcome-focused programs that use and build evidence, the strengthening of agency evaluation capacity, and interagency data-linkage projects to harness administrative data. Here, I review those accomplishments and catalog the key assets and tactics that OMB used to help federal agencies increase their use of evidence and innovation. I also assess the shortcomings and limitations of the Obama-era OMB approach and draw conclusions about what could be done in the current or a future administration to further advance evidence-based policymaking in the executive branch. Specifically, I propose that Congress and the administration should work to improve agency evaluation capacity, assess and report on agencies¡¯ progress in using and building evidence, and establish an Intergovernmental Evidence and Innovation Council
%K evidence-based policy
%K Office of Management and Budget
%K White House
%K social policy
%K federal agencies
%K program evaluation
%K data
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002716218768440