561, enacted April 3, 1939, is an American Act of Congress which gave the President of the United States the authority to hire additional confidential staff and reorganize the executive branch (within certain limits) for two years subject to legislative veto.

[2] As Governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt had a reputation for reorganizing government in order to achieve efficiency.

[4] The Economy Act of 1933, enacted in Roosevelt's Hundred Days to combat the Great Depression, gave the president the authority to engage in limited reorganization of the executive branch in order to achieve economic recovery goals.

[8][9] Many influential members of Congress, political scientists, and public administration experts had strongly criticized Roosevelt's preference for the proliferation of executive branch agencies, a strategy used by him to experiment with responses to the Great Depression, as inefficient.

Famously declaring "The President needs help,"[14] the committee's report advocated a strong chief executive, including among its 37 recommendations significant expansion of the presidential staff, integration of managerial agencies into a single presidential office, expansion of the merit system, integration of all independent agencies into existing Cabinet departments, and modernization of federal accounting and financial practices.

[8][11] Additionally, members of Congress were unhappy that the bill would further diminish the patronage system, abolish the position of Comptroller General (a position then held by a Republican), and disrupt congressional committee oversight of and relationships with executive branch agencies.

[17] However, the House, already upset over the extension of presidential influence and the reduction of its own authority, now saw the legislation as part of a Roosevelt power grab and tabled the bill.

Roosevelt was very active in the House and Senate primaries, working to "purge" the Democratic Party of Southern conservatives who had opposed the New Deal.

[19][20] Although largely unsuccessful, Roosevelt's actions had a major, positive impact on Congressional willingness to pass reorganization legislation.

Roosevelt and Byrnes agreed to have the bill originate in the House (which had killed it in 1937), to include a two-chamber legislative veto, and to grant reorganization authority for only two years.

[23] On January 31, Rep. John J. Cochran submitted a resolution requesting the formation of a House Committee on Governmental Reorganization, which was approved over strong Republican opposition the next day.

A revised version of the bill was reported by the committee on March 2, which contained the provisions outlined in December as well as a list of exempt agencies and new "fast-track" procedures to limit debate and move any concurrent resolutions opposing reorganization out of committee within 10 days.

[28] An amendment by Senator Byrd making efficiency and economy the official goal of the bill was adopted on March 20.

[32] A joint House–Senate conference committee reported a compromise bill on March 27 which retained the fast-track procedures, the legislative veto, and the "efficiency and economy" goal.

Brownlow, Gulick and Merriam met with Budget Director Harold D. Smith beginning in March, and presented reorganization proposals to Roosevelt on April 23.

The first, which received little debate in Congress and proved noncontroversial, permitted the president to hire six assistants (whose pay was capped at $10,000 a year [$163,143 in 2012.

[2][33][41] The act required a simple majority vote in the Senate to approve a concurrent resolution on any reorganization plan.

It created the Federal Security Agency, bringing together the Social Security Board, U.S. Employment Service, Office of Education, Public Health Service, National Youth Administration, and Civilian Conservation Corps; created the Federal Works Agency, bringing together the Bureau of Public Roads, Public Buildings Branch of the Procurement Division, Branch of Buildings Management of the National Park Service, United States Housing Authority, Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, and Works Progress Administration; and created the Federal Loan Agency, bringing together the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Electric Home and Farm Authority, Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Federal Housing Administration, and Export-Import Bank of the United States.