Office of Legislative Affairs OLA

Presidents have always worked Congress, but the first formal White House congressional liaison office was set up under Dwight Eisenhower in 1953, led by Bryce Harlow. John F. Kennedy's liaison chief Lawrence O'Brien built it into a professional operation, and Lyndon Johnson, a former Senate majority leader, used it to push through the Great Society. Every administration since has had one, usually with separate teams for the House and the Senate.

The office tracks bills and votes, counts support for the President's priorities, negotiates with members and leadership, and coordinates the legislative staffs of the departments, which have their own congressional affairs offices. It manages the President's calls and meetings with lawmakers, helps move nominees through the Senate confirmation process, and conveys veto threats through formal statements of administration policy issued with the Office of Management and Budget.

Its director, an Assistant to the President who does not need Senate confirmation, is often a former congressional staffer or member with relationships on both sides of the aisle. The office's effectiveness depends heavily on whether the President's party controls Congress and on the size of the majority, since in a narrowly divided Congress a handful of members can decide a bill's fate.