ABSTRACT
In intergovernmental relations, "coordination" adapting an individual decision within a set of inter-dependent decisions to the others in that set –has long merited attention by both practitioners and scholars. An explicitly articulated objective of Ronald Reagan's presidency has been to enhance the relative position of the states in the US federal system. In a 1975 study of A-95, general accounting office found that the inter-governmental review system was severely weakened by lack of federal support for the process, demonstrated by federal agency tolerance of "renegade" applications and by lack of agency feedback to clearinghouses. Office of management and budget (OMB) served as the intermediary between federal agencies and the states. In part because of this role OMB drew intense criticism, from federal and state participants alike, while coordinating federal agency regulation writing, serving as the liaison between agencies and the states, and organizing hearings, briefings, and meetings involving agencies and the states.
