Per Table I in the 2012 Congressional Research Service report by Hogue, only once has presidential reorganization authority been granted without expiration date. That was the Economy Act of 1932 for the authority's first possessor, President Herbert Hoover, during the Great Depression. Adding an expiration date (Mar. 3, 1935), the Act was amended eight months later on Mar. 3, 1933, a day prior to the first inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR).

When Hoover signed the Economy Act of 1932 into law (i.e., prior to any of its amendments), he disparaged the legislation, stating, per the Hogue report, that the "bill is so framed as to render abolition or consolidation of the most consequential commissions and bureaus impossible of consummation until some months after the next session of Congress."

To explain in more detail, by the time Hoover submitted his first reorganization proposals in 1932, he was already a lame duck, defeated by President-Elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Per the Hogue report: The Economy Act of 1932 "statute was enacted on June 30, 1932, during the first session of the 72nd Congress (1931-1932) [... That session of] Congress adjourned on July 16, 1932, and it did not reconvene until December 5, 1932. The period between enactment and adjournment--16 days--seemingly would have been of insufficient duration to allow an executive order [EOs were used for presidential reorganization authority until the Reorganization Act of 1939 which ushured in the presidential use of "reorganization plans" instead] to go into effect under the congressional review and disapproval provision of the statute, even if it had been submitted upon enactment. Perhaps for this reason, President Hoover did not submit executive orders under the act to Congress until December 9, 1932 [...] By this time, the President had been defeated in his bid for reelection, and he was completing his term in office." Congress rejected all 11 of Hoover's reorganization executive orders.

Created by Douglas Lucas in May 2025 as a footnote for his [add date here] article at [add news outlet name here], "[add article title here and link]".