OMB's role in the budget process does not
end when Congress passes and the President signs the annual appropriations bills (or, in more recent
years, the continuing resolutions to provide funding for a limited period
of time after the
fiscal year until the appropriations bills are agreed upon).195 OMB is intimately involved in budget execution — the way federal agencies carry out their work under the budgetary authority they have been granted.196 OMB affects budget execution through two different levers: the
formal specification lever, through which it «apportions» and otherwise defines how agencies spend the funds Congress has appropriated, and the informal monitoring lever, through which it oversees agencies» implementation
of their programs.