Evaluate the view that domestic policy is dominated by the President and not by Congress. Flashcards
Introduction - Themes
- Informal Powers
- Divided Government
- Finance
Introduction - Argument
Domestically the President holds very little legislative powers - they are overrun by Congress the majority of the time and make little progress towards achieving their aims
President - Informal Powers - Point
The President has many informal powers, not granted by the Constitution, that grant them significant powers to dominate Congress. The two main ones are executive order and vetoes
President - Informal Powers - Examples
- Trump used the most executive orders since WWII including one which stopped people from a number of prodominatly Muslim countries coming to the US
- Joe Biden has only vetoed 2 bills, however, Trump vetoed 10 including the Iran War Powers and the Yemen War Powers Resolution
Congress - Informal Powers - Point
The President’s informal powers have strong checks in place - this means that the President cannot dominate domestic policy
Congress - Informal Powers - Examples
- Presidential vetoes can be overturned by Congess. Trump had his veto on the National Defence Authorization Act for 2021 overturned by Congress
- Executive orders are not legally binding meaning they can be overturned by the next President - Biden has overturned the majority of Trump’s immigration legislation
President - Divided Government - Point
When the President has a united government it would appear that they have significant influence over domestic policy as they are able to pass many bipartisan bills that support their agenda
President - Divided Government - Examples
- After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wage in June 2022, Biden was keen to protect the right to gay marriage. He was able to pass the Respect for Marriage Act
- After the schooling shooting in Uvalde Texas in May 2022, Biden was able to pass a gun reform bill which made it illegal to sell firearms to people with mental illnesses
Congress - Divided Government - Point
Out of the past 30 years, 10.5 of those have been a united government, meaning more often than not a President is acting with a divided government, this makes it exceptionally difficult to pass any legislation
Congress - Divided Government - Examples
- The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act aims to fend off attempts acorss the country by Republicans to erode easy access to vote. This has passed in the House; however, the Republicans in the Senate have prevented the bill from advancing
- Biden was able to pass his Rescue Plan Act which was design to combat the covid pandemic. Due to Joe Manchin’s opposition in the Senate the bill was reduced to a reconcilliation bill which meant it was only valid for 1 year
President - Finance - Point
The Constitution grants the president the ‘power of the purse’ this gives them many financial powers including the ability to prepare an annual budget
President - Finance - Examples
- Biden was able to pass his annual budget in 2022. It passed in Senate 68 to 31 and in the House of Representatives 225 to 201
- Trump was able to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 - this included reducing tax rates for businesses and individuals, increasing family tax crediby and limiting local income taxes
Congress - Finance - Point
Even though the President is dictated financial powers within the Constitution, they are still heavily checked and lack the ability to fully achieve their aims
Congress - Finance - Examples
- Presidents can have many issues passing their budgets, if Congress refuses to cooperate, they can end up in federal shut down as they did in 2013 under Obama when he could not pass the Continuing Appropriation Act of 2014
- Republicans in the House are threating to not approve plans to raise the debt ceiling which could result in another shutdown or worse for Biden
