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President Flashcards

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1
Q

Domestic Politics

A

Issues within the USA that directly concern citizens, for example gun control, healthcare and racial issues.

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2
Q

Electoral mandate

A

An electoral mandate is the permission granted to a political leader or winning party to govern and act on their behalf.
E.G President Biden was elected in 2020, the mandate is in effect as long as he is in power.

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3
Q

Executive branch

A

This is headed by the president and is one of the three branches of government, the other two are the legislative branch and the Judiciary.

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4
Q

Executive Orders

A

This is an official document issued by the executive branch with the force of law, through wich the president directs federal officials to take certain actions.
They can be a alternative to legislation in congress.

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5
Q

Unified government

A

This is where both houses of congress and the presidency are controlled by the same party.

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6
Q

Formal sources of presidential power

A
  • Given and outlined by Article II of the consitution
  • Head of state
  • Head of government
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7
Q

Head of Government

A

The president is the chief executive and as such is head of the executive branch. Article II hands the president therefore some ‘enumerated’ powers that have been explicitly written in the consitution.

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8
Q

Enumerated powers

A
  • Executive powers
  • Legislative powers
  • Appointment powers
  • Foreign affaris powers
  • The power of pardon
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9
Q

Executive powers

A
  • Chief executive of the federal government
  • Submit the annual budget
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10
Q

Presidential power - Submit the annual budget

A
  • The budget is drawn up by The Office of Management of the budget (OMB), part of the executive office. The president then submits it to congress where it has to be approved.
  • This is followed by a lengthy bargaining and negotiation process between congress and the president, particulary if they are controlled by opposing parties.
    ESSAY E.G
  • 2019 government shutdown, the longest in US history.
  • It occured when the 116th congress and the president could not agree on an approprations bill to fund the operations of the federal government for the 2019 fiscal year.
  • 9 executive departments had to shutdown as a result.
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11
Q

Legislative powers

A
  • Proposing legislation
  • Signing legislation
  • Vetoing legislation
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12
Q

Presidential power - Propose legislation

A
  • Article II gives the power to propose legislation to congress.
  • He may do this through a annual state of union adress.
  • He can do this at anytime, by calling a press conference ir making a announcement at a public event.
    ESSAY E.G
  • In 2018 Donald Trump used his state of union adress to promise a crackdown on immigration, keeping open Guantanamo Bay and blostering the USAs nuclear arsenal.
  • In Bidens 2021 SoU he outlines the American Job plan, part of the Build Back Better ACT.
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13
Q

Presidential Power - Signing legislation

A
  • Once a bill has been passed through congress presidents have several options, the most likely is to sign the bill into law.
  • This can be done in a elaborate ceremony with relevant members of congress and officials.
  • A president may do this in order to take credit for legislation and publicly show his support for a certain issue, possibly in a bid to increase his poppularity.
    ESSAY E.G
  • At the Obamacare (ACA) ceremony in 2010, senior democrats were joined with a 11 year old Marcelas Owens, who campaigned after his mum dies without health insurance.
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14
Q

Presidential Power - Vetoing Legislation

A

Instead of signing a bill into law, the prime minister has the option to veto a vill after it has passed the neccesary processes in the legislator, this will result in the bill being sent back to congress.
- Vetos can be overturned by congress, this is only possible if 2/3 of each chamber agree.
- Over 1500 presidential vetos have been used.
- Trump made 8 vetos.
- Obama made 12 and only the final one was overturned.
ESSAY E.G
Clinton, Partial-birth abortion bill Veto 1996
Bush, in 2007 Congress passed a bill to withdraw from Iraq, this was vetoed by buch and it was failed to be overturned.

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15
Q

Appointment powers

A
  • Nominating executive branch officials
  • Nominating all federal judges
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16
Q

Presidential Power - Nominate executive branch officials

A

The president has the power to nominate all officials in the executive branch. The most important of such are the heads of the 15 executive departments that make up the cabinet. Treasury, State and argiculture etc.
- All appointments must be confirmed by a single majority vote in the senate.
ESSAY E.G
Biden appoited Antony Blinken as his secratary of state in 2021.

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17
Q

Presidential Power - Nominate all federal judges

A

These include SCOTUS justices, but also judges that sit on federal trial and appeal courts.
- All appointments are for life, the senate must confirm all of these by a simple majority.
ESSAY E.G
Donald Trump nominate federal appeal court justice Britt Grant
He also appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanuagh and Amy Coney Barrett.

18
Q

Presidential Power - Foreign affairs powers

A
  • Acting as commander-in-chief
  • Negotiating treaties
19
Q

Presidential Power - Acting as commander-in-chief

A

Between the 1940s and 1980s this power was hugely signifcant and presidents were seen as playing a highly signifcant role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
- After the fall of the USSR this power declined in importance, but after 2001 and the events of semptember 11th this all changed, bush was forced to intervene in Afghanistan and Iraq, whilst Obama was drawn into crisis in Iraq, Libya and Syria.
- Congress has the power to declare war, given to it by the constitution. But the President now can ask Congress to ‘authorise’ the use of troops.

20
Q

War Power Resolution 1973

A
  • Checks the presidents power to commit the USA towards armed conflict.
  • The President can send the US armed forces into action abroad only by declaration of war by congress, authorization, or in a case of ‘national emergency created by attack upon the US its territories or possessions’.
  • The president must notify congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action, if congressional authorization for military force a a decleration of war is not given by congress, toops must no remain for more than 60 days.
21
Q

Presidential Power - Negotiating treaties

A
  • Presidents have the power to negotiate international treatiers.
  • However these must be ratified by a 2/3 majority in the senate
    ESSAY E.G
  • The senate rejected 7 treaties in the 20th century including Clintons Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which would have prohibited ‘any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion’. This failed to get even a simple majority in the senate.
  • Obamas ‘New start’ treaty was a nuclear arms treaty with russia reducing the number of strategic missile launchers in 2011.
  • USA-Mexico-Canada trade agreement 2020 replaced NAFTA that had expired, ratified by senate.
22
Q

Presidential Power - Pardon

A

Presidents have the power of Pardon.
- In 1974 Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon over all Watergate related matters.
- Clinton pardoned 140 people on his final day in office.
- Obama pardoned only 70 people in his first 7 years in office, but 142 in his last month.

23
Q

Informal powers of the president

A
  • The electoral mandate
  • Executive orders
  • Signing statments
  • Executive agreements
  • National events
  • Powers of pursuasion
24
Q

The electoral mandate

A
  • The larger the presidents electoral mandate at the last election, the greater his chance of success in convincing congress
    ESSAY E.G
  • Ronald Reagan was potentially in a very strong position after his second term in 1984, as he was realected with 59% of the popular vote and victory in 49 states.
  • Bill CLinton was only elected with 43% of the vote, and George W Bush was in a very weak position as he lost the popular vote to opponent Al Gore.
25
Q

The Power to persuade

A
  • Professor Richard Neustadt remarked that ‘the presidents power is the power to persuade’
  • In recent years congress has checked the power of the president significantly, from 1993 to 2022 the presidency and both houses of congress were controlled by the same party for only 30% of those 30 years.
  • Therefore the president must rely on something else to achieve his policy goals, persuasion, reputation and public prestige. He can use these to influence the decisions of politicians in congress.
  • Personal meetings and phonecalls with congressional leaders, Obama was know to both telephone and to have private meetings with Republican speaker John Boehner to try and advance his legislative agenda.
    ESSAY E.G
  • A president can appeal directly to congress through media, Obama did this in his Rose Garden speech of 2013, he maintained the need to take military action in Syria over its governments use of chemical weapons.
26
Q

Faiures of presidential persuasion

A
  • Joe Biden and senator Joe Manchin BBBA 2022
  • Future of this vote and the act relys on 1 senator to vote in favour of the bill, his inability to persuade his own party member to vote in favour of his bill shows a lack of persuasion powers.
27
Q

Executive orders

A

These have the force of law, they are although a power outside of the constitution and do not require congressional approval.
- They DO NOT create new legislation but they give instructions to federal departments and agencies regarding enforcement of legislation.
ESSAY E.G
Trump signed Executive order 13823 in 2018 which kept Guantanamo bay open.
2001 Bush signed a executive order establishing a offic for homeland security as a response to the 9/11 attacks.
ALTHOUGH
Biden attempeted to close it with a executive order in 2009, and the senate voted 90-6 to refuse to fund the effort and therefore keep it open.

28
Q

Executive agreements

A

This is a agreement reached between the president and a foreign nation in order to bypass the senate.
- Bill Clinton cut a deal with North Korea in 1994 by signing a agreement instead of a treaty.
- Obama knew that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a nuclear deal with Iran and the Paris agreement 2015 would not be passed by a republican congress, so instead passed to EAs.

29
Q

Signing statments

A

This is a statement issues by the president o signing a bill which may challenge specific provisions of the bill on unconsitutional grounds.
- Obama used a signing statement to highlight his concerns over the ‘detention, interregation and prosecution of suspected terroists’ when signing the National Defence Authorisation Act in 2011.

30
Q

Factors influencing presidential power

A
  • National events
  • Public approval/popularity
  • The electoral cycle
  • Control of congress
  • SCOTUS composition
31
Q

National events effect on presidential power

A
  • 9/11 improved Bush approval ratings allowing him to achieve his foreign policy goals. Greater than 85%, highest ever for a president.
  • This allowed republicans to take full control of congress in 2002 and 2004.
  • This made it possible to push legislation such as the PATRIOT ACT through congress. Allowing the Bush adminsitration increased survaliance, increased rights to arrest etc.
  • He also challanged over 150 bills, and 1,500 spereerate sections of legislation.
  • AUMF 2001
  • Hurrican sandy 2012
  • Obama administration had a swifit response and helped obama win the presidential race that year.

HOWEVER
- Donald Trump and Covid 19
- 12 millions cases in the USA as of November 2020, and over 250,000 deaths.
Trumps approval ratings fell to 35% with two-thirds of all americans thinking he had acted to slowly and distrusted what he said about the pandemic.

  • 2005 Hurrican Katrina, 2000 people were killed and over 125 billion USD in damage.
  • 2006 the Republicans lost control of both houses.
  • Slow respons from the Bush administration
32
Q

Public approval and presidential power

A
  • Public approval ratings allows the president to use their powers of pursuasion in order to influence congress to push through their policy goals.

Clintons high approval ratings in 1999 for example arguably saved him from convinction in the senate and impeachment.

33
Q

The electoral cycle

A
  • In the second term a president may not have to worry as much about being realected and therefore conforming to the peopls views and looking reolectable. This means they are more likely to use their inherent powers with less constraint during the second term of their presideny.
  • Lame duck theory
  • Obama attempted to appoint merick garland to the supreme court in 2016, at the end of his term, the appointment was blocked by a republican senate as they believed he no longer had a mandate.
34
Q

SCOTUS effects presidential power

A
  • A cooperative court can arguably increase the presidents power to achieve their goals and shape their legacy.
    One of Obamas main policy goals was a reshaping of the national nealth system, or the ACA/Obamacare, NFIB v Sebelius upheld many provisions of this act.
  • All 4 democrat appointed justices sided with Obama and the ACA.
  • Upheld trumps executive order that was labled the ‘muslim ban’ again very politicied all all 5 repblican appointed justices voted in favour.

HOWEVER
- Demonstrates a signifcant check on presidents and prevents them from over-stepping his powers.

  • Obama use of recess appointments 2014
  • Obama use of EO to imlemennt his Immigration reform program 2016
  • Nixon and Trump refusing to comply with a Subpeona.
  • Military comiisons set up by the Bush administration to try Gunatamano bay detainees 2006.
35
Q

CONGRESS effects presidential power - Veto

A
  • Overriding a presidents veto
    E.G In 2016 a Repulican controlled congress overrode Obamas presidential veto to remove congressional immigration bill JASTA.

HOWEVER
ESSAY E.G
A presidential veto was only overriden 2 out of president Bush 36 in total.

36
Q

Limits the presidents power - Clinton

A
  • Impeachment, clinton was impeached by the house in 1998 for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ including lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
  • Although he was aquitted in the senate. Possibly due to high approval ratings.
  • Unnsucceful in passing his flagship healthcare reforms, Clinton health care plan in 1993, its goal was to provide univeral health care, it failed to pass through congress despite the democrats holding both houses.
37
Q

Limits the presidents power - Obama

A
  • Dodd-frank
  • ACA
  • JASTA
  • Garland Nomination
38
Q

Limits the presidents power - Trump

A
  • 2018 government shutdown and wall funding.
  • Impeachment, SCOTUS decision.
39
Q

Congress limits presidential power - Impeachment

A
  • The house has impeached 3 presidents, Andrew Johnson 1868, Bill clinton 1997 and Donald trump twice in 2019 and 2021.
  • Trumps second impeachment ‘incitement of insurrection’ could be one of the main reasons he failed to win back the presidency in 2021.
  • Nixon resigned due to the unavoidable and inevitable threat of impeachment.

HOWEVER
- No president has been impeached by the senate and removed from office, so its largely a theoretical power thus far.

40
Q

Congress limits presidential power - Ratification of treaties

A
  • Senate have the consititutional power to ratify treaties and therefore have a substantial power over foreign policy.
  • Obama bypassed congress twice in 2015 when he believed he wouldnt get the Paris Agreement or the Iran nuclear deal through congress.
  • Presidents can use EA agreements in order to bypass congress. So therefore this power is minimal.
41
Q

Congress and trump

A
  • Trump consistently had low approval ratings remianed costsitenly below 50% throughout his tenure and fell as low as 34%.
  • Trump consistenly failed to pass legislation through congress, even when the Republicans controlled the House.
  • HoR leaders pulled the bill to overhiual the US healthcare system and remove the ACA.

US Politics (7 decks)

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