The executive branch of government: President

Question 1

What are the president’s formal powers?

Answer 1

• executive powers
• the power to influence the passage of legislation through Congress
• appointment powers
• foreign policy powers
• the power to grant pardons/commutations

Question 2

Executive powers

Answer 2

• controlling the federal bureaucracy
• preparing the annual federal budget which sets out how much the federal government will spend over the coming year (the power of the purse that passes the budget resides with Congress)

Question 3

The power to influence the passage of legislation through Congress

Answer 3

• the president can propose legislation to Congress at the annual State of the Union Address
• they can also propose new policy initiatives at any time, often in high profile speeches or press conferences
• after Congress, the president can sign a bill, ignore it (and it becomes law after 10 working days), or veto it

Question 4

Pocket veto

Answer 4

• allows the president to veto a bill by not signing it before the end of the current legislative session of Congress
• normally, an ignored bill becomes law after 10 days, but if Congress adjourns within those 10 days, the bill is lost
• pocket vetoes cannot be overridden by Congress
• it was last used by Bill Clinton in 2000

Question 5

Trump’s vetoes

Answer 5

• he vetoed 10 bills, 1 of which was overridden by Congress
• 2 of his vetoes were to block legislation that would have ended the state of national emergency at the southwestern US border
• these vetoes allowed him maintain the state of emergency and continue his use of federal funds for the construction of the border wall

Question 6

Appointment powers

Answer 6

• nominates officials to the executive branch, eg. heads of executive departments
• nominates all federal justices including SC justices when a vacancy arises (both must be confirmed by the Senate)

Question 7

Foreign policy powers

Answer 7

• the president is the commander-in-chief of the US military
• can initiate military action (George Bush led the US into wars w/ Iraq and Afghanistan
• although the War Powers Act requires the president to seek approval from Congress, some have acted without (Obama’s 2011 intervention in Libya)
• negotiates foreign treaties (must be ratified with a supermajority by the Senate)

Question 8

Pardon power

Answer 8

• the president can pardon someone who has acknowledged that they are guilty of a federal crime, eg. Ford pardoned Nixon after Watergate
• on his last day in office, Obama issued 330 commutations

Question 9

What are the president’s INformal powers?

Answer 9

• the power to persuade
• deal-making
• setting the agenda
• de facto party leader
• world leader
• direct authority/stretching implied powers
• bureaucratic powers

Question 10

De facto party leader

Answer 10

• the president is in effect the head of their party, so can influence its membership
• this is especially helpful if the president’s party controls both chambers
• however, this isn’t always the case –> in 2017 the Republicans controlled both houses but Trump was unable to convince Congress to fully repeal Obamacare, even though it one of his main presidential campaign pledges

Question 11

Setting the agenda

Answer 11

• the president commands the media spotlight and determines which issues are discussed by the the media and public
• they also shape the public opinion by making speeches and statements that argue their position

Question 12

Examples of Trump setting the agenda

Answer 12

• Trump used this power often, seizing the political agenda w/ controversial tweets
• in 2019, he tweeted that the 4 Democrat congresswomen of colour should ‘go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested’ countries that they came from (they were all US citizens - racist!)
• in 2020, he used his position to claim that the presidential elections had been ‘stolen’, and encouraged his supporters to ‘fight like hell’, minutes before the Capitol attack (he was later impeached for ‘incitement of insurrection’)

Question 13

What is direct authority and what does it include?

Answer 13

• the power of the president to take action without consulting Congress
• executive orders
• signing statements (making a written comment when signing bills into law, can even state part of a bill is unconstitutional so their govt. won’t enforce it)
• executive agreements (deals made between the US and other countries that avoid needing a Senate supermajority to ratify a treaty

Question 14

Executive orders

Answer 14

• made directly by the president to the federal govt.
• they have the effect of a law, but can be reversed by the next president
• Obama relied on executive orders as an alternative to legislation after he became frustrated with Congress’ resistance to his agenda
• Biden issued more executive orders in his first 100 days than any president since FDR, mainly reversing Trump’s executive orders

Question 15

Checks and balances by Congress

Answer 15

• preventing the passage of legislation
• power of the purse
• Senate refusing to confirm appointments/ ratify treaties
• impeachment or threat thereof

Question 16

Checks and balances by the judiciary

Answer 16

• declaring govt.’s actions unconstitutional
• for example, Trump was forced to amend his 2017 ban on travellers from 7 majority-Muslim countries for religious discrimination

Question 17

Which other institutions does the president have a relationship with?

Answer 17

• the cabinet
• the Executive Office of the President
• the White House Office
• the National Security Council
• the federal bureaucracy and agencies

Question 18

The cabinet

Answer 18

• a group of advisers chosen by the president to help him run federal govt. (includes the VP, 15 heads of executive departments, and potentially other advisers)
• meet a few times a year, at the president’s discretion
• meetings are chaired by the president, and he doesn’t have to take their advice

Question 19

Executive Office of the President

Answer 19

• a group of offices that support the president
• around 3,000-4,000 staff members

Question 20

White House Office

Answer 20

• part of EXOP that works closest with the president, with the White House Chief of Staff being his most senior adviser
• appointments are solely at the discretion of the president, and don’t need to be approved by the senate

Question 21

National Security Council

Answer 21

• the president’s main forum for discussing and managing national security or foreign policy issues
• chaired by the president

Question 22

Federal bureaucracy and agencies

Answer 22

• cabinet officers head the 15 govt. departments that make up the federal bureaucracy
• there are also 60 more independently run federal agencies (like the CIA)
• some presidents, usually Democrats, aim to increase the scope of the federal bureaucracy
• Trump attempted to abolish 22 govt. agencies, but was blocked by Congress

Question 23

What is the concept of ‘waxing and waning’?

Answer 23

• the idea that presidential power doesn’t remain constant, but rather waxes (increases) and wanes (reduces) over time

Question 24

Lame duck presidency

Answer 24

• happens when the president has lost most of their power and struggles to implement policy initiatives
• normally happens towards the end of their second term as their presidency is limited by the fact that it will be over soon

Question 25

Imperial presidency

Answer 25

• the idea that the president has an imperial or ‘emperor-like’ character

Question 26

Imperilled presidency

Answer 26

• the idea that the presidency is weak and its effectiveness limited by Congress

Question 27

How did Nixon have an imperial presidency?

Answer 27

• authorising military action in Laos and Cambodia without telling Congress
• the Watergate scandal
• continued the war in Vietnam without Congressional approval

Question 28

Watergate scandal

Answer 28

• when the incumbent Nixon was running for election against democrat George McGovern, men associated with Nixon broke into McGovern’s and other democrat offices
• they secretly listened to phone lines and stole many important documents
• Nixon helped to cover it all up, so ultimately resigned to avoid impeachment
• he was later pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford

Question 29

How did Obama’s presidential power ‘wax’?

Answer 29

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Question 30

How did Obama’s power ‘wane’?

Answer 30

• in 2010, the Republicans won a majority in the House, leading Obama to become frustrated by Congress and a divided govt.
• in 2014, (halfway through his second term), the Senate was also won by Republicans, so Obama couldn’t push any legislation through and instead relied on executive orders
• his executive order to protect some illegal immigrants from deportation was challenged by 26 states and ruled unconstitutional by the SC in 2016
• his attempt to fill a SC vacancy with Merrick Garland was blocked by the senate

Question 31

How did Trump have an imperial presidency?

Answer 31

• used executive orders to cancel major international agreements
• was accused of nepotism for appointing family members to White House jobs (his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law)
• declared a national emergency in 2019 to secure funding for his wall
• in 2018, he claimed complete impunity from the law and claimed he had the right to pardon himself, as well as claiming total authority over the states