The Presidency

Question 1

How does the nature of government (united/divided) impact the relationship between the Presidency and Congress? - The Presidency

Answer 1

Under united government, the President tend to dominate the legislative proceedings in Congress and faces very little opposition/scrutiny. However, this does tend to increase markedly under divided government, where one or both houses scrutinise legislation and government far more.

Question 2

What examples are there of presidents being unable to pass legislation despite having united government? - The Presidency

Answer 2

In Clinton’s first term, he failed to pass healthcare reforms due to not being able to convince conservative Democrats over his proposals. Trump also failed to reform healthcare by repealing Obamacare.

Question 3

What factors impact the relationship between the Presidency and Congress? - The Presidency

Answer 3

The relationship between the Presidency and Congress is impacted by the use of vetoes and this being overridden, the position in the election cycle and voter opinion, the nature of government and possible polarisation, national/intl. events and the changing nature of presidential power throughout their Presidency.

Question 4

How many presidential vetoes have been used since 1992? How many of these have been overridden? - The Presidency

Answer 4

70 vetoes have been used since 1992, with 8 of these being overridden.

Question 5

How many years of united government did Obama, Trump and Clinton have? How many years of united government did Bush have? - The Presidency

Answer 5

Obama, Trump and Clinton had 2 years of united government, while Bush had 6 years.

Question 6

How is the President able to influence the Supreme Court? Why and how is this limited? - The Presidency

Answer 6

The President is able to appoint all federal justices, controlling the makeup of the Court. However, they can only really criticise the Court as a power aside from this, with them largely subordinate to the Court as the constitution wished to prevent extreme Executive powers.

Question 7

How can the Supreme Court influence the Presidency? What examples are there of this? - The Presidency

Answer 7

The Supreme Court can declare actions of the president to be unconstitutional through judicial review. This can be seen through Obama’s immigration reforms being overturned in 2016, Clinton being refused immunity from prosecution in 1997 and Nixon being forced to release tapes as part of Watergate.

Question 8

Why do government shutdowns occur? What specific examples are there of government shutdowns occurring? - The Presidency

Answer 8

Government shutdowns occur when federal budgets cannot be approved, meaning that the operation of the Executive must stop. This happened for 35 days under Trump in 2018-19, as well as under Clinton and Obama.

Question 9

Why was one of Obama’s Supreme Court nominations rejected? When? - The Presidency

Answer 9

Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court was rejected by a Republican controlled Senate in 2016 due to the proximity to the Presidential election.

Question 10

Why was Trump forced to withdraw his nomination for Secretary of Labour? - The Presidency

Answer 10

Trump was forced to withdraw his nomination for Secretary of Labor, Andrew Puzder, due to concerns over his personal life and business practices.

Question 11

What examples of impeachments have there been since 1992? - The Presidency

Answer 11

Clinton: impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice in 1999 over his relationship with Lewinsky.
Trump: first impeached for abuse of power in 2019 after pressuring the Ukrainian government to release sensitive info on Joe Biden. Then again impeached over the Capitol Insurrection on 6/01/2021.

Question 12

How was Bush’s foreign policy subjected to Congressional investigation? - The Presidency

Answer 12

Initially, Congress gave limited oversight to Bush’s foreign policy under united government. However, a Democrat-controlled Congress in 2006 saw much stronger opposition to Bush’s foreign wars from Democrat committee chairs.

Question 13

How was Obama’s foreign policy subjected to congressional scrutiny? - The Presidency

Answer 13

Obama’s presidency saw a terror attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, Libya, which saw 6 committees investigate this. NSA Scandal when people had phone records accessed without wrongdoing under Patriot Act, BUT LITTLE OVERSIGHT ON THIS.

Question 14

How were Trump’s foreign relations subjected to congressional scrutiny? - The Presidency

Answer 14

6 congressional committees were set up to investigate alleged Russian interference into the 2016 US Election, with influence confirmed in 2018/20 reports but could not be conclusively linked to the Trump administration.

Question 15

Describe Bush’s approach to foreign policy. Give examples - The Presidency

Answer 15

Bush aimed to overcome the ‘axis of evil’ that threatened US liberty following 9/11, deciding to take pre-emptive action against those who were believed to want to harm the US. This was seen in Iraq, who were believed to be harbouring terrorists and in possession of WMDs.

Question 16

What was Bush’s idea of ‘American primacy’? - The Presidency

Answer 16

American primacy revolved around the idea that the US had created a political order that should be adopted globally following the twin threats of fascism and communism. This would be based around liberty, democracy and free enterprise and should be encouraged on autocratic states.

Question 17

Describe Obama’s ‘soft power’ approach to foreign policy. Give examples of this in action - The Presidency

Answer 17

Obama aimed to use diplomacy in an attractive and persuasive way to other foreign nations, rather than engaging in coercion and conflict. This can be seen in Obama’s desire to end the Iraq War and stabilise the Middle East.

Question 18

What examples are there of Obama deviating from the use of ‘soft power’ in terms of Afghanistan and the Patriot Act respectively? - The Presidency

Answer 18

Afghanistan: largest military involvement of Obama’s presidency, engaging in continued conflict until he left office in 2017.
Patriot Act: 4 year extension of Patriot Act resulted in the increased use of drone attacks. 300 of these occurred in his first term.

Question 19

What examples are there of Trump’s hawkish approach to foreign policy in Afghanistan, Syria and Iran? - The Presidency

Answer 19

Afghanistan: bombed ISIS militants here.
Syria: Bombed Syrian government in 2017.
Iran: Bombed in 2020, killing Iranian General Soleimani.

Question 20

What examples are there of Trump’s pragmatic approach to diplomacy in his foreign relations with North Korea and the Middle East? - The Presidency

Answer 20

North Korea: Trump was the first President to engage in diplomacy with a North Korean leader.
Middle East: brokered a deal between the UAE and Bahrain which normalised their relationships with Israel.

Question 21

What examples are there of Trump being confrontational through his diplomacy with NATO and China? - The Presidency

Answer 21

NATO: Trump came close to quitting the NATO alliance, criticising the excessive US funding of this body.
China: engaged in a trade war which damaged the US as it imposed tariffs on trade with the country.

Question 22

How does Congress make the president accountable? - The Presidency

Answer 22

Congress can amend, delay or reject the President’s legislative proposals, can use the power of the purse, can use the Senate’s power over appointments and can conduct investigations and impeachments.

Question 23

What are the President’s constitutional powers over foreign policy? What are Congress’ constitutional powers over foreign policy? - The Presidency

Answer 23

President: commander-in-chief of armed forces, negotiating treaties
Congress: can declare war, has power of the purse over foreign policy, ratifies treaties, confirms FP appointments, conducts investigations into FP.

Question 24

What are examples of House and Senate committees with foreign policy expertise? What investigations have both committees launched? - The Presidency

Answer 24

The House has the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committee, while the Senate has the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee. Both committees conducted investigations into the Iraq War.

Question 25

How has the 1973 War Powers Act impacted the President’s powers over FP? - The Presidency

Answer 25

The 1973 War Powers Act has made it so that Congress must be notified of military action within 48 hours of it being taken.

Question 26

What example is there of Biden persuading on behalf of Obama? Why? - The Presidency

Answer 26

Obama used Biden to persuade various members of Congress to support crucial legislation and aspects of his agenda as a result of Biden being depended upon by people in the Senate especially following Biden’s long tenure in this House prior to being VP.