Unit 4 Topic 3 - The Presidency Flashcards
Explain the powers of the President
President’s powers are his tasks, functions or duties, laid out in Article II of the constitution, formal:
• Propose legislation to Congress
o The President proposes legislation in a number of ways – most obviously through the annual State of the Union Address, occurs every January and gives the President a chance to outline a legislative agenda
o But the President can propose legislation at any time, e.g. by calling a press conference or making an announcement at a public event, e.g. Obama:
Healthcare reform
Wall street regulation reform
Credit card regulation reform
• Submit the annual budget to conference
o The budget is draw up for the President by the Office of Management and Budget, part of the Executive Office of the president
o The President then submits this to Congress, followed by a lengthy bargaining process between the two – especially if the two are controlled by different parties
o Sometimes ends in gridlock e.g. October 2013
• Sign legislation passed by Congress
o Once bills have passed a complicated process in Congress they land on the President’s desk, he has a number of options but will most likely sign the bill into law, will receive some credit for these
• Veto legislation passed by Congress
o Instead of signing bills into law the President can veto them
o The regular veto is a much used presidential weapon, even it threats can be an important bargaining tool
o Presidents have used around 1500 regular vetoes, of which Congress has overridden around 100, success rate of 93%, George W Bush’s success rate of 64% is the third lowest
o To veto a bill the President must:
Veto the whole bill
Return the bill to the hose which first considered it within 10 working days
Included a veto message
o Congress may decide to:
Do nothing – the bill will not be passed
Attempt to override the president’s veto
o If Congress attempts an override it will require a 2/3 majority in both houses, exceedingly difficult, President’s wont veto bill if they know Congress will win, politically damaging
o Bush’s veto of the Child Health Insurance Bill 2007: House voted to override the veto but did not achieve the necessary majority, no need for a Senate vote
o Bush’s veto of the Food Conservation/Energy Bill in 2008 was successfully vetoed
o None of Obama’s 8 regular or 1 pocket vetoes have been overridden
o The pocket veto can be used after a session of Congress has adjourned, if Congress is out of session and the President does not sign a bill it is lost, Bush and Obama used 1
• Signing statements
o An accompanying document to a bill that the President has signed into law stating how a bill should be interpreted or implemented. Obama stated that he would not use signing statements when asked, but did in 2011 to soften welfare changes made by Congress. The ABA has argued that 56% of Obama’s signing statements raise constitutional issues. Can also be done on foreign policy e.g. Freedom of Ukraine Support Act 2014
Are the Presidential powers still important?
• Yes:
o Overrides are rare, and allows President to veto all but the most bipartisan bills which due to greater polarisation are becoming rarer
o Threat is significant
o Obama is using them in his legacy areas of healthcare, gun control, and they can’t be prevented
• No:
o Far less common than they used to be e.g. FDR had 635 as other less damaging political tools to alter legislation
o President aware he can’t do it on all issues e.g. gun control
Explain the President’s role as chief executive
o Opening words of Article II are: ‘The Executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America’
o This makes the President in charge of running the Executive
o A huge job, much of the day to day running is delegated to those who run the principal departments and agencies of the federal government
o The President has the ability to control and direct the army e.g. Obama ordered the killing of Obama. However, there has a been fall in this power due to Congress:
o Constitution gives Congress power to declare war, but the President now asks Congress to ‘authorise’ military action e.g. Obama went to Congress for Syria strikes. Bush got round this by calling the wars in Iraq as peace keeping missions.
Explain the President’s role of nominating federal judges
o President must fill up SCOTUS vacancies but also federal trial and appeal courts
o All judicial appointments are for life, the most important are to the SCOTUS, during his first term Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor 2009 and Elena Kagan 2010
o Bush and Clinton only made two appointments during both their terms
Explain the President’s role as commander in chief
o Particularly significant during wartime e.g. WW2, Cold War, Iraq War, Vietnam War, Gulf War etc.
o Arguably less important post-cold war era, but potentially important in times of crisis
o President is checked by Congress’ power of the purse’ as well as its power to declare war and conduct investigations
Explain the President’s role to negotiate treaties
o Presidential seal of office shows an eagle clutching a bundle of arrows in one claw, symbolising the commander-in-chief role, and an olive branch symbolising his peace making role
o Obama negotiated the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia in 2010 – a major nuclear arms control agreement
o Treaties must be ratified by the Senate by a two thirds majority, the 2010 START Treaty was ratified 71-26
o In 1999 the Senate rejected Clinton’s Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty 48-51
Explain the President’s role to pardon felons
o Mostly used in uncontroversial cases, most notable use was President Ford’s 1974 pardon of former President Nixon
o Clinton caused controversy when issued 140 pardons on his final day in office in January 2001
o George W Bush used the power sparingly, issuing only 189 in 8 years, Obama issued just 22 in his first term
Explain the President’s role as chief diplomat and head of state
• Chief Diplomat
o With approval of Senate, President will makes treaties and lead on international treaties e.g. Obama negotiated the START treaty. E.g.2 Obama was important in negotiations with chemical weapons inspections in Syria with Russia.
• Head of state
o President must take role of ‘comforter-in-chief’ e.g. Obama in 2012 following Hurricane Sandy. He will also meet with other heads of states on official visits and perform a wide range of ceremonies.
Explain executive orders
• Executive orders are instructions to the federal bureaucracy, giving guidance on how the president wishes legislation to be implemented
• The legislative body is not required to approve any executive order, nor can it overturn an order. The best it can do if it doesn’t like an executive order is to pass a law to cut funding for the order’s implementation e.g. Republican who heads the Justice subcommittee on the Appropriations Committee is is threatening to block President Obama’s executive order on guns by defunding the Department of Justice.
• Example of an executive order is in 2012 with Obama halting the deportation of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.
• Significance?
o It usurps the role of Congress as they are increasingly used to create new law not facilitate the implementation of existing law
o Executive orders can be nullified by congressional legislation or judicial intervention but both are uncommon
o Undermines the separation of powers as the President uses them when he fails to achieve a legislative objective
Explain the Vice President
• Enumerated powers
o Presiding officer of the Senate
o Votes in Senate at times of deadlock e.g. Cheney broke deadlock to cut federal spending by $40bn
o He is the first line to the presidency, necessary four times in US history
• Increasing powers of the vice president
o Launch pad. Vice presidency is a breeding ground for future presidents or presidential candidates e.g. Al Gore. Many distinguished politicians have battled to be vice president e.g. Biden
o New roles. Worked as legislative liason with Congress e.g. Biden. The vice president often becomes party worker, electioneer and fundraiser e.g. Biden played this role for Obama in 2010/12
o Spokesperson for administration. Has been the case for recent vice presidents e.g. Cheney spoke a great deal on foreign policy
• Case study: Joe Biden
o Served for 36 years in Senate and was described by Bai as the ‘unofficial ambassador to the Senate’. For example, important in negotiations in the debt ceiling crisis on 2011 and Obama put Biden in charge of proposal gun controls following Sandy Hook
o Described in a National Journal column as ‘maybe the most influential vice president ever’ due to the sheer number of issues he has influenced
o Strength is he plays the ‘skunk at the picnic’ - forces advisors to consider their arguments carefully.
• Factors affecting the role of the vice president:
o Relationship between president and vice president. If they share similar views as the President then they can be outspoken e.g. Biden described as attack dog. Lack of trust limits influence e.g. Biden heavily trusted (evidence above) and Cheney was friends with Bush’s father.
o Presidential ambitions. Gore wanted to run for presidency so limited controversial areas with which he would not want to be affiliated. Cheney did not so did not have to consider being associated with unpopular policies and take more active role
o Extent of expertise. See above about Biden and role as liaison to the Senator, which became a de facto role following Emmanuel’s exit
o Personality. Cheney happy to take ‘Bush’s flak’ and be depicted as the hardliner in the executive. Biden, however, is more of the ‘man of the people’ and ‘regular Joe’; his gaffes even helping him in this role. Complements the more ‘intellectual’ Obama
Explain the federal bureaucracy
• The unelected, administrative part of the executive branch, made up of departments, agencies and commissions that carry out policy on a day-to-day basis. The word ‘bureaucracy’ has overtones of inefficiency and red tape.
• Structure. Can be split into three broad categories:
o Executive departments. There are 15, with heads of each department (‘secretary’), with these 15 heads making up the Cabinet. The State, Treasury and Justice are regarded as the top tier.
o Executive agencies. The difference is that heads are not part of the Cabinet, and are instead ‘directors’. Examples include EPA, NASA, FEC etc. They are independent of presidential control.
o Government corporations. These are essentially nationalised industries e.g. US Postal Service
o Independent regulatory commissions. They are administratively independent of all branches, and operate behind barriers created by Congress to shield them from presidential control.
• Functions
o Executing laws. Main reason why the federal bureaucracy has grown, as Congress is now legislating in more and more policy areas. Principle function that laws are carried out in their policy areas.
o Creating rules. Legislators only write broad principles of policy, bureaucrats are required to write specific rules.
o Adjudication. Settle disputes e.g. Labor Relations Board
• Problems of the federal bureaucracy
o Politicisation. At the upper level some posts are are appointed on the grounds of politics, especially those made by the president. At the middle level, there is a certain level of political appointment as a head of an agency may decide in advance whom they wish to recruit.
o Clientelism. Where agencies tend to serve the interests of those whom they are supposed to be overseeing e.g. federal agencies who penned regulations resisted tighter banking regulations
o Bureaucratic imperialism. Agencies seek to expand their powers, and grow out of control e.g. Iran-Contra affair involved the bureaucracy supplying arms to Iran and the National Security Agency using profits illegally to hell Contra rebels. Also, has led to ‘turf battles’ between agencies over who has jurisdiction over policy e.g. happen a lot following the creation of Department of Homeland Security
o Iron triangle. Relationship between special interest, congressional committee and relevant agency. Leads to policies being made and executed for mutual benefit of parties involved. Example is the military-industrial complex, between defence contractors, Armed Services Committee and the Defence Department which results in a large defence budget
• Constraints in power of federal bureaucracy
o Congress. Can establish, merge or shutdown departments e.g. substantial reorganisation in 2002 following creation of the Dpt. of Homeland Security. Also, Congress can use its appropriations power (‘power of the purse’) to finance various dpts and agencies, investigate committees (e.g. after Iran-Contra affair) and can pass laws to overrule agencies or narrow their jurisdiction
o President. 1) Bush introduced competitive outsourcing where federal employees would have to compete with private contractors (failed due to lack of competition and savings overstated). 2) The National Partnership for Reinventing Government to improve efficiency.
Define the Cabinet
- The Cabinet is not mentioned in the Constitution, Richard Fenno – ‘institutionalised by usage alone’
- The Cabinet is and advice giving group selected by the President to aid decision making, membership of which is determined by tradition and presidential discretion
- By tradition, it is made up of the heads of the 15 departments, by presidential discretion others can be given ‘cabinet rank’ such as the US ambassador to the UN
Explain Cabinet recruitment
• New President doesn’t have a shadow cabinet waiting to form the administration, members of cabinet cannot concurrently serve in Congress
• 1961-2013 fewer than 1 in 5 Cabinet officers had Congressional experience, however among Obama’s initial 15 heads of department in 2009 4 had previous experience in Congress, three were serving members and had to resign their seats
• Cabinet members will therefore likely come from diverse backgrounds likely to include:
o Congress members, either former members (e.g. former House member Ray Lahood as Secretary of Transportation in the first Obama cabinet) or those willing to resign their seats such as Senator John Kerry 2013
o State governors (e.g. Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona as Secretary of Homeland Security in 2009)
o City mayors (e.g. Anthony Fox was Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was appointed Obama’s Secretary of Transportation in 2013)
o Academics (e.g. Ernest Moniz, Obama’s second-term Secretary of Energy had been a professor of physics at MIT)
• Likely that Cabinet members will be policy specialists, e.g.:
o Timothy Geithner (treasury) – President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2003-2009
o Arne Duncan (Education) – CEO of Chicago Public Schools 2001-2009
o Shaun Donovan (Housing and Urban Development) – New York City Housing Commissioner, 2004-2009
• Presidents are likely to balance their Cabinet microcosmically, Clinton – Cabinet that ‘looked like America’, Obama included:
o A Lebanese American – Ray LaHood
o An African American – Eric Holder
o A Chines American – Steven Chu
o Two Japanese Americans – Eric Shinseki and Gary Locke
o Two Hispanics – Hilda Solis and Ken Salazar
• Obama’s first term cabinet the most ethnically diverse appointed
• All Cabinet appointments must be confirmed by a simple majority vote of the Senate, last time the Senate rejected an appointee was 1989 for John Tower, Bush’s nominee for Defence Secretary
• Cabinet making
o Geographic balance. Obama had cabinet members from California, Colorado and New York
o Balance by race. Ever since Nixon, cabinets have included ethnic minorities. For example, Obama’s first cabinet had 6 members from ethnic minorities.
o Gender balance. Obama’s second cabinet has 4 female members in the Cabinet, with Clinton formerly the Secretary of State. However, both females and ethnic minorities rarely head ‘upper-tier’ departments
o Age. The average age of the cabinet tend to reflect the age of the president. The average age of Obama’s first cabinet was 55, though the youngest was 47 under Kennedy (who was the youngest ever president)
o Ideological balance. President will want different ideological wings represented e.g. liberal and conservative Democrats. Some Presidents will even have other party members present e.g. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel was Secretary of Defence
Explain what happens at Cabinet meetings
• Meetings of the President and full Cabinet receive bad press, many attendees describe them as boring and a waste of time, some Presidents have had very few
• Most Presidents hold Cabinet meetings only around once a month, Clinton managed only two to three a year whereas Carter and Reagan held 36 in their first year in office
• Number of meetings tends to decline as the administration wears on because:
o Some Cabinet functions are no longer applicable
o The President has increasing calls on his time, not least when he has to run for re-election, Carter managed only 6 in his final year
o Presidents become disillusioned with Cabinet officers, often believing them to be disloyal
• Nonetheless, meeting have some functions, they enable the President to:
o Engender team spirit – especially at the beginning of an administration
o Look collegial and consultative
o Give information to all Cabinet members
o Glean information from cabinet members – find out what is going on in each department
o Debate policies
o Present ‘big picture’ items such as the budget, tours, campaigns and initiatives
o Check up on legislation going through Congress in which he has an interest
o See Cabinet members whom he would not otherwise see
• For Cabinet members themselves, meetings serve:
o As get-to-know you sessions – especially at the beginning of an administration when a number of cabinet colleagues may be strangers
o To sort out inter-departmental disputes
o As a means of catching up with other members
o An opportunity to see the President – whom many would not otherwise see
o Gain prestige back at their department, with first hand news of what the President wants
• Frequency varies from president to president, with Obama and Bush scheduling them before or after notable political events e.g. State of the Union Address or mid-terms. The Cabinet met just 3 times in 2012 - a former deputy cabinet secretary said they were ‘completely marginalized’. Reasons?
o Hoarding power in the White House as internal communication is far more efficient
o Better control of external messaging to avoiding messy confirmation battles
o The engendering of team spirit ceases to be an important issue after the first year as the President has achieved his aim of welding his cabinet members into his team to move forward his agenda
o Obama can consult EXOP and the White House staff as they will also have political experience
o They have been described as a ‘waste of time’ as cabinet members are policy specialists and have little to contribute to discussions in other policy areas
• Examples of the cabinet being neglected : “Neither Chuck Hagel, then the secretary of defense, nor John Kerry was in the Oval Office when the president informed his team of his thinking.” in regards to action in Syria. Indeed, the Constitution grants the president ‘all executive power’ anyhow!
Explain the relations of Cabinet with exop
• Cabinet members are not principally presidential advisers, because:
o They have huge departments to run
o They are not based in the White House
o They have loyalties other than those to the President
• Last reason often leads to accusations of disloyalty from EXOP ‘the President’s men’, which includes the white house staff
• While members of EXOP serve only the President, Cabinet members must bear in mind the wishes of Congress (whose votes decide their departmental budgets) and their own departmental bureaucracy, as well as interest groups with links to their department
• Unlike Cabinet, EXOP members enjoy close proximity to the President
• Richard Neustadt – ‘(an incoming President) must prepare the Cabinet members against the shocking discovery that most of them are not principal advisors to the President, are not going to be, and never will be, not since the White House staff has come into mature existence’
