US Presidency Flashcards
What are ‘delegated
powers’?
powers given to congress then delegated to the executive branch
these are executed by departments like the state department
1) Legislative powers
when a big bill needs secondary legislation inferred through the passage of the bill
1970 clean air act- authorises environmental protection agency to set the air quality standards
statutes can be vague and let specialists do the complicated legislation
presidents could try to take advantage of this
2) Financial powers
delegated power to agencies to decide how many should be spent here congress has delegated part of its power of the purse
the budget accounting act of 1921 gave the president the ability to produce a budget bill
block grants handed over to state government allows members to claim pork barrel spending
3) Emergency powers
Emergency powers are powers exercised in an emergency such as sizing propety or the national guard
the 1976 national emergencies act means the president has to specify the specific emergency which has to be renewed.
trump used this power to declare national emergency
4) Trade powers
treaties must pull supermajority in the senate
congressional executive agreements are when congress passes a bill authorising the president to negotiate an international agreement including ket negiotatinos
authorinsing president to regulate a treaty to be passed by a simple majority
5) War Powers
president can only initiiate military action in a war
- declaration of war
- specific statues authority
- a national emergency created by an open attack on the US
1) Commander-in-
chief
president has the power of the executive office of the president
they can send troops into conflict
they can command naval army air force
Formal powers
enumerated powers- these are in const
Delegated powers- from congress
Informal powers
claim are implied in constition
2) Cabinet advice to president
the president can ask cabinet members for their views
3) Pardons and
Commutations
give front pardons and commute settlements
can be used at will by the president
trump with jan 6th rioters
4) Negotiate treaties
president negotiates treaties then for congress to ratify
5) Appointments
appoint secretarys of state like RFK junior to health and social care
or
SC judiciaries
6) Recess
appointments
can appoint temporary senior officials without senators consent
7) Propose bil
report on the state of the union and the current conditions of the country and include the legislation they would like in the coming year
8) Convene
emergency sessions of
Congress
to convene congress for an extraordinary session
this has only happened 27 times
9) Meet with foreign
ambassadors
negotiate with foreign entries and house ambassadors
10) “take Care that the
Laws be faithfully
executed”
to follow the law and ensure that the law is followed
11) Commission all of
Officers of the US
their office like the SC
12) Veto / Pocket veto
VETO- reject law
pocket VETO- not sign it and let it expire within 10 days
only works if not sign it with congress as long as it isnt in session
What is the Executive
Office of the President
(EXOP)?
collective term for the department of the government
-this includes White House office (chief of staff)
-council of economic advisors
- office of the management of the budget
- national security council
What are the origins of
the US Cabinet? Why
is it less influential
than the UK Cabinet?
the members of cabinet have no political power of the president
powerful heads of department
the UK cabinet are also MP’s and are powerfull in their own nature
What is the federal
bureaucracy?
the power of the 2.8 m federal employees and their suystems
What are the main
functions of the
federal bureaucracy?
implementation of policies
regulation around new laws
adudication settle and dispute rules
Why can the use of the
president’s formal
powers often depend
on their use of informal,
unwritten powers?
informal power such as the powers of prswasion to vote for something act
1) The bully pulpit
How public-facing were
18th and 19th century
presidents?
How did the ‘bully
pulpit’ develop in the
20th and 21st centuries?
2) De facto party
leader
Why do presidents end
up acting as a de facto
party leader?
Why can presidents
often play a key role in
negotiations with
opposition leaders in
Congress?
only party members representing the entire country
trump was seen as republican leader both during their time and also beyond
3) Head of state
to conduct ceremonial work such as presenting the presidential medal of freedom
when presidents benefit from a rise in nationalism
the US president has influence on the world stage
bush approval 51%-90% after 911
4) Institutional
resources
the power to hire staff such as the office of the management of the budget and the NSA
Office of advisors
homeland security
president most senior advisors
- advice
- liaison between branches and groups
- messaging
- administration office (scheduling)
5) Stretching the
implied and inherent
powers
if the president can persuade congress that one of their powers is a enumerated power then they can do it.
In recent years the president have stretched these implied powers and used them in more informal controversial ways to bypass checks and balances
What are ‘inherent’
and ‘implied’ powers?
inherent powers are not included in the constitution but are implied as they are essential to running the country- executive orders
implied powers are said to be implied by the enumerated powers
1) Executive Privilege
executive privilege the president’s implied power to refuse some requests for information from legislative and judicial branches
this increases with social media and decreases when not to be seen in the national interest
2) Executive Orders,
Presidential
Memoranda, and
Presidential
Proclamations
could be interpreted to suggest that the president gas the power to decide how to interpret and execute the law
presidential proclamations and announce and communicate information which doesn’t concern the general public
3) Signing statements
comments from presidents on the meaning and interpretation of legislating they are responsible for inforcing
can accompany when a president signs a bill
4) Deploying troops
can deploy troops without a decloration of war because the president is commander in chied
this is an implied power
5) Sole-executive
agreements
sole executive agreements are differnt to congressional executive agreements.
sole executive agreements fo not require the passage of a new law as this would require imput from congress
such as Paris agreement
using constitutional authority to negotiate
6) Recognising
foreign governments
the president can recognise and de-regognise any country
they have power to speak for the nations affairs
1) Congress’s
legislative powers
congress doesn’t have presidential power to put laws to congress
can override the presidents veto with a supermajority
control over the legislative agenda
how president vetos laws so a supermajority can be reached is challenging
2) Congress’s
financial powers
congress can deny funds by using its power of the purse powers
can de fund a project
congresses appropriation committees can change spending regionally
mandatory spending- spending every year on social security and medicare which is done according to previous acts of congress. president can VETO all appropriation bills
omnibus Bills- many bills put together- 12 appropriations in one
Dept celling is set by congress
3) Congress’s
confirmation powers
supermajority of 60 votes to pass a closure vote which ends a filibuster
over 300 of trumps appointments in his first term were filibustered
trump often used ‘temporary appointments’ who didn’t need to be approved for 210 days.
trump delegated duties of vacant politicians to lower levels
4) Congress’s war
and treaty powers
congress has delegated powers to the president
5) Congress’s
oversight powers
lets of secondary legislation is made by the executive
congress can block secondary legislation
president does have a Veto
executive privilege can keep congress in the dark
To what extent can
presidents use their
formal powers to
influence the Supreme
Court?
presidents select judges via their political philosophy however trump appointed 3 and Biden did 1
trump appointed judges who had actively spoken against Roe V. Wade
1) Appointment
Powers
appoint like minded individuals to lead individuals to lead agencies and departments
2) EOs, memoranda
and proclamations
Biden used these cases for government wage focus on equality
3) Centralising
policymaking within
the EXOP
senior policymaking advisors who have a responsibility over area
biden- office of domestic climate policy
1) Obstacles imposed
by the Cabinet
president has to logistically delegate some decisions to cabinet members
changing cabinet ministers can take time and be efficient
tump had 6 homeland security advisors
president appointed
some have delegated appropriations spending
2) Obstacles imposed
by the Federal
Bureaucracy
Impirialisuation- departments and agencies try to expand their influence onto institutions
incrementalism- agencies will resist significant changes threading their stages and preferred way of working
iron triangles are mutually beneficial groups between interest groups, congress and executive
the revolving door is when civil servants leave their Job and return as lobbyists
3) Obstacles imposed
by future presidents
because one executive order can be overridden by another
trump unsigned many of trump’s
What is the ‘imperial
presidency’ theory?
a presidency which is ruled with power and authority
What is the ‘imperilled
presidency’ theory?
a weaker presidency where many of the checks on the power of the presidency are far overuseed
1) Whether or not a
president appears
imperial or imperilled
can depend on their
popularity
increase in the popularity of a president can increase power to preside and influence
increased partisanship makes it more difficult for presidents to use the bully pulpit and win public support
2) Whether or not a
president appears
imperial or imperilled
can depend on the
composition of
Congress
unified government leads to less opposition
lot less done in trumps second term with democrat congress
trump could easily appoint opposition to guinsbug in 2020 because there was a republican senate
trump did fail to overturn Obamacare
3) Whether or not a
president appears
imperial or imperilled
depends on how you
view unilateral
executive action
when defeated in congress the president often defers to unilateral action
trump used his capacity to declare a national emergency at southern border to redirect military construction funds
4) Whether or not a
president appears
imperial or imperilled
depends on how you
view the growth of
the executive branch
the government has grown lots since the constitution was created
well the us president has appointment powers and secondary legislation which is of course not in condition
5) Whether or not a
president appears
imperial or imperilled
can depend on
whether you focus on
domestic or foreign
policy
the two presidents theory suggests that there is the face of the operation and the chief of staff which is a very powerful person
trump appointed his allies in 2016
what are the presidents enumerated powers
commander in chief
cabinet advice
pardons and commutations
negotiate treaties
appointments
recess appointments
propose bills
convene emergency session of congress
meet with foreign ambassadors
veto legislation
