US Presidency Flashcards
President Powers
- Propose legislation
- Submit annual budget
- Sign legislation
- Veto legislation
- Chief Executive
- Nominates all executive branch official
- Nominate federal judges
- Commander and chief
- Negotiate treaties
- Pardon
VP Powers
o Presiding officer of Senate
o Counting and announcing result of EC votes
o Next in line to Presidency
Why is VP important
o Next in line to the President - Truman was Roosevelt’s VP, LBJ was Kennedy’s, Nixon was Eisenhower’s, George H.W. Bush was Reagan’s. Therefore, this is a significant power of the VP
o Acts as the Presiding Officer of the Senate – in the case of a tie vote, VP decides – Dick Cheney did so in 2001 to protect Bush’s tax cuts
Why has the VP been made more important
o Under Eisenhower-Nixon administration, VP’s became of more importance, given high profile tasks and became senior presidential advisors – Walter Mondale first VP shown to be given an office is the West Wing and shown the presidential briefings
o Dick Cheney was a powerful VP as previously sat in the House and acted as legislative liaison between Congress and Executive
o Dick Cheney has been said to almost have transformed the role into “the fourth branch” – pursued his own agenda over broad range of policies
Weak at home, strong abroad - essay paragraphs
1) Second term
2) Congress’ hinderance
3) Methods of President exerting power
4) Strengths abroad
5) Weakness abroad
Loss of control in second term
o There is a significant decrease of effective domestic policies implemented by a President as they get further into their premiership. This could be for a number of reasons;
o A President will almost never hold on to Congress in their second term which means in their second term they wont be able to pursue the policies and agenda as effectively as possible
o This was especially notable in Obama’s second term, where Congress attempted to thwart almost every legislative proposition he put forward
Congress’s hinderance on P’s domestic policy
o Even when a President does hold onto Congress, there is no guarantee that they will be able to push through the appropriate legislation, and sometimes will even defeat or ignore their own P. initiatives
o This is also made more difficult due to the increase of partisan voting within Congress, which means it is hard for the President to introduce and get programs through Congress
o President must also rely on the Senate for all confirmations and ratifications of treaties, which means important nominations or treaties can be blocked by the Senate
o Federal Bureaucracies provide policy implementation and they will also have their own agenda and divided loyalties
To what extent do Presidents control FP? Arguments for
1) Reduced role of Congress
2) Circumventing congress
3) President Controls/sets FP
4) President controls EXOP
Reduced role of Congress in FP
• Congress has constitutional power to declare war, however the last time this power was used was in 1942
o Since 1942, President’s have been expanding this power and begun to circumvent Congress completely
o Truman moving troops into Korea without approval, Johnson using Gulf of Tonkin agreement to escalate Vietnam war, G.H.W Bush – 500,000 troops in Saudi Arabia, Obama and troops into Libya
Circumventing Congress on FP
• Circumventing congress:
o President can make Executive Agreements with other foreign governments which act very much like a treaty but don’t require a 2/3 majority approval from the Senate
o This has led to some significant decisions to be made such as entering into NAFTA in 1992, and Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal
o Obama’s Iran deal set precedent for future Presidential negotiations and expanded power of Exec.
What was Zivotofsky V Kerry
• SC decision which upheld the President’s exclusive power to recognize Foreign Nations – Congress had no power to require State Departments to indicate whether Jerusalem was part of Israel – ultimately FP should be left to Pres.
How does President control FP
• At the State of the Union, the President makes a speech whereby they state what they are going to achieve in FP and it is Congress who follow
o In 2015, Obama made a speech to Republican and Democrat congressmen telling them to unite against ISIS and pass a resolution so force may be taken against them
o Obama also made huge progression in diplomatic relations – ordered Congress to strengthen ties with Cuba and put aside differences – bill was set in motion which lifted the 50-year embargo against Cuba
How does EXOP help control FP
• President controls EXOP – many powerful departments which are concerned solely with Foreign Policy, and can even sit on the President’s Cabinet
o National Security Council, Defense and State Department – State department under Kerry reflected Obama’s “dovish” and diplomatic approach to Foreign Policy
o Kerry visited Russia to discuss Ukrainian crisis and took part in meetings with Bashar al-Assad – Executive remains at the fore-front of FP
