AP Gov Chapter 7

Executive Office of the President

A mini bureaucracy created in 1939 to help the president oversee the executive branch bureaucracy.

Council of Economic Advisors

A three-member body appointed by the president to advise the president on economic policy.

Twenty Fifth Amendment

Adopted in 1967 to establish procedures for filling vacancies in the office of president and vice president as well as providing for procedures to deal with the disability of a president.

Executive Privilege

An implied presidential power that allows the president to refuse to disclose information regarding confidential conversations or national security to Congress or the judiciary.

Riders

Amendments to bills, often in the form of appropriations, that sometimes have nothing to do with the intent of the bill itself and many times are considered to be pork barrel legislation.

National Security Council

An agency in the Executive Office of the President that advises the president on national security.

Trial Balloons

An unofficial leak that comes out of an administration to test an idea.

Chief Executive

Carries out the laws. The boss of the federal departments.

Pocket Veto

If Congress adjourns during the ten days the president has to consider a bill passed by both houses of Congress, the bill is considered vetoed without the president's signature.

White House Staff

Key aides the President sees daily (chief of staff, press secretary, national security adviser, & a few other advisers).

War Powers Resolution

Passed by Congress in 1973; requires the authorization of Congress to deploy troops overseas and limits the time of their deployment.

Executive Order

Rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect of law. All [blank] must be published in the Federal Register.

Pardon Power

Power to excuse an offense without penalty or grant release from a penalty already imposed.

Imperial Presidency

Term developed by historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr.; refers to presidents who dominate the political and legislative agenda.

Line Item Veto

The authority of a chief executive to delete part of a bill passed by the legislature that involves taxing or spending. Ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Appointment Power

The authority vested in the president to fill a government office or position. Positions filled by presidential appointment include those in the executive branch and the federal judiciary, commissioned officers in the armed forces, and members of the independent regulatory commissions.

Cabinet

The formal body of presidential advisers who head the fifteenth executive departments. Presidents often add others to this body of formal advisers.

Veto

The formal, constitutional authority of the president to reject bills passed by both houses of Congress, thus preventing them from becoming law without further congressional action.

Office of Management and Budget

The office that prepares the president's annual budget proposal,reviews the budget and programs of the executive departments, supplies economic forecasts, and conducts analyses of proposed bills and agency rules.

Impeachment

The power delegated to the House of Representatives in the Constitution to charge the president, vice president, or other "civil officers," including federal judges, with "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." This is the first step in the constitutional process of removing government officials from office.

State of the Union Address

The president's annual statement to Congress and the nation.

Bully Pulpit

The president's use of his prestige and visibility to guide or enthuse the American public.

Commander in Chief

The role of the president as supreme commander of the military forces of the United States and of the state National Guard units when they are called into federal service.