Chapter 13: The Presidency
Thinking Critically about Presidential Power and Democracy
1. Since the New Deal, the powers of Congress have waned, whereas those of the presidency have expanded dramatically. Congress has surrendered more and more power to the president. 2. The decline of voting and other forms of popular involvement in American political life reduces congressional influence and Congress's ability to check the power of the presidency. Presidents have increasingly asserted the right to govern unilaterally and now appear able to overcome most institutional and political constraints.
Legislative powers
Addresses Congress on the state of the union, submits proposals for legislation, can veto bills, and has the power to issue executive orders
What are the roles of the president?
Chief of State Chief Jurist Chief Diplomat Chief Executive Chief Legislator Chief Politician Commander in Chief
Which branch of government has the constitutional power to declare war?
Congress
Veto process
Congress enacts and present to President; he has 10 days to enact or veto.
Which first spouse had considerable policy influence while her husband was in office?
Eleanor Roosevelt
what are some inherent powers?
Executive orders and other powers as needed
The Executive Office of the President was established in the administration of
FDR
Which president took an active role in proposing legislation to Congress and forcefully advocating for his agenda before the American public?
FDR
President _______________________ acquired significantly more powers due to the United States being in a state of war.
George .W. Bush
Which of the following American wars was approved of by Congress through a resolution and not a formal declaration of war?
Korean War
what are some expressed powers?
Military, Judicial, Diplomatic, Executive, Legislative
Which of the following is an example of delegated powers?
The Environmental Protection Agency interprets and enforces the air pollution laws enacted by Congress.
What is a signing statement?
The president signs legislation while also noting how the new law will be interpreted; the president may also express concerns over particular provisions.
President Nixon vetoed the ___________________________, but Congress overrode the veto. Subsequent presidents have tended to ignore this law.
War Powers Resolution
In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution, which
attempted to limit the president's use of troops in military action without congressional approval.
Delegated powers
constitutional powers that are assigned to one governmental agency but that are exercised by another agency with the express permission of the first. the president "shall take care that laws be faithfully executed"
Generally speaking, popular support for a president
declines over time
When is it most likely that presidential powers would increase?
during wartime
A treaty requires a two-thirds Senate ratification vote. Presidents often use _______________________ to avoid this challenge to their foreign policy.
executive agreements
Presidents have used __________to withhold information on executive branch deliberations from other branches of government.
executive privilege
In times of crises, presidents have issued executive orders without consulting Congress on the basis of
inherent powers
The Cabinet, consisting of heads of all major federal government departments,
is not discussed in the constitution
The power to __________________________ can be categorized as a judicial power of the president.
issue pardons
The national convention is important to the power of the presidency because
it gives the presidency a popular base that eventually supports increased presidential power.
A two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate is required to do the following:
override the president's veto
The president's power to _____________________ is absolute; Congress plays no role in this power.
pardon
As a tool for achieving political goals, presidents have found ___________________ to be mostly unreliable.
party members
What major public event do modern presidents use to propose new legislation?
the State of the Union Message
Presidents today are most likely to rely upon ____________ for advice.
the White House staff
What are expressed powers in the Constitution?
the specific powers granted in the Constitution to Congress and to the president
Executive orders may be used by the president for which of the following objectives?
to more effectively manage the executive branch and carry out existing laws and policies
A ____________ veto can occur when the president is presented a bill during the last ten days of a legislative session and ____________ be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress.
pocket;cannot
Why was Joe Biden chosen to be the vice presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket under Barack Obama in 2008?
foreign policy experience
As the leading actor in U.S. foreign policy, the president is known as
head of state.
Veto
the president's constitutional power to turn down acts of Congress. A presidential veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress.
The Presidency as an Institution
1. Collectively, the thousands of officials and staffers who work for, assist, or advise the chief executive could be said to make up the institutional presidency and to give the president a capacity for action that no single individual could duplicate. 2. The Cabinet is the designation for the heads of all the major federal government departments, but it is not a collective body. It meets but makes no decisions as a group. 3. Some presidents have relied heavily on the National Security Council (NSC), made up of the president, the vice president, the secretaries of state, defense, and the treasury, the attorney general, and other officials invited by the president. 4. Presidents increasingly have preferred the White House staff to the Cabinet as a tool for managing the gigantic executive branch. 5. The White House staff, which is composed primarily of analysts and advisers, has grown from an informal group of fewer than a dozen people to a new presidential bureaucracy. . A major part of the institutional presidency is the Executive Office of the President, which is larger than the White House staff, and it comprises the president's permanent management agencies. The Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers both fall under this category. . As the institutional presidency has grown in size and complexity, most presidents of the past twenty-five years have sought to use their vice presidents as a management resource after the election. 8. First ladies have traditionally assisted presidents in meeting their responsibilities as head of state, though some first ladies have been more involved in policy aspects of the presidency. 9. The president, although technically not able to introduce legislation in Congress, nonetheless has a leading role in lawmaking. Congress has come to expect the president to propose the government's budget, and the nation has come to expect presidential initiatives to deal with major problems.
The Contemporary Bases of Presidential Power
1. Generally, presidents have expanded their power in three ways: party, popular mobilization, and administration. 2. Although all presidents rely on the members and leaders of their own party to implement their legislative agendas, the president does not control his own party; party members have considerable autonomy. During periods of divided government, the president's party is in the minority in Congress. 3. "Going public" as a source of presidential power has been especially significant in the past fifty years. But popular support for the president can be fickle and tends to decline over the course of a president's administration. 4. Contemporary presidents have increased the administrative capabilities and power of their office by enhancing the reach and power of the Executive Office of the President, increasing White House control over the federal bureaucracy, and expanding the role of executive orders and other instruments of direct presidential governance.
Establishing the Presidency
1. The framers thought a unitary executive would be energetic and thus better able to protect the nation's interests. 2. Presidents are selected in indirect elections through the electoral college. 3. The presidency was strengthened by the introduction of the national convention system of nominating presidential candidates. 4. The development of presidential government as we know it today did not mature until FDR and his "New Deal" of the 1930s. Since then, every president has been strong whether he was committed to the strong presidency or not.
The Constitutional Powers of the Presidency
1. The president's expressed powers fall into five categories—military, judicial, diplomatic, executive, and legislative—that are the source of some of the most important powers on which the president can draw. 2. The position of commander in chief makes the president the highest military authority in the United States, with control of the entire military establishment. Though the president is commander in chief, only Congress can declare war. However, presidents have gone a long way in capturing this power for themselves. In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution as a response to presidential unilateralism, but it has been generally ignored by presidents. 3. The Constitution delegates to the president, as commander in chief, the obligation to protect every state against invasion and domestic violence. 4. The presidential power to grant reprieves, pardons, and amnesties allows the president to choose freedom or confinement, and even life or death for all individuals who have violated, or are suspected of having violated, federal laws, including people who directly threaten the security of the United States. 5. The power to receive representatives of foreign countries allows the president almost unconditional authority to determine whether a new ruling group can indeed commit its country to treaties and other agreements. . The president's executive power consists of the ability to appoint, remove, and supervise all executive officers, and appoint all federal judges (with Senate approval). . Another component of the president's power as chief executive is executive privilege—the claim that confidential communications between a president and close advisers should not be revealed without presidential consent. 8. The president's legislative power consists of the constitutional requirement to deliver a State of the Union address and the president's constitutional power to veto any acts of Congress. 9. Though not explicitly, the constitution also provides the president with the power of legislative initiative, which implies the ability to formulate proposals for important policies. 10. The president can issue executive orders, which are first and foremost simply normal tools of management: rules-setting procedures, etiquette, chains of command, functional responsibilities, and others. But evolving out of this normal management practice is a recognized presidential power to promulgate rules that have the effect and the formal status of legislation. 11. Powers given to the president by Congress are called delegated powers. Because of the expansion of government in the last century, Congress has voluntarily delegated a great deal of its own legislative authority to the executive branch.
Which president used town hall meetings to effectively communicate with the American public?
Bill Clinton
The heads of major government departments and agencies collectively make up the
Cabinet
According to the textbook, one reason why Congress has been unable to check the growth of presidential power is that __________
Congress has a significant collective-action problem.
Most of the framers of the Constitution opposed choosing the president by way of a direct, popular election. Why did they oppose this method of presidential selection?
It could potentially make the presidency too powerful.
The textbook authors argue that, today, every president is strong. What do the authors mean by this?
Modern presidents have more institutional resources than presidents before them.
The most important and largest agency in the Executive Office of the President is the
Office of Management and Budget
Which of the following is an example of inherent presidential powers?
President Lincoln mobilizing troops at the outbreak of the Civil War
Diplomatic powers
President is head of state, receives ambassadors and other public ministries, acknowledges which foreign governments are legitimate, and makes treaties
Which amendment provides for the vice president to assume the presidency in the event of the chief executive's death or incapacity and sets forth the procedures that would be followed?
The Twenty-fifth Amendment
Members of the ____________________________ tend to be very close personal and political associates of the president.
White House staff
When Congress passes sweeping legislation, it often delegates significant power to the executive branch, which gives the president
a great deal of discretion in the way the law is implemented.
If a president claims that his or her election victory amounts to an order from the American people to enact new economic policies, he or she is claiming
a mandate
Caucus (political)
a normally closed political party business meeting of citizens or law makers to select candidates, elect officers, plan strategy, or make decisions regarding legislative matters.
National Security Council (NSC)
a presidential foreign policy advisory council composed of the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, and other officials invited by the president.
Pocket veto
a presidential veto that is automatically triggered if the president does not act on a given piece of legislation passed during the final 10 days of a legislative session.
War Powers Resolution
a resolution of Congress that the president can send troops into action abroad only by authorization of Congress, or if American troops are already under attack or serious threat.
Executive order
a rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect and formal status of legislation.
Executive agreement
an agreement, made between the president and another country, that has the force of a treaty but does not require the Senate's 'advice and consent.'
Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and Bill Clinton negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Instead of treating that agreement like a treaty, Clinton submitted it for a simple majority vote of Congress. What President Clinton did was
an executive-congressional agreement
Kitchen Cabinet
an informal group of advisers to whom the president turns for counsel and guidance. Members of the official Cabinet may or may not also be members of the Kitchen Cabinet.
Presidential high-level political appointments are
an institutional resource of presidential power.
White House staff
analysts and advisers to the president, each of whom is often given the title 'special assistant.'
Signing statements
announcements made by the president when signing bills into law, often presenting the president's interpretation of the law.
Inherent powers
powers claimed by a president that are not expressed in the Constitution but are inferred from it.
Judicial powers
president can "grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the U.S, except in cases of impeachment" and appoints members of the Supreme Court
Military powers
president is commander in chief, and can deploy troops domestically in an emergency to enforce a federal judicial order, or to protect federally granted civil rights
Executive powers
president must make sure all laws are faithfully executed
Sections two and three of Article II of the Constitution establish the
presidential powers and duties.
Expressed powers
specific powers granted by the Constitution to Congress. (Article I, Section 8) and to the president. (Article II). powers granted to the president by the consitution
Executive privilege
the claim that confidential communications between a president and close advisers should not be revealed without the consent of the president.
According to the U.S. Constitution, the president is selected by
the electoral college
Executive Office of the President (EOP)
the permanent agencies that perform defined management tasks for the president. Created in 1939, the EOP includes the OMB, the CEA, the NSC, and other agencies.
Legislative initiative
the president's inherent power to bring a legislative agenda before Congress.
Commander in chief
the role of the president as commander of the national military and the state National Guard units. (when called into service).
Cabinet
the secretaries, or chief administrators, of the major departments of the federal government. Cabinet secretaries are appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate.
