Electoral College and the Executive Branch
How much pension a year after leaving office?
$193,400
Widows get how much
$20,000
How much does the President make?
$400,000
$______ yearly expense allowance. IS TAXABLE
$50,000
Majority
(elections) more than half of the votes
Independent Executive Agencies
-Include most of the independent agencies. The GSA, NASA, and the EPA. -They are headed by a single administrator with subunits operating on a regional basis. Difference is that they don't have Cabinet status. -Operate far from limelight. They have few employees, small budgets, and rarely attract any attention
Supports of the Electoral College say...
-It is a known process. Each of the proposed, but untried, reforms may very well have defects that could not be known until they appeared in practice. -In most cases, it identifies the winner quickly and certainly. With the expectation of the 2000 election, the nation doesn't have to wait for very long to know the outcome.
3 Major roles of the Office of Management and Budget
-Preparation of the Federal Budget -Monitoring the spending of the funds congress appropriates. Overseas the execution of the budget. -Makes continuing studies of the organization and management of the executive branch and keeps the president up to date on the work of its agencies.
Alternatives to the Electoral College system.
-The District Plan -The Proportional Plan -Direct Popular Election -National bonus Plan
What have the Independent Agencies been created?
-They do not fit well within any department. -congress has given some of these agencies an independent status to protect them from the influence of both partisan and pressure politics. -located outside any cabinet department because that is exactly where certain pressure groups want them.
Chief Citizen
Term for the president as the representative of the people, working for the public citizens.
Chief Executive
Term for the president as vested with the executive power of the United States.
Winner-Takes-All
The candidate who won the preference got automatically don the support of all delegates chosen at the primary. -Feature of the electoral college system that says that the candidate that wins the popular vote wins the total number of electoral votes from that state
Executive Office of the President
The cluster of presidential staff agencies that help the president carry out his responsibilities
12th Amendment
The constitutional framework was laid for the presidential selection system as it exits today. -Constitutional amendment that created a seperate ballot for president and vice president.
25th 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.
• Describe the Electoral College Process. Know who the Electors are and what they do. Be able to explain the entire process from voting to the Inauguration of the President and Vice President.
-Tuesday after the 1st Monday in November -General Election-The voters in each state choose electors to serve in the Electoral College. -Certificate of Ascertainment -On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December is the meeing of electors. Select the President and VP of the U.S. -Certificates of Votes -Send them to President of the Senate -Count Electoral Votes in Congress -January 20th Inaguration day- Candidate who receives 270 of the votes wins. -If no candidate recives a majority of votes, the HOR elects President. Senate elects VP
What are the responsibilities/ duties of the Vice President?
1. Preside over the senate 2. Help decide the question of presidential disability 3. President in waiting
What are the flaws in the Electoral College
1. The winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the presidency 2. Electors are not required to toe in accord with the popular vote. 3.any election might have to be decided in the House of Representatives
Name the powers in order..
1. Vice President 2. Speaker of the House 3.President Pro- Tempore of the senate 4. Secretary of State 3. The cabinet agencies come in the order in which they were formed 18. Secretary of Homeland Security
When was the Executive Office of the President established and where is it located
1939 White House Office
Limits the president to two terms or no more than ___ years.
22nd Amendment; 10 years
How many states use the closed primary?
27 and D.C.
Total number of Electors
538
Who do you get the total number of Electors
538= 100 U.S. Senators + 435 members of House of Representatives and 3 from D.C.
Majority, Plurality.
A _____ is over half the votes, while a _____ is the greatest number of votes but less than half
National Convention
A national meeting of delegates elected in primaries, caucuses, or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president, ratify the party platform, elect officers, and adopt rules.
Open Primaries
A party nominating election in which any qualified voter can take part. Although it is the form in which the direct primary first appeared, the open primary is now found in only 23 states.
Closed Primaries
A party nominating election in which only declared party members can vote.
Cabinet
An informal advisory body brought together by the President to serve his needs.
Joint Chief Of Staff
Commanding officers of armed services who advise president on military policy
Who sets the salary for the president?
Congress
How can a President be removed from office?
Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Article 2 Of the Constitution
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the congress:but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
Primaries
Election in which voters choose the candidates from each party who will run in the General Election
Presidential Succession Act of 1947
Establishes the line of succession to the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States in the event that neither a President nor Vice President is able to "discharge the powers and duties of the office."
What is the purpose of the Office of Homeland Security
Headed by a director whose primary job is to keep the president fully aware of all ongoing effort to protect this country against any and all acts of terrorism.
How do transition expenses help?
Help set up an office and return to secular life.
Impeachment requires only a majority vote in the ____; Conviction requires ___ vote in the Senate.
House, 2/3. Senate tries, House Impeaches
Plurality
In an election, the number of votes that the leading candidate obtains over the next highest candidate., (in an election with more than 2 options) the number of votes for the candidate or party receiving the greatest number (but less that half of the votes) In an election, the number of votes that the leading candidate obtains over the next highest candidate.
Electors
Is the group of people chosen from each state and the district of columbia to formally select the president and vice president. -Normally chosen by their state political parties and/or state party leaders, subject to state law. -Collectively cast their votes for a presidential candidate after the popular vote winner has been established in each state.
Open Primaries
It compromises the secrecy of the ballot, because it forces voters to make their party preferences known in public And it tends to exclude independent voters from the nomination process
National Security Act of 1947
It created the National Security Council (NSC) to advise the president on strategic matters. It established the CIA to gather information abroad and to engage in covert activities in support of the nation's security. And it transformed the old war departments into a new Department of Defense and combined the leadership of the army, navy, and air force under the Joint Chiefs of Staff., signed by U.S. President Harry S. Truman realigned and reorganized the United States' armed forces, foreign policy, and Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of World War II. The majority of the provisions of the Act took effect on 18 September 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. The Act merged the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment (NME) headed by the Secretary of Defense. It was also responsible for the creation of a separate Department of the Air Force from the existing United States Army Air Forces. Initially, each of the three service secretaries maintained quasi-cabinet status, but the act was amended on 10 August 1949 to assure their subordination to the Secretary of Defense. At the same time, the NME was renamed as the Department of Defense.
Electoral College
It is a process that began as part of the original design of the U.S. Constitution. It was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote.
What is the National Security Council? WHo attends these meetings?
It is a staff agency where there job is to advise the president in all matters affecting the nations security. It meets at the President's call, to advise him in all domestic, foreign,and military matters that relate to the nations security.
What is the Executive Office of the President?
It is an umbrella agency. It is a complex organization of several separate agencies staffed by most of the president's closest advisors and assistants. It is the Center of todays huge Executive Branch
What are the requirements to be vice president as stated in the Constitution? where do find them? Explain why this is.
It is not stated in the Constitution. It is just implied. Your running for presidency basically and if you lose you become vice president. Since you are running for presidency you have to be 35 years of age, a natural born citizen and live in the u.s. for 14 years.
What is the Third Major Defect
It is possible that the contest will be decided in the House.
12th Amendment
It made a major change in the electoral college system. It separated the presidential and vice presidential elections: "The Electors shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as vice-president.
Closed Primaries
It prevents one party form "raiding' the other's primary in the hope of nominating weaker candidates in the other party. -It helps make candidates more responsive to the party, its platform, and its members. -It helps makes voters more thoughtful because they must choose between the parties in order to vote in the primaries.
President who entered before 1997 gets secret service protection for _____ President who entered after January 1, 1997 receives secret service protection for ____
Life 10 years
What are some benefits?
Lives in White house A large office and staff Air-force One, Marine One, Helicopter
Qualifications to be President?
Natural Born Citizen Must be 35 years old Must live in U.S. for 14 years
What is the Second Major Defect
Nothing in the Constitution, nor in any federal statute, requires the electors to vote for the candidate favored by the popular vote in their states.
National Convention
Once all of the primaries and caucuses have been held and all of the delegates have been chosen, two major parties hold their ____. THese are meetings at which delegates vote to pick their presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
22nd Amendment
Passed in 1951, the amendment that limits presidents to two terms of office.
National Convention
Promotes party unity, mobilizes support for the party ticket, and captures the interest and attention of the country.
Proportional Plan
Proposal by which each presidential candidate would receive the same share of a State's electoral vote as he or she received in the State's popular vote.
District Plan
Proposal for choosing presidential electors by which two electors would be selected in each state according to the statewide popular vote and the other lectors would be selected separately in each of the states congressional districts. Their votes would be cast in accord with the result of the popular vote in their district
National Bonus Plan
Proposal for electing a President by which the winner of the popular vote would receive a bonus of 102 electoral votes in addition to his or her State-based Electoral College votes. If no one received at least 321 electoral votes, a run-off election would be held.
Direct Popular Election
Proposal to do away with the Electoral College and allow the people to vote directly for President and Vice President.
Who has the ability to try impeachment cases?
Senate
Chief of State
Term for the president as a ceremonial head of the U.S. the symbol of all the people of the nation
Chief Legislator
Term for the president as architect of public policy and the one who sets the agenda for congress.
Commander in Chief
Term for the president as commander of the nations's armed forces.
Chief Administrator
Term for the president as head of the administration of the federal government.
Chief of Party
Term for the president as the leader of his or her political party.
Chief Diplomat
Term for the president as the main architect of foreign policy and spokes person too other countries
states
The ___, not the parties, provides polling places and election officials, registration lists and ballots, and otherwise polices the process.
Independent Regulatory Commissions
They are largely beyond the reach of presidential direction and control. Created to regulate aspects of the nations economy. Each is headed by a board or commission made up of five to seven members appointed by the president with senate consent. -Board of Governers -Federal Reserve System -Federal Trade Commission
What is the First Major Defect
Threat that the winner of the popular vote will not win the presidency. Them oct important is the winter take all feature of the electoral college system. That is, the winning candidate customarily receives all of the a State's electoral votes. The allotment of electoral votes does not match the facts of population and voter distribution
___ expenses are paid to help them back to private life. $_____ a year to help maintain an office staff for the first ___months $____ after that.
Transition $150,000 30
Government Corporations
Within the executive branch and subject to the President's direction and control. Set up by Congress to carry out certain business-like activities. -Postal Service -FDIC -Pension Benefit
What is the number of electoral votes needed to win?
You must obtain at lease a majority of 538, or 270. If 270 is not reached then the elections outcome is determined by Congress.
Caucuses
meetings of party leaders to determine party policy or to choose the party's candidates for public office
Direct Primaries
nominating election where all party members may vote to choose the parties candidate for the election
