Nov 19 – Gov – The PresidentAgenda:• Notes: The Presidency

Homework:• Read 12.6 – 12.8 (page

428-437)• Complete and submit

Ch. 12 SG by midnight, Wednesday• (You will have additional

homework tomorrow)

Take Out:• Pen/Pencil• Notebook

Chief Executive

Formal Roles: “take Care that the Laws be

faithfully executed” (Article II, Section 3), - that means treaties, laws, and court decisions

to supervise executive branch of government,

to appoint and remove executive officials (Article II, Section 2) –cabinet members and other high officials

to prepare executive budget for submission to Congress (by law of Congress).

Checks

Congress passes the laws

Congress has the power of the purse

Senate can reject treaties

Senate can reject appointment of officials

• Could be impeached

Chief Legislator

Formal Roles• power Propose legislation by

“giv[ing] to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend[ing] to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient” (Article II, Section 3),

• power to veto legislation passed by Congress,

• signs laws • convene special session of

Congress “on extraordinary Occasions” (Article II, Section 3).

Checks

Congress doesn’t need to pass suggested legislation

• Vetoes subject to override by a two-thirds vote in both houses

Veto Statistics

Sources: U.S. Congress, Senate, Secretary of the Senate, Presidential Vetoes, 1789-1988, S.Pub. 102-12,103rd Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington: GPO, 1992); and U.S. Congress, Senate, Secretary of the Senate,Presidential Vetoes, 1989-2000, S.Pub. 107-10, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington: GPO, 2001).

Chief Diplomat

Formal Roles

• power to make treaties • to exercise the power of

diplomatic recognition: • “receive Ambassadors”

(Article II, Section 3), • Appoint ambassadors

Checks

• “with the Advice and Consent of the Senate” (Article II, Section 2)

• Senate can reject treaties

• Senate can reject ambassadors

• Congress appropriates funds for foreign affairs

Commander in Chief

Formal Roles

• power to command U.S. armed forces: “The president shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy” (Article II, Section 2),

• and to appoint military officers.

Checks

• Congress declares war • Congress appropriates

funds for the military• War Powers Act of 1973

Chief of State

Formal Roles

• Represent the nation as vested in the President by Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution.

• Medal of honor, visit areas struck by natural disaster

• Entertains at state dinners

Checks

• N/A

Chief Jurist

Formal Roles

• power to grant reprieves (amnesty) and pardons (Article II, Section 2),

• and to appoint federal court and Supreme Court judges (Article II, Section 2

Checks

• Senate can reject judicial appointments (majority)

• Senators can place “holds” on appointments

• Senators can filibuster nominations

Why can’t they be friends?• So what does this mean for the relationship between the

president and congress?

Informal Powers• The two lines below have allowed for the rise of informal

presidential powers:

• The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America… (Article 2, section 1)

• …he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed… (Article 2, section 3)

Chief Executive

Informal Roles:• Impoundment- the President can

argue that money should not be spent, even if it has been appropriated by Congress.

• In the past this was done when there was obvious need – reducing defense spending after a war ended

• Without the line item veto, Presidents have to either sign a whole bill or veto it. As a result, the president may be unhappy with funding amounts for parts of a bill and may want to withhold such funding.

Checks

• Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 • if president impounds

temporarily, either house can override

• if permanent, the act is automatically voided unless both houses of Congress approve within 45 days

• budget committees established in both houses

Chief Legislator/Executive• While the legislation itself instructs much bureaucratic action, the president can use tool such as

executive orders and signing statements to shape public policy through the bureaucracy. (Executing policy but at the same time, MAKING policy)

• Executive Orders – have the force of law to carry out laws. Doesn’t need congressional approval • EO 9066, ( 1942, FDR) internment of Japanese Americans during World War II• EO 9981, (1948, Truman) ended segregation in the armed forces. • EO 10925, (1961, JFK) mandated the use of affirmative action and nondiscriminatory hiring practices by

governmental agencies and contractors.• Bush 43 created Office of Homeland Security after 9-11 through an executive order. (Later made a

Cabinet Dept.)

• In recent years, some presidents have made extensive use of signing statements in particular to thwart legislative initiatives.

• signing statements - Gives notice of his interpretation of the law, how he intends to enforce it, or even IF he intends to enforce it.• Under Reagan, only 75 of these were issued. By Jan. of 2008, Bush had issued 157. • Critics claim that, in effect, these give the president a line item veto.

Checks? You’re kidding, right?

Chief Diplomat

Informal Roles• Executive agreements – don’t

require Senate ratification like treaties do. • Deals between the Pres and heads of

other states • Since WWII, the number of

executive agreements has vastly outnumbered the number of treaties.

• Treaties are often on relatively trivial issues (e.g., archaeological artifacts in Mexico), but executive agreements are often on matters of great importance (e.g., military commitments to various nations).

Checks

• HAHAHA - No

Treaties and Executive Agreements

PRESIDENT NUMBER OF TREATIES

NUMBER OF EXECUTIVE

AGREEMENTSEisenhower 89 1834

Kennedy 36 813Johnson 67 1083

Nixon 93 1317Ford 26 666

Carter 79 1476Reagan 125 2840

G.H.W. Bush 67 1350Clinton 209 2047

G.W. Bush (through 2007)

45 612

TOTALS 836 14038

Chief Jurist

Informal Roles• Executive Privilege – power to withhold

information from the Courts or Congress and enables the President to refuse to appear before Congress or the Courts

• Right to not divulge conversations between himself and his advisers • Presidents claim that conversations they have with

their advisors are "privileged." If not, advisers would be hesitant to give straightforward advice.

• Example: Bush refused to tell Congress who sat in on Cheney’s energy task force

• Critics claim that Presidents have abused this privilege by claiming it under the guise of "national security."

Checks

• In U.S. v. Nixon (1974), the Supreme Court stated that Presidents are in fact entitled to executive privilege most of the time, but not in criminal cases.

Drawing Conclusions

• How have each of the following changed the role of the president?• Impoundment• Executive order• Signing statements• Executive agreement• Executive privilege

• Why are they so controversial?

How can congress fight back?• How can congress use the following powers to push back?

• Congressional Oversight• Appropriation Power• War Powers• Confirmation of Presidential Appointments

Congressional Oversight• Legislative veto - Cong. Repeals bureaucratic regulations using

oversight power Congress repealed OSHA regulations on ergonomics (that had been put in place under Clinton) in 2001. • In the case of INS v. Chada (1983), however, the Supreme Court

declared the legislative veto to be an unconstitutional violation of separation of powers.

• Excessive investigations of Executive branch, micromanagement• Iran-Contra hearings in the 1980s.• Criticism of Patriot Act and secret domestic surveillance programs of

NSA • Congressional criticism/demand for hearings of Bush Administration’s

handling of war in Iraq, and specifically Justice Dept. memos that gave a legal justification for use of torture.

Appropriation power• Uses funding of agencies to exert influence over how

laws get executed (iron triangles) • To influence foreign policy in the 1970s and 1980s: Congress cut

off aid to South Vietnam, Angola, and the Contras. • Congress tried to force Bush 43 into a deadline for withdrawing

troops from Iraq by using funding as a lever.

War powers• War Powers Resolution of 1973.• Criticisms

• Unconstitutional – usurping President's authority as Commander in Chief.

• Ties the hands of the President -- too inflexible.• Makes it easy on the enemy -- just wait 60-90 days for US troops

to withdraw.• Presidents have claimed the act to be unconstitutional and

have disregarded it, but there has been no lawsuit to determine its constitutionality

Confirmation of Presidential Appointments•Excessive scrutiny to appointments • Much closer scrutiny given by Senate to recent appointments•Holds and filibusters to excessively delay• "Rule of fitness" seems to no longer be sufficient; now, a nominee's

policy preferences are fair game for much more senatorial scrutiny than before.

• Long confirmation delays (through use of the “hold”) of years with some of Clinton’s judicial nominees due to the belief that the nominees were too liberal/out of the judicial mainstream.

• Democrats in Senate returned the favor in the Bush Administration by delaying confirmations

Non-constitutional sources of presidential power:• Growing complexity of society: With a highly industrial and technological society,

people have demanded that the federal government play a larger role in areas of public concern• E.g., pollution, labor issues, air travel safety. • The executive branch has grown to meet those public demands.

• Congressional delegation of authority to the executive branch.• Congress often writes broadly-worded legislation and lets executive agencies "fill in the gaps”• Congress often bows to presidential demands in time of economic or foreign crisis.• Congress often bows to the President when he can proclaim a mandate from the people after a

large electoral victory, • e.g., Reagan insisting upon tax cuts and higher defense spending after the 1980 election.

• Development of the mass media casts the President into the public eye • use of t.v. as the "electronic throne" • Special addresses, press conferences, Saturday morning radio chats, photo opportunities, sound

bites, staged events, “going public.” ETC.• Emergence of the U.S. as the great superpower after WWII

• Development of the Cold War placed the U.S. into a virtual non-stop crisis situation POST-1945• assumption of great powers by the President to deal with various foreign crises.