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Unit 4: Section 3: President - Coggle Diagram
Unit 4: Section 3: President
Power of the President
The President is...
Head of government - head of executive branch of the federal gov
Head of state - chief public representative of the country
Head of State
commander-in-chief of the armed services (but he cannot declare war)
negotiates and signs treaties with other countries (although they need to be ratified by the Senate)
in charge of diplomatic relations with other countries
has the power to issue pardons to anyone convicted of a crime
Head of Government
responsible for appointing people to head government departments, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
can call Congress back into session during a break (recess) at times of national emergency.
Qualifications for the Office of the Presidency:
A natural-born US citizen
At least 35 years old
A US resident for at least 14 years
Roles & powers of the President
Propose legislation
Submit the annual budget
Sign legislation
Veto legislation
Act as chief executive
Informal resources of the presidency:
staff in the executive branch
party ties
mass media
international contracts
the 'bully pulpit'
Executive powers
Executive orders:
A directive issued to officers of the executive branch, requiring them to take or stop taking an action, alter policy, change management practices, or accept a delegation of authority
eg 13492 (Guantanamo Bay)
Presidential Memoranda:
manage and govern the actions, practices, and policies of the various departments and agencies found under the executive branch
eg War Powers 15.12.11
Presidential Proclamations
:
statement issued by a US president on an issue of public policy
eg Wright Brothers Day 15.12.11
National Security Directives:
Formal declaration to an agency or department head of a presidential national security decision, requiring follow-up.
Designed at the National Security Council
eg NSPD-9: Combating Terrorism 25.10.01
Signing statements:
eg Obama Statement on Signing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009
Should the President use executive powers?
Yes
Quick in an emergency situation
Pay debts to important groups without committing many resources
Don’t attract much attention
Signing statements prevent vetoes of complex/end of session legislation
No
Contribute to accumulation of power in executive hands
Make it more difficult for successors to govern
Undermine existing administrative law procedures
Easy for next administration to undo
Closed policymaking process = bad policy?
What limits the power of the President?
Impeachment - Donald Trump 2019
Role of Congress - legislative role; declares war; decides how federal money is spent; Senate approves presidential appointments [depends on ideological leaning of Congress]
Role of Supreme Court - interprets laws
Public opinion
Media
The President's powers of persuasion
What are the powers of persuasion?
informal power of the President
use of personal influence, prestige, authority of office and other bargaining methods
used to convince members of their party and to gain bipartisan support
The president can offer persk, such as...
offering to support projects/leg that benefits a members constituents
offering to help campaign for a member of their own party
dinner at the WH or photo opportunity
Are the powers of persuasion are significant?
Yes
President Truman commented 'I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to have sense enough to do without my persuading them...That's all the President's power amounts to
American political scientist Rhicard Neustadt wrote in his book Presidential Power that 'Presidential power is the power to persuade'
No
Samuel Kernell, in his book Going Public,: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership, argued taht other methods, such as bypassing Congress, are more effective in achieving the president's aims
With the polarisation of American politics, many would agree that presidential powers such as executive orders to achieve their aims
Barrack Obama
Powers of persuasion were effective
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 ('Obamacare") was passed after much negotiation with Democrat members of Congress.
Obamacare's success was due to a united government and a strong electoral mandate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a skilled negotiator and Obama was willing to compromise, dropping a more radical public health insurance option.
Powers of persuasion were not effective
Obama struggled to deliver on the closure of Guantanamo Bay, facing opposition from Republicans and Democrats in Congress; with immigration reform, his DREAM Act 2010 was filibustered in the Senate; an assault weapon ban he supported in 2013 was filibustered in the Senate (with 15 Democrats voting against it)
Obama used much of his political capital on getting healthcare reform through. After the first 2 years he no longer had control of Congress and he left these major issues until his second term, making them harder to achieve.
Vice President
Vice-President:
second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the President of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession
Role of the Vice President:
The problem is quite simple…the Constitution says very little about what the actual role of the Vice President would be if he did not actually take over that of the President
Article 1 Section 3 tells us:
Casting vote as ‘president of senate’ (rare and usually done by president pro-tem)
Presiding over counting of presidential election votes
Powers of the Vice President
Presiding officer of the Senate:
Chairs debates (but usually this is done by junior members of the majority party)
Voting in the case of a tied vote in the Senate:
In 2021 Kamala Harris cast 15 tie-breaking votes in the Senate. Mike Pence voted 13 times in the Senate
Counting the Electoral College votes after the presidential election:
Mike Pence presided over the counting of the Electoral College votes in January 2021 following the 2020 election
Becoming president in the event of the death, resignation or removal of the president:
This has occurred on nine occasions.
Vice President Lyndon B Johnson became president when President John F Kennedy was assassinated [1963];
Becoming acting president if the president is declared, or declares himself, disabled (by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment):
Vice-President Kamala Harris became the first woman to be given presidential powers while Joe Biden underwent a regular health check in 2021.
Making the leap between Vice President & President:
-> Only 4 VPs have announced their own victories after presiding over the electoral college vote
-> Only 15 VPs have gone on to the presidency, including those who were forced to take over because of death or resignation (25th amendment, Presidential Succession Act of 1947)
Assess the importance of the Vice President
‘balancing the ticket’ in elections providing experience or expertise
‘attack dog’ – criticising opponents more forcefully than the president is able to
standing in for the president
Arguably, the role of vice president reached a new level of importance during the tenure of Dick Cheney, principally because of President Bush’s relative inexperience in a number of key areas
Cabinet
Cabinet:
official advisory board to the president, composed of the heads (secretaries) of the 14 major departments of the federal government.
official advisory board to the president, composed of the heads of the 14 major departments of the federal gov
secretaries, or chief administrators are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate
approval is normally taken for granted, but recent years have seen many rejections
.
History of the Cabinet
Established in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, the Cabinet's role is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to the duties of each member's respective office
Appointment to the Cabinet:
The President nominates and the Senate must confirm the nominee
President will usually reward loyal party members and may often select 1 position from the opposition party
Multiculturalism is often taken into consideration
Functions of the cabinet:
PRIMARY CONSTITUTIONAL ROLE - To advise the president on policy within areas covered by their departments
To oversee the day-to-day enforcement and administration of federal policy within executive departments
To deal with specific areas of national and international affairs
Cabinet meetings:
Frequency can vary (Reagan 36 – Clinton 6 Y1)
Advisory so no votes are taken
eg 19th May 2020 Trump - covid
Functions for the president
Engender team spirit
Promote working together
Exchange information
Functions for cabinet
Get to know colleagues
Resolve interdepartmental disputes
Speak to the president
Is the Cabinet important?
Yes
It contains some of the most important people in the executive branch e.g. secretary of state, secretary of defense.
All the heads of the 15 executive departments are automatically members.
The president always chairs the meetings - direct link!
No
Article II of the Constitution vests ‘all executive power’ in the president.
There is no doctrine of collective responsibility.
The members are neither the president’s equals nor political rivals.
What is EXOP?
Top staff agencies in the White House that assist the president
1) White House Office - president’s trusted aides and advisors - ‘door-keeper to the Oval Office’ [not appointed by Senate]
2) Office of Management and Budget [appointment confirmed by the Senate] - advise on allocation of federal funds and oversee spending
3) National Security Council - help coordinate foreign, security and defence policy
How significant are the powers of EXOP?
Proximity - EXOP are close political allies, so the heads have the ability to see the President every single day or most days
eg Nixon ‘don’t underestimate the power of proximity’
Loyalty – EXOP only have loyalty to the president and not to a different branch. They are more trusted with the powers as they are loyal to the president and can focus on their roles
Paperwork and telephone calls to the President are screened by the White House Office to decide who should and should not be put through to the president.
eg Eisenhower only read documents approved by his chief of staff, Sherman Adams.
Holding the President to account
Checks on the President
Congress
Amend, delay, reject the president’s legislative proposals and budgetary requests;
Override the president’s veto;
Refuse to ratify treaties [Senate]
Investigate the president’s actions and policies
Impeach, try and remove the president from office
Supreme Court
Declare the president’s actions to be unconstitutional
eg Hamdan v Rumsfeld (2006)
Interest groups
Mobilise public opinion against the president’s policy proposals
Public opinion
Low approval ratings give the president less political clout
Voters
In special and midterm elections, as well as in re-election bid
Federal bureacracy
Federal departments/agencies may oppose the president
State governments
Presidents often rely upon state governments to enact presidential policies
Factors affecting Presidential success
Electoral mandate
Electoral mandate is the percentage of popular vote won in the election
e.g. Bush [2000] and Trump [2016] both lost the popular vote
Public approval
The higher the president’s public approval rating, the more political clout they have e.g. George W Bush 62% average in Year 1 v Trump 38% average in Year 1
First/second term
President is more likely to be successful in the first two years of Term 1 than the last two years of Term 2 e.g. George W Bush 62% in First term - 37% in Second term
Unified/divided government
Likely to be more successful if their party controls both houses of Congress e.g. Obama 2009-11; Biden 2021
Crises
Nation tends to ‘rally around the flag’ and look to the president e.g. 9/11. But it can have a negative effect e.g. Trump and the COVID-19 crisis.
President and Congress
Oversight of the executive branch
Scrutiny of the executive branch is an implied power of Congress.
President and Congress have to work together:
Passing legislation
Executive and judicial nominations
Signing treaties
How can the president get support from Congress?
Vice president
White House Office (Office of Legislative Affairs)
Cabinet appealing to Congress members
Lobby party leaders in Congress
How does Congress check the power of the President?
Propose legislation -> Amend, delay, reject the president’s legislative proposals
eg Rebuild American Jobs Act filibustered in Senate 03/11/11
Veto legislation -> Override the veto eg Barack Obama – legislation to allow people to sue Saudi Arabia 28/11/16
Nominate executive branch officials -> Senate confirms or rejects
Nominate federal judges -> Senate confirms or rejects
Negotiate treaties -> Senate ratifies or rejects eg New START (The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) 22/12/10
Commander-in-chief of the armed forces -> Declare war/power of the purse eg Iraq War (follows War Powers Resolution)
Act as chief executive -> Investigation, impeachment, trial, removal from office eg Solyndra Loan Investigation 2011 or Donald Trump 2019
War Powers Clause:
War Powers Clause in the Constitution, vests in the Congress the power to declare war BUT After Vietnam, debate about the extent of presidential power in deploying troops without a declaration of war
President abroad
Ambassador:
an accredited diplomat sent by a state as its permanent representative in a foreign country
Donald Trump's foreign policy:
Introduced a ban on travel from certain Muslim-majority countries
Recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
Agreeing with the Taliban for a conditional full withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Re-evaluated many of the U.S.'s prior multinational commitments, including withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the INF Treaty, the UNHRC
Joe Biden's foreign policy
Renewed American diplomacy and multilateralism - repairing some of the ties broken by Trump
Defence of democratic values against autocracy and authoritarianism - almost $1billion in aid to Ukraine
Does the President control foreign policy?
Yes
President is commander-in-chief
President has the power to make appointments
President has the power to negotiate treaties
No
The Senate has ratification power for treaties
Only Congress can declare war (though it is largely redundant now)
Congress controls the purse strings
India case study:
India has long been an important partner to the US - and the overall direction of travel is unlikely to change under a Biden presidency
Mr Biden has been far more outspoken. His campaign website called for the restoration of rights for everyone in Kashmir, and criticised the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) - two laws which sparked mass protests.