US President: Requirements and Powers

President: Requirements for Office

• Must be a natural-born citizen
• Must be at least 35 years old
• Must be a resident of America for at least 14 years

President: Powers as Commander in Chief

• Head of the Army and Navy
• Head of the National Guard
• Civilian power over the military

President: Powers as Chief Executive of Government

• "Faithfully execute" the laws
• Can require opinions from heads of agencies
• Can grant pardons, except in cases of impeachment
• Can nominate judges to federal courts and nominate a cabinet (confirmed by the Senate)
• Can call special sessions of Congress

President: Powers in Foreign Affairs

• Can appoint ambassadors
• Can make treaties (to be confirmed by the Senate)
• Can send troops anywhere in the world if Congress authorizes it or during a national emergency (War Powers Act)
• Must justify troop deployment to Congress in writing within 48 hours
• Must withdraw troops within 60 days unless Congress extends the time

President: Legislative Powers

• Gives the State of the Union address to Congress to push their agenda
• Can recommend and suggest bills for Congress
• Can call special sessions of Congress
• Can veto bills, which can be overturned by 2/3 of Congress
• Pocket veto: not signing a bill within 10 days while Congress is adjourned

The Cabinet

• Heads of the 15 most important agencies
• President picks, Senate confirms
• These agencies help execute the law
• Includes the Department of Defense, Department of State, and Department of Treasury
• The Office of Management writes the budget (must be confirmed by the Senate)

Council of Economic Advisers

• Part of the executive office
• Helps advise the president on economic issues

Informal Powers of the President

• Executive orders are orders written by the president or an agency that have the weight of law
• Can be rescinded by the president, a succeeding president, or ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court
• Executive privilege is the right of the president to keep certain documents private if pertaining to national security
• Ruled by the Supreme Court in USA vs. Nixon that executive privilege is not unlimited
• Agenda Setting describes how the president sets out the legislation they want passed, using their "bully pulpit"
• Impoundment is the ability to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress, which was ruled unconstitutional

The Bureaucracy

• It is an administrative system that divides work into specific departments carried out by non-elected officials
• The Hatch Act keeps the bureaucracy politically neutral
• Prevents bureaucrats from running for public office, making political speeches, or soliciting campaign funds from subordinates
• Has grown tremendously over the past 100 years, taking on more responsibilities
• Currently employs 4 million people
• 2.8 million are civil servants, and the rest are military
• Many other people are indirectly employed by the federal government
• The Department of Defense is the biggest department
• Over time, the power to choose the course of action and make policies not explicitly spelled out by laws, or discretionary authority, has increased
• Many federal officials belong to the competitive civil service
• Government offices to which people are appointed on the basis of merit (by taking an exam)
• This ended the "spoils system," where government jobs were given in exchange for political support
• Managed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
• It is very difficult to fire a bureaucrat
• At the higher levels, there are more white people than African Americans, and more men than women
• Often, many departments are responsible for similar tasks, so there are many procedures bureaucrats must go through to do anything
• Red tape describes complex rules and procedures that must be followed to get stuff done
• Many people are critical of the large amounts of waste (pork) in the bureaucracy
• Iron Triangle defines informal alliances that work together to formulate and implement policy in their area of interest
• Includes the particular industry and its lobbyists, the congressional committee dealing with that industry, and the agency that is actually affected
• Alliance (or issue) network describes coalitions of interest groups, members of Congress, and bureaucrats that form a close working relationship
• More complicated than a simple iron triangle
• Deregulation removes government restrictions and regulations
• Has occurred recently in the telecommunications and transportation industries
• The bureaucracy has 3 main roles
• Implementation, carrying out laws and executive orders such as Homeland Security enforcing airport security laws
• Administration, conducting routine administrative work such as the Social Security Administration sending out social security checks, and the postal service delivering mail
• Regulation, issuing rules and regulations that impact the public, such as the EPA setting out standards for clean air and water

Structure of the Bureaucracy

• Cabinet Departments
• Comprised of the 15 main departments, headed up by secretaries appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate
• Each has its own budget
• Examples include the Department of Defense, Department of Treasury, and Department of State
• Independent Executive Agencies
• Perform services on behalf of the government and are established by Congress outside of the Executive Branch
• Examples include the Social Security Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, and Environmental Protection Agency
• Independent Regulatory Commissions
• Regulate economic activities and operate independently
• Once appointed, leaders cannot be removed without cause and serve fixed terms
• Quasi-Legislative Agencies are independent agencies responsible for filling in jurisdiction gaps and writing rules
• Quasi-Judicial Agencies are responsible for rule enforcement and punishing violators
• Examples include the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Interstate Commerce Commission (phased out), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Government Corporations
• Established by the government, serve a public need, and are intended to be profitable
• Examples include the US Postal Service and Amtrak Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Oversight

• Presidential Oversight
• The president controls the agencies’ budget access
• Appoints heads to departments
• Can issue executive orders
• Congressional Oversight
• Congress can create or abolish agencies
• The Senate confirms presidential appointees to the bureaucracy
• Congress must authorize agencies to spend money and appropriate (fund) all government agencies and programs
• Congress may use committee clearance, which is the ability of a committee to review and approve decisions of agencies
• Congress may hold committee hearings to hold agencies responsible and can launch investigations of the bureaucracy
• Congress can punish agencies by cutting their funding
• Judicial Oversight
• Federal Courts can use their power of judicial review to determine whether an act taken by a department was unconstitutional