4. The Executive Branch
Constitution & Executive
Branch
Presidential Power
Limitations & Constraints
Power and Influence:
Cabinet
EXOP
Federal Bureaucracy &
Federal Agencies
5. Executive & The Constitution
Found in Article 2
All executive power is
vested in one President
Electoral College outlined
Term limits added via
amendments
Commander in Chief
Cabinet not a requirement
6. Some Key Presidents
George Washington
Richard M Nixon
• First President
• Bill of Rights
• Two term convention
• Watergate
• New Federalism
Abraham Lincoln
Ronald Reagan
• Abolished Slavery
• President during Civil War
• Iran-Contra Affair
• Robert Bork – SC Nominee
Franklin D Roosevelt
Bill J Clinton
• Longest serving 12 years
• The New Deal
• Failed Impeachment
• Failed Healthcare Reform
7. Some Key Presidents
• 9/11
• Anti terror legislation
• Education & AIDS
• War on Terror
• 2008 Financial Crisis
• Obamacare
• Gun Control
• Immigration Reform
• Osama Bin Laden
• Bailouts
George W
Bush
Barack H
Obama
8. Role of the President
Head of State
Chief Diplomat
Chief Legislator
Commander in Chief
Chief Executive
9. Increasing Role of the President
Only national political
institution that can act
quickly and decisively in
times of crisis
Only nationally elected
politician – claim a
mandate
EBBS AND FLOWS
Crisis – Flows towards POTUS
Peace – Congress Reasserts itself
10. Powers of the President
• Propose Legislation
– Bush – No Child Left Behind
• Submit the Annual Budget
• Sign Legislation
• Veto Legislation
– Bush Stem Cell Research
•
•
•
•
•
Act as Chief Executive
Nominations Chief
Commander in Chief
Negotiate Treaties
Pardon
11. Power of Veto
Presidents can veto legislation, i.e. not make it
law
Standard Veto
Sends it back to Congress
Pocket Veto
Doesn’t sign within last 10 days of Congress
Line Item Veto
Power to veto certain parts of legislation, ruled
unconstitutional by Clinton v New York City 1998
12. The Power to Persuade
Why only persuade:
Who Persuades:
Cabinet is not a reward to
VP
Congress due to the separation
EXOP (Office of
of powers
Legislative Affairs)
Lack of an honours system in
Party Leadership
the US unlike the UK
Can’t remove the whip
Interest Groups
Neustadt:
Presidential Power is the Power to
Persuade
13. The President Persuades
Sometimes the Presidents wades into the
persuasion personally
Phone Calls
Budget Vote 1993 Clinton rang Marjorie Margolies
Mezvinsky to get her to cast her vote
Support Legislation
Campaign in District
Only if Popular!!!!
15. Vice President
First Vice President’s were the people who came second
in a Presidential Race
The role as moved on since its formation in the early
days
16. Modern VP Candidates
VPs chosen through a ‘Joint
Ticket’ System
A ‘balanced ticket’ is often
crucial in elections
Balance can be in the form
of Experience, Ideology, Age,
Region.
Are race and gender now
important as well?
17. Enumerated Powers of the VP
Presiding Officer of the Senate
• Votes in Senate Deadlocks
• Cheney voted to protect Bush's $1.6bn tax cut
Announces Electoral College Votes
• January 2001 – Al Gore announces his own defeat
First in line of Succession
• If President dies, resigns or is removed from office
• Has happened a total of 9 times
Acting President
• 25th Amendment: Cheney was President for 2 hours whilst Bush
was sedated for an operation
18. However... Powers have Increased
Since Eisenhower the Vice Presidency
has been a breeding ground for
Presidents
Many distinguished politicians battle for
the role
– Bush Senior, Joe Biden
Presidents give VP more responsibility
and some become advisors
VPs now see daily intelligence briefings
and all have an office in the West Wing
19. Additional Powers
VPs are now a major
spokesperson for the
administration
– Gore: Environment
– Cheney: ‘Iron Issues’
The VP is a major
fundraiser
VPs can play the
‘Washington Insider’
guiding POTUS
20. Cheney as Vice President
Portfolio Contained the
‘Iron Issues’
Economic Issues
Security Issues
Energy Issues
Party Caucus
The most powerful Vice
President in History?
The President and I have a different
understanding
21. Biden as Vice President
Less powerful relatively
than Cheney
Focus on Foreign Policy
Washington Insider
Senate Judiciary
Committee
36 years as a Senator
He was the Second poorest member of
Congress
22. The US Cabinet
The advisory group selected by the President to aid him in making decisions and
coordinating the work of the Federal Government. Membership is at the pleasure of
the President
15 Heads of Department
+ Vice President
+ Director of OMB
No constitutional
requirement
State
John Kerry
Treasury
Jack Lew
Defense
Chuck Hagel
Attorney General
Eric Holder
23. Frequency of Meetings
Varies between President to
President.
George W Bush’s Meetings
Year
Frequency
Meeting number tends to
decline towards an election
year as election demands eat
into his time
9
2002
5
2003
8
2004
Reagan in his first year held 36
Meetings
2001
6
2005
5
2006
6
2007
4
2008
5
2009
1
24. Functions of the Cabinet
For the President
Team Spirit
Consensual
Information
Gathering
Debate
Big Picture
See all
Departments
25. Functions of the Cabinet
For the Cabinet
Get to know
Resolve
Disputes
Contact
Points
Catch the
President
Increased
Standing
26. Cabinet Synoptic Links
USA:
Cabinet members must only be in the
executive
Not a reward, often more of a final
posting before retirement
No Collective Ministerial Responsibility
UK:
Cabinet members sit in the legislature
Cabinet posts are part of the PM’s
powers of Patronage
MPs want to be in Cabinet
Collective Ministerial Responsibility
27. Federal Bureaucracy
Unelected, Administrative Body in the Executive Branch, set out into departments
agencies and commissions. They carry out policy on a day to day basis.
Similar to the UK Civil
Service the Federal
Bureaucracy is the back
bone of the US
Government.
They carry out policy and
work out the finer details
of the bills passed by
Congress
2.7million
employees
$13.8 billion
payroll
11% of
employees in
DC
Roughly 900
Departments
29. Problems with the Bureaucracy
Clientelism
• Agencies serve the interests of those the are supposed to be overseeing
• Lap Dogs rather than Watchdogs
Imperialism
• Agencies seek to expand their own power at the expense of other
agencies
• Turf Battles
Incrementalism
• Agencies may act slowly and cautiously, with a nature to resist change
• Argument very similar to the UK Civil Service
30. Iron Triangles
Strong relationship between
three political bodies
• Interest Groups
• Congressional
Committees
• Agency
Generally considered as
having a negative impact on
policy
33. Executive Office of the President
Top staff agencies in the White House that give the president
advice and support in his role. It focuses on coordination,
personnel management and advice giving
Formed in 1939 as a result
of the Brownlow
Committee
“The President
Needs Help”
Expansion of Federal
Government
34. Executive Office of the President
Office of
Management and
Budget
White House Office
(The West Wing)
National Security
Council
35. White House Office
Most trusted advisors and aides
Chief of
Staff
Press
Secretary
Director of
Communications
Cabinet
Secretary
36. White House Office
Liaison between President and Federal
Bureaucracy and Cabinet
Liaison between President and Congress
Screening of Telephone calls
Screening of Documents
Advisory Role
Draw up Presidential Schedule
‘Lightening Conductors’
37. Remember this is just the Public Schedule,
WHO will create a more private one
38. White House Office Staff
President chooses them
‘Honest Brokers’
Staff should be following the Presidents Agenda,
Not their own, like Sununu may have been
Should not be in the media spotlight
39. The Chief of Staff
Head of EXOP
Most Crucial Role
‘Deputy President’
Gate Keeper to the Oval
Denis McDonough
Protect the interests of the President and advise
him accordingly
A Chief of Staff’s power is will depend on how
strong they are
40. The Chief of Staff
Bob Halderman
Leon Panetta
• Richard Nixon
• William J Clinton
John Sununu
Andrew Card
• George H W Bush
• George W Bush
Mack Mclarty
Rahm Emanuel
• William J Clinton
• Barack Obama
41. Office of Management and Budget
Created by Nixon in 1970
Oversees the spending by all
Federal departments and
agencies
Advises the President on the
allocation of Federal Funds
Director is the only Senate
confirmed position within
EXOP.
42. National Security Council
Headed by National Security
Advisor
Nixon politicised the way in
which worked, running
Foreign Policy through
Kissinger from the West
Wing
Clinton returned it to its
honest broker role
43. EXOP v Cabinet
From EXOP Perspective
Regard Cabinet as too
distant and disloyal
from the President –
might ‘go native’
Large rivalries existed during the
Nixon Years as EXOP ran Foreign
Policy with Henry Kissinger as
National Security Advisor instead of
the State Department
From Cabinet Perspective
See EXOP as too close
and too loyal to the
President
46. An Imperial President?
Term originates from the
1970s by Schlesinger
Focuses on abuse of
power by Johnson and
Nixon
EXOP becomes the Court
of an Emperor
47. Why?
Executive branch dominates over the other
branches
Presidents craft Foreign Policy as Commander in
Chief and use the vagueness of the Constitution
to go to War
Johnson and Nixon personified this
48. Evidence
1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving Johnson a
‘blank cheque’ for Vietnam War
Nixon – Wire tapping, bombing of Laos and
Cambodia, executive privilege claims
49. Imperilled Presidency
However it can be imperilled
President Ford is a good example
• Lack of Party leadership in Congress
• Unable to control Federal Bureaucracy
A principal weakness in the presidency is
the inability of the White House to
maintain control over the large federal
bureaucracy.
G . Ford
50. ‘Bifurcated’ presidency
It can be argued that the presidency is almost like
two separate roles, with different levels of power:
• Foreign policy – almost unchecked power
• Domestic policy – hugely constrained by
Congress
Clinton was easily able to send troops to
Bosnia and Kosovo, whilst he couldn’t pass
his healthcare bill
• So is Congress ‘too effective’ a check and balance
domestically, yet too weak on foreign issues?
51. However!
There are contrasting examples
too;
• Foreign policy – Congress dried
up funds for the Vietnam conflict
under Ford (power of the purse)
• Domestic policy – FDR was able
to pass much legislation in the
1930s (New Deal), as was
Johnson (Great Society)
52. George W Bush
Yes
Presidential Authority – Only response in
War on Terror
Many in Administration saw Congress as
below the White House in National
Defence
Passing of Anti Terror Legislation (Patriot
Act)
No
Congress refuses to extend Patriot Act
53. Executive Synoptic Links
UK Fusion of Powers vs US Separation of Powers
Importance of Cabinet
UK PM stronger domestically than US President
US President stronger on foreign policy than UK PM
UK PM has bigger ‘sticks’ and tastier ‘carrots’
US Term limits vs no limits on PM tenure
UK PMs can be presidential whereas US President’s can be
imperial
54. Exam success is
not a lottery!
Know your
terms
Know the
Articles
Know the
Examples
