The Presidency

What are the presidential powers?

Expressed power, delegated power, and inherent power

Expressed power

Powers clearly given to the president by the constitution

Delegated power

powers given by one branch (usually Congress) to the executive branch with permission

Inherent power

powers claimed by a president that aren’t expressly given but aren’t prohibited

What is the root cause of the expansion of presidential power?

The vesting claus

Why does the transitional period matter?

It’s about setting up institutions

Does going public affect the public’s issue positions?

No, but it can increase the salience, which increases pressure on Congress to pass it.

Executive order

An order directed at Federal Employees

Signing statement

An announcement made by the president when signing the bill into law to give the president’s take on it

Why does no one stop unilateral action in the presidency?

Congress has a collective action issue

Bureaucracy

The complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization that large institutes use to coordinate the work of their personnel.

In government, what is a bureaucracy’s main job?

To implement and interpret laws

How does bureaucracy grow?

Implementing rules from congress

Implementation

The developement of rules, regulations, and bureaucratic procedures to translate laws into action

Cabinet departments

Directly under the president

Independent agencies

Set up by Congress

Government corperations

Private businesses performing and charging for a market service

Independent regulatory commissions 

Rule making bodies for very specific areas

Clientele agencies

A bureau or department of government whose mission is to promote, serve, or represent a particular interest

Agencies for revenue or security

Agencies for collecting government revenue, controlling threats to internal national security, and defending external national security threats.

Regulatory agencies

A department, bureau, or independent agency whose primary mission is to make rules governing a particular type of activity.

Redistributive agencies

They influence how much money is in the economy, who has it, who can borrow it, and whether people will invest, save, or spend it.

Who makes the laws?

Congress

Who implements the laws?

Bureaucrats

Bureaucratic drift

When bureaucrats adjust laws to their liking

Who is in control of the bureaucracy?

The president and congress

How to presidents exert control over the bureaucracy?

Politicization, centralization, and redesign

Politicization

The appointment of loyal and like-minded personnel

Centeralizaiton

Bringing the bureaucracy closer to the president

Redesign

Dismantle or reconstruct existing agencies or create new ones

How does Congress exert control over bureaucracies?

Hearings, funding, and firearm oversight

Why do investigations work?

Allows Congress to agenda set what they want to talk about

An example of a firearm

FOIA: Freedom of Information Act

What does FOIA do?

Allows citizens and groups to request information from federal government

Termination

Getting rid of programs, which is rare. Reducing budget is more common

Deregulation

The policy of reducing the number of rules issued by federal regulatory agencies

Devolution

The policy of delegating a program or passing it down from one level of government to a lower level, such as from the national government to state and local governments

Privatization

The act of moving all or part of a program from the public sector to the private sector