The Presidency and the Bureaucracy

GOV

Chief Legislator

• proposes legislation

• delivers state of the union

• can sign/veto laws (Congress can reject with 2/3 vote)

• can call Congress into special sessions to address urgent issues

Chief Economist

• monitors economy

• submits a budget to congress (shapes were Federal dollars are sent)

• establishes the economic environment businesses must operate under

Party leader

• presides over their respective party

• selects party chair

• party’s fund raiser

Chief diplomat

• negotiates treaties

• enters into executive agreements (cheat treaties)

• appoints ambassadors

Commander in chief

• supreme military commander over all branches

• decides when to send troops into battle

Chief of state

• preforms ceremonial duties 

• ex: consoling storm victims, meeting with foreign leaders, hosting state dinners

Chief executive

• appoints executive branch leaders

  • secretaries, head of federal departments, other staff positions (assistants to the president)

presidents cabinet

• group of experts chosen by president to help them make decisions about the country 

• Department of Agriculture Secretary

  Department of Commerce Secretary

  Department of Defense Secretary

  Department of Education Secretary

  Department of the Interior Secretary

  Department of Justice Attorney General

  Department of Labor Secretary

  Department of State Secretary

  Department of Energy Secretary

  Department of Health & Human Services Secretary

  Department of Homeland Security Secretary

  Department of Housing & Urban Development Secretary

  Department of Transportation Secretary

  Department of the Treasury Secretary

  Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary

the executive office of the president

• offices/councils/boards that help president carry out day to day operations

• helps coordinate policies with other depts.

the WHO (White House Office)

• develop policies for the administration

• protect the president's interests

• members include

  • Chief of staff (presidential adviser and WHO manager)

  • Press secretary (spokesperson)

  • White House counsel (lawyer)

  • President’s appointments secretary (scheduler)

  • President’s secretary 

national security council 

• advises the president on national security/foreign policy 

office of management and budget (OMB)

• helps create the president's annual budget

• once approves, they manage how this money is delegated and executive by other agencies

expressed powers (Constitution)

• Article 2, sections 2/3:

• Commander in chief of the armed forces

• Appoint executive department heads, ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, fill recess vacancies, etc.

• Grant pardons 

• Enter into treaties, with 2/3 consent of the Senate 

• Give the State of the Union address to Congress 

• Convene the Congress 

• Receive ambassadors of other nations 

• Commission all officers of the United States

enumerated powers

• take care clause aka the president has the responsibility to take care that laws are being carried

• granted through permission from congress

• executive orders

• emergency powers

• executive privilege 

cabinet depts.

 

State

Treasury

War

Army

Navy

Interior

Justice (Attorney General’s Office, 1789)

Agriculture

Commerce and Labor

Commerce (separated from Commerce and Labor)

Labor (separated from Commerce and Labor)

Defense (pulled War, Army, and Navy into one department)

Health, Education, and Welfare

Housing and Urban Development

Transportation

Energy

Health & Human Services (separated from Health, Education, and Welfare)

Education (separated from Health, Education, and Welfare)

Veteran’s Affairs

Homeland Security

independent administrative agencies

• responsible for a specific function of the federal government

independent regulatory commissions 

• outside of cabinet depts. that have the power to develop certain standards, monitor if these standards are being followed, impose sanctions on those who violate 

  • ex: epa, fec

bureaucrats role in policy

• agenda setting

• policy making

• policy approval

• appropriation approval

• policy implementation

• policy evaluation