Origins and Powers

Qualifications and Selection

• Natural-born citizen

• Minimum of 35 years old

• Minimum resident of the US for 14 years

Presidential Amendments

12th Amendment—rules on electing president and vice president

20th Amendment— moves inauguration from March 4 to January 20

22nd Amendment— limits president to two terms

23rd Amendment— DC gets 3 electoral votes

25th Amendment— presidential succession

Constitutional Powers of the President

Expressed powers: Specific powers granted to the president under Article II

Delegated powers: Constitutional powers that are assigned to one government agency but exercised by another agency with the express permission of the first

Inherent powers: Powers claimed by a president that are not expressed in the Constitution but are inferred from it

Expressed Constitutional Powers of the President

Military: Serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, commissions all military officers of the United States

Judicial: Grants reprieves and pardons for federal crimes, except in cases of impeachment

Diplomatic: Makes treaties with the consent of the Senate, receives ambassadors and other representatives from foreign countries

Executive: Appoints ambassadors, federal court judges, justices of the Supreme Court, and other top officials (with Senate consent). Ensures all laws passed by Congress are carried out.

Legislative: Delivers the annual State of the Union Address to Congress and sends messages to Congress on occasion, vetoes or approves laws, calls either or both chambers of Congress into special sessions

Presidential Veto Power

• Veto— official veto

• Pocket veto— leaving a bill unsigned for 10 days, at the end of those 10 days if Congress is not in session the bill dies

• Line-item veto— does NOT have. When a president signs a bill, either ALL of it goes into effect or NONE of it goes into effect. (state governors have this)

Executive Privilege

• Confidential communications between the president and closest advisors should not be revealed without the president’s consent

• In US v Nixon, SCOTUS recognized the validity of executive privilege but argued it did not apply in the case of presidents recording conversations on tapes

  • Congress asked to hear the tapes for impeachment

  • Some parts of the tape had been removed

  • SCOTUS ruled that Congress could hear all the tapes because they could be covering up a potential crime

Delegated Powers

• Congress creates agencies by law, and these agencies use discretion in how they carry out their functions

• The president is sometimes given authority directly and sometimes indirectly through the power to appoint agency officials

Inherent Powers

• War Powers Resolution— the president’s power to make war. The president must notify Congress within 48 hours of sending armed forces to a country, and cannot remain in the country for more than 60 days without congressional authorization.

  • In 1973, Congress attempted to limit presidential unilateralism (agenda in foreign policy supporting the action of only one side) by passing the War Powers Resolution

• Legislative Initiative— the president’s power to bring a legislative agenda before Congress

  • Presidents may issue executive orders— rules or regulations issued by the president that have the force of law, does not need the approval of Congress

• Personal Exercise of Power— Each president defines the office in the ways that they choose to expand and test their powers

  • Ex. Roosevelt creates the National Park system

  • In times of crisis, the role of the president expands (Great Depression, WW2, Cold War)

• Mandate of the People— Approval of the people, highest immediately after the election, the president must portray themselves as a strong supporter of the people in order to have the support of the people

The Executive Branch

Size of the Executive Branch

• The number of people working within the executive branch continues to grow

• Actual numbers can be difficult to determine

• Rule of Propinquity— Those closest to the President have the most influence over his decision making (spouse, family, close advisors, etc)

White House Office Staff

• People closest to president— do NOT require confirmation

• Offices within the White House

• Closest confidants of the president

• Advise both domestic and foreign policy

• May not serve for the entirety of the president’s term

The Chief of Staff

• The most powerful position within the president’s staff

  • Gatekeeper— chooses who gets to sees the president

• Power determined by the personality of the president and the chief of staff

• Other positions include the Office of Legal Council and Staff Secretary

Executive Office of the President (EOP)

• Created in 1939 during the Roosevelt presidency in response to Great Depression

• The institutional presidency— the permanent agencies that perform defined management tasks for the president

• Somewhere between 1,500—2,000 specialized staffers who work in the EOP

• President can choose which EOPs

National Security Council

• Headed by the National Security Advisor

• Made up of President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense

• Can also include CIA director and head of Chiefs

The Institutional Presidency

• President

• White House staff- serves the president

• Cabinet- appointed by president, confirmed by Senate

• EOPs— heads appointed by president and confirmed by Senate

• Independent agencies and gov corporations

The President’s Cabinet

• The Cabinet encompasses the heads of all the major departments of the federal government

• Appointed by the President, confirmed by the Senate

• No formal decision-making power

• Advise the president on matters pertaining to their respective departments

Expansion of the Cabinet

• Emphasis on providing services

• Originally 3— war, justice, defense

• Expanded later— national parks, agriculture (ex. westward expansion), native americans, labor (ex. triangle fire), health and human services, transportation (ex. highway development), homeland security (ex. 9/11), etc.

Speech and War

• Espionage Act of 1917— Makes it illegal to criticize the government during war (still in place)

• Sedition Act of 1918— Could be arrested for doing anything against the government (repealed later)

• Freedoms of speech, press, religion, etc restricted during times of war

Schenck vs United States

• Schenck wrote a leaflet speaking out against the WW1 draft

• Schenck was charged by the US under the Espionage Act

• SCOTUS ruled that freedom of speech could be limited only if it presented a clear and present danger

• (Ex. shouting “fire” in a crowded theater)

Executive Power in Times of Crisis

Should a president extend the power of the executive branch in order to protect the United States?

What are the formal and informal powers that they may use

How do presidents expand their powers in times of crisis?

• Reagan:

  • War Powers Resolution

  • Overview of Communism and the Cold War

  • Reagan’s Letter to the Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill

• Obama:

  • Senate Joint Resolution 23

  • Overview of Terrorism

  • Obama’s Weekly address on the success of Mision in Libya

The Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy Is…

• A reflection of political deals consummated by elected politicians

• Turf wars among government agents, private-sector suppliers, and contractors

• Policy-delivery successs and failures in the eyes of the public

• Reactions to these by the very same elected officials who cut the deal in the first place

• Complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization

Bureaucracies Are…

• Employed by all large-scale institutions

• Coordinates the work of their personnel

• Hierarchical organizations with a division of labor and specialization

• Pejorative term and associated with inefficiency and delay

• Acutally, employed in the name of efficiency, speed, and equity

The Case for Bureaucracy

• Enhance efficiency through division of labour and specialization

• Allow governments to operate through large-scale coordination of individuals working on a task

• Politics:

  • Legislators find it useful to delegate some decisions to bureaucrats/bureaucratic agencies

  • Legislators sometimes lack expertise or prefer that decisions be made by “objective” bureaucrats rather than by interested politicians

What Do Bureaucrats Do?

• Communicate with one another to coordinate all the specializations within their organization

• Implementation— The efforts of departments and agencies to translate laws and regulation into action

• Rule making— A quasi-legislative administrative process that produces regulations

• Administrative adjudication— The application of rules and precedents to specific cases to setlle disputes

Unique Powers

• Separation of Powers

  • Congress will tell bureaucracies what to do

  • Courts will rule on whether or not they are stepping too far

• Federalism

  • State issues affect local governments

  • Federal governments require states to do certain things

• Adversarial Attitude

  • People don’t like being told what to do by bureaucracies

Bureaucracy Worldwide

• US Bureaucracy more inclined to focus on laissez-faire business ownership but maintains more regulation

• European countries tend towards more government ownership

Expansion of Bureaucracy

• Bureaucracy expands during wartime or crisis

• Largest factors contributing to modern bureaucracy are the Great Depression and WW2

• 9/11— Homeland security

• Civil War

Attempts to Shrink Bureaucracy

• Deregulation— Taking away government regulation on a particular industry

• Deregulation became popular in the 70s and continues today

  • Trucking industry

  • Telephones

  • Airlines

  • Electricity

• Tends to create oligopolies (an industry with only a few companies)

Today’s Bureaucracy

• The size of bureaucracy has ballooned, mostly through indirect growth of the bureaucracy

• Subsidies— Economic benefit given by the government, either direct (like giving money) or indirect (like a tax break)

• Transfer payments—

Types of Organizational Structures

• Cabinet: 15 department heads

• Clientele Agencies— Department or bureau of government to promote, serve, or represent a particular interest

  • Ex. Department of Agriculture— farmers, food stamps, etc

• Maintenence of the Union Agencies— Related to the core functions of keeping the government running

  • Ex. IRS— collects revenue for the government

• Regulatory Agencies— Provide rules and make sure individuals and organizations comply with the rules

  • Ex. FDA— food and drug safety laws, make sure new drugs are safe and tested

  • Ex. OSHA— safety on the job, like the warning signs on machinery

• Redistributive Agencies— Monetary policy, regulating the money supply, fiscal policy (taxing and spending), welfare policy (redistribution of wealth, Social Security)

  • Ex. Federal Reserve— Regulates the money supply

• Government Corporations— Corporations run by the government, expected to earn profit

  • Ex. US Postal Service

Power of a Bureaucrat

• Discretionary Authority— Determines the real power of a bureaucrat, how much power they have to make decisions on their own

Policymaking

• Agency Capture— People who work in an industry being hired to make policy for the industry (because they are experts), who then make policy benefitting/geared toward the industry

  • Ex. After 2008, the same bankers who had created the problems of debt/recession were hired to work in the bureaus as they were the only ones who understood banking well enough

Presidential Control of Bureaucracy

• Before-the-fact Controls

  • Appointment of agency heads sympathetic to their viewpoints

  • Regulartory review prior to final rule enactment

• After-the-fact Controls

  • Executive orders

  • Changes in budget authority

  • Bureaucratic reorganization plans

Legal Controls

• Agency actions canbe challenged in the courts, the agency is challenged either on its jurisdiction of an issue or its actual action

Legislative Controls

• Congress reviews personnel policy and presidential appointments

• Congress creates the agency and establishes its structure

• Congress controls and agency’s budget!

Bureaucrat Management

• President appoints head of agency

• Courts restrain and direct through rulings

• Recipients of benefits (constituents)

• Congress

  • Enacts laws

  • Senate confirms appointments

  • Budget allocations

  • Reauthorization of funds

  • Oversight

  • Iron Triangles

Iron Triangles

• Agencies, Congressional Committees, and Interest Groups

• Interest groups raise money

• Congressional commitees control where the money goes

• Agencies control policies

• All are trying to expand their political power

Reforming the Bureaucracy

• Termination— Elimination of programs and agencies, difficult with clientele agencies

• Deregulation— Reduces the number of rules issued by federal regulatory agencies

• Devolution— Delegating programs to state and local governments rather than federal, downsized federal government but not the overall amount of government

Key Points

• Bureaucracies try ot respond, but can be slow due to the different steps they have to follow

  • Different constituencies

  • Unelected, so they do not have the need to respond as quickly as elected representatives

• Federal agencies are independent of the election process

  • Heads may change, but day-to-day people remain (hard to remove)

  • Heads can