Unit 4 Notes Gov

Unit 4 Notes: Gov The Constitutional Powers of the Presidency: (Article II) - 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 (Article II, Sections 1 + 2): Military: - serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the state militias - commissions all military officers of the United States Judicial: - grants reprieves and pardons, except in cases of impeachment - Reprieve - delay/temporary suspension - Pardon - forgiveness/not convicted Diplomatic: - makes treaties, with the advice and consent of the Senate (67 votes Supermajority) - 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 (simple majority) - ensures that all laws passed by Congress are carried out → their Elastic Clause Legislative: - president delivers the annual State of the Union Address to Congress and sends other messages to Congress from time to time - one side: vice president aka president of the Senate - one side: Speaker of the House - veto - calls either or both chambers of Congress into special sessions - special session: when the House/Senate convenes an extra session, following the sine die adjournment - sine die adjournment: “without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing” Presidential Veto Power: - veto - pocket veto: result depends on Congress - nothing happens to bill for 10 days, now is vetoed (president can essentially ignore bill) - line-item veto: NO - crossing out what they don’t like - Clinton v. NY, (1998) - first case of line-item veto - removed money from NY - NY sued → court case Executive Privilege: - confidential communications between the president and the president’s closest advisers - U.S. v. Nixon - Yes, but not absolute. - resulted in unanimous decision against Nixon, ordering him to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials to a federal district court - involved Watergate - It was common for presidents to record all conversations taking place in the Oval Office. - Supreme court ruled that some tapes are protected by executive privilege, but some were lawfully accessible by Congress - Executive privilege does not apply to all cases! Delegated Powers: - Congress creates agencies. - Agencies carry out functions. - Head of agencies are in charge usually only for a set period of time. - The president has both direct and indirect power to appoint agency officials. Inherent Powers War Powers Resolution - attempt to limit president’s unilateral power in war - 1973 (involved in Vietnam): Nixon announces publicly that he is deploying help for troops in war, but has secretly initiated bombing raids in Cambodia and is broadening the scope of the war. Legislative Initiative - bringing legislation before Congress - executive orders: - allow you to do something quickly without congressional approval - a way to work around Congress - Usually used when there is a divided government - May be quick but does not take precedence over laws - significant increase throughout the 20th century *Lameduck President: - midterm elections loss of authority within government diminishing control/power Inherent Powers: Shaping the Presidency Personal Exercise of Power - each president defines the office in the ways that he/she/they chooses to expand and test his/her/their powers Use of Inherent Power George Washington: - removed officials from office - met regularly with advisors (Cabinet) - submitted proposed legislation to Congress - sent troops to Whiskey Rebellion - foreign policy w/o Congress (especially without the Senate) Abraham Lincoln - took action with Congress not in session - suspended certain constitutional liberties - spent funds not appropriated by Congress - blockaded Southern port - banned “treasonable correspondence” Franklin Roosevelt - created NRA and other programs - “Take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” *always during times of danger/crisis that presidents expand their powers *dangerous because the public typically allows it Immediate Needs of a Nation: Times of Crisis - Role Expands - ex: 9/11, Pearl Harbor, etc. Mandate of the People: - Mandate: highest immediately after election - President needs popular support - Almost always, presidents are less popular towards the end of their presidency in comparison to the beginning of their presidency. - L.B. Johnson had the power to get a lot of legislation done. His popularity was significant at the beginning of his presidency (right after the assassination of Kennedy). - Nixon’s popularity at the end of his presidency is almost 0. - - Ford started out extremely popular, but people began to want a new leader due to the significant rate of inflation during his presidency. - Carter started with much popularity, but in 1982 the nation experienced its greatest economic recession since the Great Depression. - Same economic issue arose again during Bush’s presidency. - Clinton was an exception whose popularity trendline broke the pattern. He was more popular at the end of his presidency after being impeached than in the beginning after his election. - After 9/11, Bush’s popularity rose because people were afraid, but there was a significant decrease in partisanship and a greater sense of spirithood amongst the people. - Obama did not maintain his popularity. Bully Pulpit - goes back to Teddy Roosevelt Social Media The President is the only government official who represents ALL of the people. Contemporary Bases of Presidential Power: Parties - Leads the party - Fundraisers - Support bills/ideas that match their party platform - Support to fellow members in office - President = Power to Persuade - 270 votes required to win presidency - Majority/minority - when the minority starts to become the majority The Size of the Executive Branch - The number of people that work within the executive branch continues to grow - Actual numbers can be difficult to determine because of appointments - The Rule of Propinquity applies - Those closest to the President have the most influence over his decision-making. - oftentimes the spouse The White House Office Staff - These are the people closest to the president - do not require confirmation - manipulation is easily carried out between opposing parties if the Senate were to control - Offices within the White House - Closest confidants of the president - Advise both domestic and foreign policy The Chief of Staff - “reality therapist” - The Chief of Staff is the most powerful position within the president’s staff - gatekeeper - Ron Klain is Biden’s Chief of Staff - Power determined by the personality of the president and chief of staff - Other positions include the Office of Legal Council and Staff Secretary - Issues may arise when there is no gatekeeper aka no one is in control - Ex: several senior advisers all with equal access to the Oval Office and no single gatekeeper - Skillset: Ability to Say No, Ability to Set Up a System, Sufficient Temperament The Executive Office of the President (EOP) - Created in 1939 during Roosevelt Presidency (as a result of the New Deal) - 1939: The 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 works in the EOP The Executive Office of the President Key Players: Council of Economic Advisors - Advise on domestic and foreign economic policy - Preparation of the Annual Economic Report Office of Management and Budget (OMB) - Builds the budget that is proposed to Congress each year - “Central Clearance” ensures that all budget and economic proposals align with the President’s policy objectives National Security Council (NSC) - Headed by National Security Advisor - President, VP, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense National Homeland Security Council - Created after 9/11, before the creation of the Dept of HS - Attorney General (oversees legal matters), Secs of Defense, Treasury (tracks where the money is being spent - Al Capone), Transportation, Health, & Human Services - Directors of CIA, FBI, and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) - - The White House Staff - Chief of Staff, Press Secretary, Special Assistants, Senior Advisors Independent AGen The Cabinet - Dep of Justice, Defense, State, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Commerce, Dept of Energy, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of Labor, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Dept of the Interior, Dept of Transportation Executive Office of the President Presidential Leadership Styles: - Pyramid - very hierarchical - those that determine access have the most power - Circular - Tends to be more chaotic - Tremendous amounts of information that need to be filtered - Ad hoc - Variety of people report to the president on different issues (specialists) - May separate policy enforcers from policy generators The President’s Cabinet - The cabinet encompasses the heads of all the major departments of the federal government - Appointed by president, confirmed by Senate - No formal decision-making power - Advise the president on matters pertaining to their respective departments Origins of the President’s Cabinet: - The Original Four: - Thomas Jefferson - Sec of State - Alexander Hamilton - Sec of Treasury - Henry Knox - Secretary of War - Edmund Randolph - Attorney General - Cabinet is not mentioned/discussed in the Constitution (it only addresses “advisors” of the President). - As the first president, Washington set the precedent through the entirety of his actions during his presidency. Thus, he created the Cabinet. Civil Liberties in War Times - Wilson’s State of the Union Address: Wilson’s reason for going before Congress and doing the State of the Union Address is because it is required in the Constitution - What does Wilson’s State of the Union Address of 1915 say about the atmosphere of the country during World War I - Selective Service Act 1917 - when you turn 18, you are required to register for military service- indicating you consent to being drafted at any moment’s notice - Espionage Act of 1917 - person can be fined for anti war activities (ex. Speaking out against government) - Sedition Act of 1918: limit what you can send by mail (controlled by federal government) - Public in support of these acts - Exclusionary Rule: if the evidence is found illegally it cannot be used against you (Schenck rallied to make this a rule) Foreign Policy - 1898 - Spanish-American War and beginning of American imperialism - 1892 - Turner thesis: frontier is closed so have to look outward - Commodore Matt Perry blackmails Japan into letting US trade with them - Presidential scholar Edward Corwin concluded that the Constitution gave foreign policy powers to the Congress and the president in a manner that was an “invitation to struggle” The Constitution President Congress War power Commander-in-chief Declare war and provide for common defense Treaties Negotiate Ratification ⅔ of Senate Appointments Nominate Confirm (Senate) Foreign commerce No formal (explicit) powers, Regulate foreign commerce but informal powers include making executive agreements, tariffs (protectionist policy for American jobs/economy), etc. General Powers Executive power; veto Legislative power; power of the purse; oversight Foreign Policy - Programs and policies affecting America’s relations with other nations and foreign entities - Chief policy actors: - The President - Congress - Bureaucracy (will be there regardless of others present) - Often considered nonpartisan (civil servants → carrying things out) Foreign Policy Goals: Security - Security is top priority - Protecting food supplies, infrastructure, energy supplies, and the physical security of the population Foreign Policy History - Early Days through the Civil War (isolation) - Washington and foreign entanglements - Monroe Doctrine (1823): surrounding countries help the US in the war, won’t accept help from Britain - Civil War through WWI - Manifest Destiny and Imperialism - Roosevelt Corollary and the extension of the Monroe Doctrine - Cold war to Cuban Missile Crisis - Multilateralism and bilateralism - NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the United Nations - Containment and Truman Doctrine (contain communism) - Cuban Missile Crisis to Vietnam - Détente (the easing of hostility/strained relations between countries) - Reagan - Reagan Doctrine (build up with other kinds of military to make the Soviet Union collapse as their economy can’t keep up) - Collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) Post Cold War - New World Order - War on Terror - Bush Doctrine: focus on preemption - 1. “Make no distinction between terrorists and the nations that harbor them - and hold both to account.” - 2. “Take the fight to the enemy overseas before they can attack us again here at home.” 3. “Confront threats before they fully materialize.” 4. “Advance liberty and hope as an alternative to the enemy’s ideology of repression and fear.” Foreign Policy Goals: Economic Prosperity - Most Favored Nation Status - Agreement offering lower tariff rates to partner nations - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - passed in1994 - United States, Mexico, and Canada - USMCA International Trade Organizations - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) - 1947 to 1995 - Governed rules for international trade - World Trade Organization (WTO) - Successor to GATT - Promote free trade Foreign Policy Goals: Humanitarian Concerns - Environmental protection, human rights, and peacekeeping efforts in other countries - Often secondary to U.S. security and economic interests Checks on the President’s Powers - War Powers Resolution, 1973 - Report to Congress within 48 hours of sending troops - Within 60 days of action, Congress must support action. - Without congressional support, the president must withdraw troops - Congress may pass a concurrent resolution to order the president to withdraw troops - Constitutional???? - Concurrent resolution: president doesn’t have to sign it - Intelligence oversight - The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are to be notified and kept abreast of any convert activities. - Congress may conduct investigations regarding problems. Putting It Together: Crisis and Foreign Policy - Crisis concentrates power with the president - The President is faster in action and deciding than Congress is. - The accountability of the outcome is put on a single person. - Presidents have more power in general - Less competition from other players A Difficult Balancing Act - Foreign policy is always evolving - Rivalries within the executive branch - Rivalries between the president and Congress - Different agencies determine a different approach to policy - Public opinion The Public and Foreign Policy - The public is less informed about foreign policy - The elite are more aware and more changeable in their views. - Presidents are much more likely to concern themselves with foreign policy at the end of their terms → lameduck president b/c they care about their legacy NY Times v United States (1971) - Did the government's efforts to prevent two newspapers from publishing classified information given to them by a government leaker violate the First Amendment Protection of freedom of the press? - Key Terms: - Incorporation: the case-by-case process that will take the Bill of Rights and apply it at the state level - Prior restraint: The government cannot restrict publications before they are released (They can sue after the fact) - Per curiam: a unanimous court decision/agreement - What are the Pentagon Papers? - leaked papers written by Daniel Ellsberg, that outlined the U.S.’s role in the Vietnam War (information in the papers was not meant to be released to the public) - over 7000 pages - Why did the government seek a prior restraint against the NYT and the Washington Post? - secret information, obtained illegally - contradicted what the President was saying to the public - Why did the Court find the prior restraint unconstitutional? - - the government can not sue before publication/prevent publication → can only sue after it’s been published In his dissent, Justice Harlan objected that the Court did not have adequate time to examine the thousands of pages of classified material to determine if national security was truly at stake and that the Court had been “almost irresponsibly feverish in dealing with these cases.” Bureaucracy: - A reflection of political deals consummated by elected politicians - Turf wars among government agents, private-sector suppliers, and contractors - Policy-delivery successes and failures in the eyes of the public - Reactions to these by the very same elected officials who cut the deals in the first place What is Bureaucracy? (Red Tape): - Complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization - Employed by all large-scale institutions - Coordinates the work of their personnel - Hierarchical organization with a division of labor and specialization - Pejorative (contempt or disapproval) term and associated with inefficiency and delay - Actually, employed in the name of efficiency, speed, and equity The Case for Bureaucracy - Enhance efficiency through division of labor and specialization. - Allow governments to function - Allow governments to operate through large-scale coordination of individuals working on a task - Politics: - Legislators find it useful to delegate some decisions. - Legislators sometimes lack expertise or prefer that decisions be made by “objective” bureaucrats rather than by interested politicians. What Do Bureaucrats Do? - Bureaucrats communicate with one another to coordinate all the specializations with 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 settle disputes Bureaucracy - US Government created unique problems: - Separation of powers - constant conflict/overlap between branches - Federalism - state + national gov - Adversarial attitude US Bureaucracy - More inclined to focus on laissez faire (free enterprise) business ownership, but maintains more regulation. - European countries tend towards more government ownership Expansion of Bureaucracy - Bureaucracy expands during wartime or crisis to account for more problems - The largest factors contributing to modern bureaucracy are the Great Depression and World War II. - Great Depression - FDR expands the bureaucracy with the New Deal. Attempts to Shrink Bureaucracy - Deregulation became popular in the 1970s and continues today - Examples include: trucking, airlines, telephes, electricity Today’s Bureaucracy - The size of the bureaucracy has ballooned, mostly through indirect growth of the bureaucracy - Subsidies - things provided by the government - Transfer payments - Regulations Organizational Structures - Cabinet : 15 department heads Four Missions of Agencies: Clientele Agencies - Agencies classified by mission: - Clientele agencies - Maintenance of the Union - Regulatory agencies - Redistributive agencies - Clientele agency - department or bureau of government to promote, serve, or represent a particular interest - Department of Agriculture - Department of Labor Clientele agencies typically have field offices local to their clientele. By learning what their clients’ interests and needs are, agencies then operate almost as a lobby in Washington on their behalf. Four Missions of Agencies: Maintenance of the Union - Agencies for the maintenance of the union are related to the core functions of keeping the government running and the nation secure. - Revenue agencies (IRS) - Agencies for external national security (DOD) - Agencies for internal security (DOJ) Four Missions of Agencies: Regulatory Agencies - Regulatory agency - a department, bureau, or independent agency whose primary mission is to ensure that individuals and organizations comply with the statutes under its jurisdiction. - Their rules have the force of law and are referred to as administrative legislation. - Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - Environmental Protection Association (EPA) Four Missions of Agencies: Redistributive Agencies - Monetary policy - Regulating money supply - Federal reserve - Fiscal policy - Spending and taxing - Department of the Treasury - welfare policy - Redistribution of wealth - Social Security Administration Government Corporations - These are corporations that have board members often appointed by the President. - Examples are AMTRAK, FDIC, and TVA, and the USPS Power of a Bureaucrat - Discretionary authority- determines the real power of a bureaucracy - this varies from agency to agency. Bureaucrats gain power through connections with the people around them, not by money. - Recruitment and rewards - Personal attributes - The nature of the job - Constraints of outside forces Policy Making - Is agency capture an issue? - Scholars argue that some agencies have been taken over by the very industries they are supposed to regulate. The industries then dictate terms and policies to the agency rather than the other way around. Scholars use the term agency capture to describe this process. Agency capture causes decreased competition and higher prices. Presidential Control of Bureaucracy - Before-the-fact controls: - Appointment of sympathetic agency heads - Regulatory review prior to final rule enactment - After-the-fact controls: - Executive orders - Changes in budget authority - Bureaucratic reorganization plans - Legal controls: - Agency actions can be challenged in the courts. The agency can be challenged on its jurisdiction of an issue or its actual action. - Legislative Controls: - Congress reviews personnel policy and presidential appointments. - Congress also creates the agency and establishes its structure. - Most importantly, Congress controls an agency’s budget. Management of Bureaucrats Miscellaneous -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 Bureaucratic Control: Motivation and Iron Triangles - Shared policy area - Agencies - Committee members - Members have an interest in the policy. - Interest groups 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 - Downsized federal government, but not aggregate amount of government Key Points to Remember - Bureaucracies try to respond, but can be slow - Different constituencies - Unelected - Federal agencies are independent of the election process - Heads may change, but day-to-day people remain - Passive aggressive - Bureaucracies are also connected with other branches, but serve those branches directly, not the public Popular Participation: - Designed to make government more open and transparent - Freedom of Information Act: Citizens have the right to inspect most government records. - Administrative Procedure Act: Agencies must give notice of hearings before adopting new policy (longer to implement policy) - People who do NOT want change are more likely to show up - Privacy Act: Private individuals’ records are confidential. - Open Meeting Law: Agency meetings must be open to the public. (ex: school board) - National Environmental Policy Act: Environmental impact statements must be done before actions are taken. Terms - Pendleton Act (1883): Civil Service vs. the Spoils System - - - Political parties were stronger before this act because jobs were based more on merit afterwards. The Pendleton Act banned political parties from providing jobs based on support → Political parties became weaker Hatch Act (1939): limits contributions of those connected to federal government - stops workers of the federal government from working on/contributing to federal campaigns Sunshine Act (1977): open meetings Civil Service Reform Act (1978): Established Office of Management and the Merit Systems Protection Board - Disciplining bureaucrats based on job performance Bureaucratic Pathologies: The nature of bureaucracy creates unhealthy conditions that create problems. These include: - Imperialism - tendency for agencies to grow without considering the consequence or benefit (Instead of getting paid more, bureaucrats tend to be rewarded by having more people be under them/expanding the size of the agency) - Red tape - complex rules and procedures that must be followed - Duplication - two or more agencies responsible for the same areas (ex: dept. of agriculture and education look over school lunches) - Waste - spending more than it is necessary for a product or procedure - Conflict - two or more agencies working at cross purposes