Cards (50)

  • Powers of the President
    9
  • Propose Legislation
    • State of Union Adress
    • Obama - job creation, immigration reform, increase minimum wage
  • Sign legislation
    • bill signing ceremony
    • trump tax cuts 2017
  • veto legislation
    obama won 11/12
  • chief executive
    • run executive branch
    • assisted by cabinet
    • EXOP
  • Nominate executive branch officials
    • trump mike pompeo as secretary of state
    • biden - julie smith
  • nominate federal judges
    scj - neil gorsuch
  • commander in chief
    USA has 26,000 troops in afgahnistan, syria and iraq
    biden using military in yemen
  • negotiate treaties
    Franklin D. Roosevelt negotiated an executive agreement that gave the United Kingdom 50 overage destroyers in exchange for 99-year leases on certain British naval bases in the Atlantic.
  • Pardon
    stacey L wilder in NYC - pardoned cocaine
    • Power of pardon - Biden pardoned 6500 people for simple possession of marijiuana 2022
  • VP powers
    • officer of senate - chairs debates
    • voting in case of tied vote - Pence - Devos as education secretary
    • Pence counts electoral college votes
    • Ford president once nixon resigned
    • cheney president during W Bush surgery
    • If granted a strong electoral mandate, a president can exercise their power with few restrictions.
    • Obama achieved some of his most important policy goals in his first two years of office, including health care reform & beginning the process of moving troops from Iraq when he was firm on his electoral policies
    • Less significant because due to electoral college system, you don’t need majority of the popular vote
    • Trump - 46% (Clinton got 48)
    • Bush - 47.9% (2000) (Gore got 48.4)
    • Executive orders allow the president to implement policy in the way they wish without Congress’ approval
    • Obama issued an executive order to create the White House Council on Native American Affairs
    • Creation of Homeland Security 2001 under Bush after 9/11
    • Joe Biden signed more than 60 executive orders in his first 100 days of office. 24 of these directly reversed Trump’s policies. This included halting funding for Trump’s border wall, reversing Trump’s travel ban targeting largely Muslim countries, and imposing a federal mask mandate in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • National events play a modern role in how much a president how exercise their power
    • Bipartisanship Bush’s aggressive proposal of war against terrorist organisations after 9/11
    • Bush - 9/11 & the War on Terror, the Iraq & Afghanistan wars, Hurricane Katrina & the Banking crisis.
    • Obama - health care reform & the Affordable Care Act, the Budget Crisis & stimulus package, Osama Bin Laden & the Government shutdown.
    • Trump has faced opposition to the Mexican wall, immigration & the Government shutdown, Mueller's Russia Inquiry, a Trillion dollar infrastructure plan & repealing the Affordable Care Act.
    • Powers of persuasion including the nature/characteristics of each president
    • Obama’s address regarding gay rights in 2010 led to the repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask’ act in 2011
    • Democrats controlled both houses in Congress and Bill Clinton was president, he succeeded in 86.4% of Congress votes on issues he supported compared to 36.2% of votes when there was a divided government.
    • Obama 2013 rose garden speech over Syria - congresses support for military action in Syria
    • Trump and his twitter storms - encouraged his followers to show strength and fight against bad people at the capitol
    • Executive agreements allow presidents to make international agreements without seeking senate approval, like the 2015 Paris Agreement
    • -The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was passed in March 2010. It aimed to increase accessibility to healthcare coverage while reducing costs. Some key provisions included expanding Medicaid eligibility, requiring insurance companies to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions, and allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26.
    • -In 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced NCLB. ESSA gave more power back to individual states regarding education policy decisions.
    • Trump passed executive orders reimposing sanctions on Iran, which included separating families who crossed the US border illegally
    • -Donald Trump has been criticized for his use of executive orders, particularly those related to immigration and environmental regulation. Some argue that these actions exceed the scope of presidential authority and undermine the role of Congress.
    • -In 2019, President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border with Mexico, allowing him to redirect military funding towards building a wall along the border without congressional approval.
    • -Bill Clinton's most notable legislative achievement was passing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, also known as welfare reform. This act ended cash assistance programs like Aid to Families with Dependent Children and replaced them with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
  • EXOP
    The Executive Office is designed to be flexible, and very few positions require Senate confirmed. It is meant to be fluid so that it can adapt to the President’s style.
  • National Security Council
    The NSC was formed under Harry Truman, and is the main body used by the President for the formation of policies relating to national security and foreign policy. It is formed by the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defence, and the National Security Advisor. In addition to this military advisors, and intelligence advisors will participate on a regular basis.
  • White House Office
    The White House Office, as a department in the Executive Office is headed by the White House Chief of Staff. The Office is ultimately made up on assistants of the President, who oversee policy, political matters and above all work to protect the interests of the President. None of the roles in the White House Office require Senate confirmation.
  • Office of Management and Budget
    The OMB is the largest department within the Executive Office. Its main responsibility is to produce the Budget. It will oversee all the financial aspects of the implementation of the Presidents’ agenda. Finally it will also assess the effectiveness of government programmes. It is one of the only departments within the Executive Office that must have the director confirmed by a Senate Vote.
  • NCS
    homeland security, global public health, international economics, climate, science and technology, cybersecurity, migration, and others.
  • white house
    climate and guns
  • office of budget and management
    Federal budget and evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures, and works to make sure that agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the President's Budget and with Administration policies.
  • Success strongly depends on
    • House and Senate majority
  • When the Democrats controlled both houses in Congress while Bill Clinton was president

    He succeeded in 86.4% of Congress votes on issues he supported
  • When there was a divided government

    Clinton succeeded in 36.2% of votes
  • 2016: Trump and the Republican held both houses
    Trump was in a strong position, he brought in huge tax cuts
  • 2018: Democrats took the house of representatives

    Trump's policies hit gridlock
  • 2013: Biden couldn't pass his budget

    The republican house demanded austerity and wouldn't debate his immigration bill
  • Trump struggled over passing the American Health Care Act in 2017
    The bill faced strong republican opposition in both the house and senate
  • Even with a Republican president and a republican congress, things are not always straightforward
  • SC
    • The president's power over the SC is the ability to make appointments. However they have no control over how many of these they will make and they also need agreement from the senate. The fact that appointments are for life is highly significant. Once in place a president has no power over the judges.
    • President is required to carry out SC decisions as part of the president's oath to defend the Constitution and the law
    • Commander-in-chief  - have significant power on foreign policy
    e.g. Obama sent drones to Afghanistan and killed Bin Laden (Taliban) without congressional approval/confirmation; Trump withdrawn US troops in Afghanistan which ended the US military actions in Afghanistan (officially)
    • War Powers Resolution - the POTUS must notify the Congress if military action is over 60 days
    • Military bid must pass- House is the Power of the Purse