Veto Power I Last time: 2 nd -half preview Veto power: an introduction

Presidents and policy preview Presidents and legislation: where and how can presidents affect the legislative process? –Negative agenda power: action-blocking powers in the legislative chain –Positive agenda power: action-forcing powers Presidents and implementation –action-blocking and action-forcing authorities

Federalist Papers and the prez Founders were reacting to the post-revolutionary experience with strong legislatures and weak executives –legislature is the biggest threat to liberty in a republic How to create a stronger national government without raising significantly the threat of a tyrannical national government? –Give the new government broad, new scope, but restrictive procedures for changing the status quo delegation of tools and resources to policy implementors/enforcers and separate the initiators of policy change from the implementors via a buffer –divide the legislative power (bicameralism) –separate the legislative power from implementation

Veto power Negative agenda power is the ability to reject policy changes. Key questions: –what is reversionary policy? –what do legislators and executives know about each others’ interests? Model 1: single-shot, take-it or leave-it offers. –the setter model

Setter model and veto power QC Prez threat completely constrains Congress Prez threat partially constrains C Prez threat not credible

Kiewiet and McCubbins if prez threats are cheap talk, should anyone pay attention? prez should veto bills that make him worse off than reversionary policy, Congress should try to anticipate and optimize veto power should be asymmetric