LEGISLATIVE POWERS The President gives a State of the Union address and suggests annual budgets. The President also recommends specific legislation to Congress. The President has the power to veto legislation, but not by line item. The President may call special sessions of Congress. The President may also adjourn Congress if the two houses cannot agree on a date for adjournment.

JUDICIAL POWERS The President may grant reprieves or pardons in cases involving federal law. The President may commute, or reduce, sentences or fines imposed by a federal court. The President may grant amnesty, or general pardon, to persons who have violated federal law.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT (EOP) AKA the “White House staff” which is an umbrella agency made up of several separate offices and staffed by the President’s closest advisors and assistants. The White House Office was created in 1939 during FDR’s presidency. It includes the Chief of Staff, who manages the White House staff, William Daley, the counsel to the President, the Press Secretary, Jay Carney, and expert advisers in many areas.

STAFF ORGANIZATION Three ways a president can organize the staff are through the pyramid, circular, or ad hoc methods. In a pyramid structure (used by Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and eventually Clinton) most assistants report through a hierarchy to a chief of staff. In a circular structure (Carter) cabinet secretaries and assistants report directly to the President. In an ad hoc structure (Clinton early on) task forces, committees, and informal groups of friends and advisers deal directly with the President. Some Presidents (FDR) use a mixture of all three.

INS V. CHADRA Legally, the President can reorganize the personal White House staff at anytime. However, if the larger Executive Office of the President or any of the executive departments or agencies are changed, then Congress must be consulted. If 60 days pass without the House or Senate approving a concurrent resolution, then a reorganization could occur (Reorganization Act of 1939). If there was a resolution, it would block the presidential action. This was called a legislative veto. The authority from the act expired in 1981 and Congress did not renew it. Two years later the Supreme Court held in INS v. Chadra that all legislative vetoes were unconstitutional.

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL The NSC (1947) advises the President on matters of national security, foreign and domestic. Its members include the Vice President, the secretaries of state and defense, the CIA Director, the chairpersons of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, members of the State Department, and, of course, the National Security Advisor (Thomas Donilon ).

The NSC got into a little hot water back in the 80’s in the Iran-Contra affair, creating a shadow government, some charge. Poindexter and North were members of the NSC at the time and illegally sold weapons to Iran and gave the money to the Contras in Nicaragua.

OMB The Office of Management and Budget (1970) is a powerful agency, and the largest, whose major task is to help the President coordinate legislative and budgetary proposals from the executive branch. It also monitors the spending of funds appropriated by Congress and oversees the management of the executive branch. The director is Jacob Lew.

IMPOUNDMENT Impoundment is a refusal by a President to spend money that has been appropriated by Congress, a challenge to mandatory spending. All of the Presidents up to Nixon were able to use this inherent power. Nixon overused this power, so Congress passed the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which forbids impoundment. It requires the president to spend all appropriated funds unless he firsts tells Congress what funds he wishes not to spend, and Congress, within 45 days, agrees to delete the items.

COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS The Council (CEA) consists of three top economists, appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Once appointed, they cannot be removed by the President at will. It is the President’s chief source of information and advice on the economy. It was created by the Employment Act of 1946.

THE CABINET

The President appoints cabinet members, who must be confirmed by the Senate. Many factors, both political and substantive, influence the selection of cabinet officials. Until Bill Clinton, very few women and members of minority groups had been cabinet members. Bush and Obama have continued this trend.

CABINET FLAWS Often cabinet secretaries compete for the President’s “ear” and conflicts result. Sometimes they are “too specialized” in their fields and lose sight of the big picture, focusing upon their respective departments. Government is too large and bureaucratic for cabinets to be always efficient. Since FDR, Presidents have come to rely on the Executive Office and NSC for policy advice.

EXPERT VIEWS Richard Neustadt’s Presidential Power (1960) asserts that the President is actually weak in the government, unable to effect change without congressional approval. The President must rely on a combination of personal persuasion, reputation, and prestige in order to get things done.

Arthur Schlesinger in his The Imperial Presidency (1973) argued the opposite by saying that the presidency had grown much too powerful, especially in foreign affairs due to the Cold War. He felt that the legislature should be more assertive, and constrain the President’s war and treaty powers. Also, the growth of the Executive Office where White House staffers serve out of personal loyalty is not conducive to a republican form of government.

UNITARY EXECUTIVE THEORY In which the President asserts broad authority to use independent judgment to interpret and apply law. This has been linked to the use of signing statements, a written pronouncement upon the President signing a bill into law. Controversy surrounded Bush when he used this tactic over 750 times, far more than any other previous president, and for the apparent attempt to nullify legal restrictions on his actions.

The signing statement that accompanied the McCain Detainee Amendment proved controversial. “The Executive Branch shall construe (the torture ban) in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary Executive Branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power.”

FINAL THOUGHTS Presidents are often “outsiders”. As well as, “Crisis Managers”. They are persuaders and can sometimes circumvent formal procedures. Presidents choose Cabinet members from outside Congress. Presidents have no guaranteed majority in Congress--gridlock? Party polarization? Presidents make formal speeches that take advantage of the prestige of the office to guide the American people. This is known as the “bully pulpit”, made first famous by Teddy Roosevelt. “In-and-outers” are federal appointees who shuffle between jobs in government and the private sector (universities, law firms). Lame Ducks are still in office after he or she has lost a bid for reelection.

FINALLY, THE END.