Executive Branch & the Bureaucracy Study Guide

Executive Branch & the Bureaucracy -- Patterson, Chapters 12/13

Roles of the president -- Chief Diplomat, Chief Legislator, Commander-in-Chief, etc.
Presidential Leadership Style -- pyramid, circular, ad hoc
Presidential Veto Power -- Line Item Veto
Stewardship Theory, Whig (or Strict Constructionalist) Theory
President's role in foreign policy v. domestic policy
Two presidencies thesis
Bully Pulpit
Coattails
War Powers Act
Executive Agreements
President's power to influence legislation
Impeachment procedures
Executive power in a presidential system vs. a parlimentary system
Executive office of the President "umbrella-like"
Imperial Presidency
Constitutional (Formal) Requirements
Informal Requirements
Formal (Expressed) Powers of the Presidency
Informal powers of the Presidency
Power of Prez. in times of crisis
Presidential electoral systems -- primaries, electoral college
Cabinet -- selection process and roles
presidential approval ratings -- first term vs. second term
Lame Duck
prez. powers granted without consent of Congress
Executive Privilege
Signing Statements
Bureaucracy -- cabinet departments, regulatory agencies, independent agencies
Managing the bureaucracy --patronage, executive leadership, merit system
Bureaucratic accountability
Public opinion on bureaucracy
ID -- president's current: Chief of Staff, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General
FRQ -- Public Approval of President's over time

Broken Government? Your Assignment: Fix It

Mike Adams,the creator of the above cartoon, thinks things are bad at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA):"Of all the cartoons we've ever done on the FDA, this is the one that people seem to like the best."

It addresses the issue of FDA conflicts of interest. The Food and Drug Administration, an agency that suffers under the hallucination that it protects the public from dangerous foods and drugs, has actually become the marketing department of Big Pharma. It actually takes money from drug companies in exchange for evaluating and approving their drugs, and the decisions concerning which drugs to approve almost always come down to a panel of "experts" who have strong financial ties to the very companies impacted by their decisions.''

Well, if it's "Broken Government" then it's your job to fix it.

Before you start with your poster/policy pitch assignment due Monday, consider this article from US History.org
http://www.ushistory.org/gov/8d.asp (take note or the merit system and bureaucratic accountability).

Breaking News: Tuesday the Senate passed a Food Safety Bill at a cost of $1.4 billion over the next five years to increase FDA inspections of domestic and imported food.

http://www.feedstuffs.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=F4D1A9DFCD974EAD8CD5205E15C1CB42&nm=Breaking+News&type=news&mod=News&mid=A3D60400B4204079A76C4B1B129CB433&tier=3&nid=2F7B6BCDE22F449EB9B969D5AB26954A

Can you be a half Fiscal Conservative?

Question: What is the difference between fiscal and monetary policy?

Answer: Fiscal = budgetary choices of taxing and spending

Monetary = federal reserve decisions on interest rates and monetary supply.

Why blog this now? Well, it's two days before the expiration of federal extensions of unemployment compensation for jobless Americans.

The "Lame Duck" session of the 111th Congress is debating the merits of extending this compensation -- a fiscal choice. The non-partisan Congressional Budget office report (see chart) says unemployment benefits are the best of several proposed stimulus policy options.

On his first day in the Senate, Mark Kirk, who campaigned as a moderate this time (video) had what he called "fiscal conservative" talking points (reported by Daily Kos):

KIRK: We should extend the Bush tax cuts and make sure we don’t have a double-dip recession. And I have the honor to be the first of ninety-five new Republicans, fiscal conservatives, to help right our ship of state. [...]

Q: The first thing you’re talking about is deficit reduction and spending. Does that mean that right now, as of today, you’d be against extending the unemployment insurance?

KIRK: That’s right. You could extend it if you found a way to pay for it. And I voted for that in the past. But these proposals to extend unemployment insurance by just adding it to the deficit are misguided.

Meanwhile Monday, President Obama proposed a two-year federal pay freeze Monday that may be as much about increased Republican power in Congress as it is about the size of the federal debt.

Obama said his proposal, which must be approved by Congress, would save $28 billion over five years — a tiny percentage of the total federal debt now pegged at $13.7 trillion.

//www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-11-30-1Apayfreeze30_ST_N.htm

My question on these proposed fiscal policies is this. Can calling for extending the "Bush Tax Cuts" for (over $250,000) and not paying for them, when cutting them will save CBO estimate $3.7 trillion, really be fiscally conservative?

A New Cold War?

The Presidential power to negotiate treaties, and the Senate's check to approve or reject those treaties is playing currently playing out. Is it more of playing politics instead of governing? Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, and political cartoonist Matt Davies seem to think so.
Cold War 1962 (above). Cold War 2010 by Matt Davies (below).


Pat Buchanan (an original Tea Party-type conservative Presidential candidate) blogged the following last week:

Is GOP Risking a New Cold War?

Before Republican senators vote down the strategic arms reduction treaty negotiated by the Obama administration, they should think long and hard about the consequences.

In substance, New START has none of the historic significance of Richard Nixon’s SALT I or ABM treaty, or Jimmy Carter’s SALT II, or Ronald Reagan’s INF treaty removing all intermediate-range missiles from Europe, or the strategic arms reductions treaties negotiated by George Bush I and Bush II.

The latter cut U.S. and Russian arsenals from 10,000-12,000 nuclear warheads targeted on each nation to 2,000 – a huge cut.

If Republicans could back those treaties, what is the case for rejecting New START? Barack Obama’s treaty reduces strategic warheads by 450, leaving each side 1,550.

Is this not enough to deter when we consider what the Chernobyl disaster did to the Soviet Union and what the knockdown of two buildings in New York has done to this country? Ten hydrogen bombs on the United States or Russia could set us back decades, let alone 1,000.

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona is holding up the treaty until he gets more assurances that the administration will do the tests and upgrades necessary to maintain the reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons. He should receive those assurances.

Maintaining the credibility of the U.S. deterrent is a vital national interest. But does this justify holding the treaty hostage?

Without a treaty, we lose our right and our ways and means to verify that Russia is carrying out the terms of arms treaties already agreed upon.

For more:

http://original.antiwar.com/buchanan/2010/11/22/is-gop-risking-a-new-cold-war/

Presidential Pardons

(From Ken Halla's, US Government Teachers Blog)

We spoke about pardons in this unit, so here is a link from Wikipedia that tells how many people were pardoned by each president and who are the ones that were notable.

President Gerald R. Ford's Presidential Pardon of Richard Nixon is captured by YouTube here. Wonder how long it would have taken to unravel the Watergate scandal if we had the Youdia (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and 24 Hr. News) back in the day?

CBS 2 School: Medicinal Potter

(From CBS 2 School, For Dan C. and Mac H. and all the other Harry Potter fans)

We take our medicine quite seriously. Historically speaking, going to the movies has always made us feel better. During the Great Depression roughly 60% of Americans, on average, attended the cinema once a week. [With the advent of TV this percentage has hovered around 10%.] In the 1930s we laughed at Charlie Chaplin and were enchanted by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz while falling in love with Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind. Movies helped us forget about the pain of the real world.

In our days of uncertainty going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows might be just what the doctor ordered. Based on the seventh and final book of J.K. Rowling this two-part movie finale finds Harry, Ron and Hermione in search of Voldemort’s vital horcruxes. In these horcruxes Voldemort has hidden pieces of his soul. As long as these horcruxes remain Voldemort stays immortal.

This sounds a lot like our United States Constitution. Its immortality seems to defy reason. When wondering how our governing document has survived for as long as it has one first must discover its horcruxes. Buried deep inside our constitution students of government will find the secrets of its immortality.

First is the concept of separation of powers. The founding fathers saw to it to dilute government power at every instance. The best safeguard of our liberty is to divide government power into three branches. The power of the purse and the power of the sword should be in different hands. The President might send troops to far away places but the Congress through its budget can limit the duration. The Courts can decide outcomes when legal questions arise.

Second is the concept of checks and balances. Checks and balances allow each branch of government to negate or limit what the other branches are doing. If the President acts out of order the Court can practice judicial review and

declare such actions unconstitutional. Members of Congress are held accountable through a President’s veto.

Third is federalism. The dilution of power did not stop at the national level. The founding fathers saw fit to divide wherever they could. We also divide power between national, state and local governments. Federalism is another firewall used to protect our liberty.

And the final horcrux is popular sovereignty. The most important source of our government’s seemingly immortal standing is that ultimate authority is found in the people. From the greatest to the least and to those with the highest and lowest stake all citizens have a voice in our government. We the people are responsible for our own survival. The natural instinct of self preservation helps to explain why our constitution endures.

The immorality of our constitution will depend upon the preservation of these four horcruxes. Our longstanding form of government and the way of life it promotes is rooted in the separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism and popular sovereignty. In the darkness of our age the immutability of the United States Constitution may be the tonic we are looking for. Used as medicine, our constitution can help cure what is ailing us.

Have a spoon full of sugar handy just in case.

Stand Pat?

As the first day of the holiday travel season began amid the uproar over new TSA security check procedures, polls seem to say that Americans are OK with the full-body scanners in Airports, no so much with the enhanced pat-down procedures.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans support the new full-body security-screening machines at the country's airports, as most say they put higher priority on combating terrorism than protecting personal privacy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

But half of all those polled say enhanced pat-down searches go too far.

TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is a department under Homeland Security. Read TSA administrator John Pistole's statement here:

//www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/112110_right_balance.shtm

Blog here what you think. Plus, if you travel this Thanksgiving weekend by air, or have relatives that do, share any experiences here. This situation is yet another example of the President's administration having the responsibility of many, many things in this country. This week, the Obama Administration was both blasted by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
//thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/130265-jindal-blasts-obama-administration-calls-tsa-searches-excessive?page=2 and in two separate letters to the TSA, Congress began using its oversight function:

//www.congress.org/news/2010/11/22/house_challenges_tsa_pat_downs

And of course, SNL had its take last weekend.