The President and federal departments.

The president of the US is elected every four years to a four year term of office, with no more than two full terms allowed. As it is true with Senators and Representatives, the President is elected directly by the voters(through state electors)In other words, the political party with the most Senators and Representatives doesn’t choose the President. This means that the President can be from one party and the majority of those in the House of Representatives or Senate(or both)from another. This is not uncommon.

Thus, although one of the parties may win a majority in the midterm election(those held every two years),the President remains President,even though his party may not have a majority in either house. Such a result could easily hurt his ability to get legislation through Congress, which must pass all laws, but this is not necessarily so. In any case, the President policies must be approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate before they can become law. In domestic as well as in foreign policy, the President can seldom count upon the automatic support of Congress, even when his own party has a majority in both the Senate and the House. Therefore, he must be able to convince Congressmen,the Representatives and Senators of his point of view. He must bargain and compromise. This is a major difference between the American system and those in which the nation’s leader represents the majority party or parties, that is parliamentary systems.

Within the Executive Branch, there are a number of executive departments. Currently these are departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture,Commerce,Labour, Health & Human Resources,Housing & Urban Development, Transportation, Energy and Education. Each department is established for a specific area. The head of each department is appointed by the President.These appointments, however,must be approved by the Senate. None of these Secretaries,as the departments heads are usually called,can also be serving in Congress or in another part of the government. Each is directly responsible to the President and only serves as long as the Presidents wants him or her to. They can be best be seen,therefore as Presidential assistant and adviser. When they meet together,they are termed ”the President’s Cabinet “Some Presidents have relied quite a bit on their Cabinets for advice and some very little.

THE PRESIDENCY

Term of office: Elected by the people. Through the electrical college, to a four-year term; Limited to two terms.

Salary:$ 200.000 plus $ 50.000 allowance for expenses and up to $ 100.000 tax-free for travel & official entertainment.

Inauguration: January 20,following the November general election.

Qualifications: Native-born American citizen at least 35 years old and at least 14 years

a resident of the United States.

Chief Duty: to protect the Constitution and enforce the laws mode by the congress.

Other powers: To recommend legislation to the Congress; to call special sessions of the Congress; to deliver message to the Congress; to veto bills; to appoint federal judges; to appoint heads of federal departments and agencies and other principal federal officials to appoint representatives to foreign countries; to carry on official business with foreign nations; to exercise the function at Commander –in-chief of the armed forces; to grant pardons for offences against the US.

The Presidential term of four years begins on January 20 following November election. The President starts his or her official duties with an inauguration ceremony, traditionally held on the steps of the US. The President publicly takes an oath of office, which is traditionally administered by the justice of the US.

THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY.

The federal judiciary is the third branch of government,in addition to the legislative (Congress) & executive(President).

It’s main instrument is the Supreme court, which matches over the other two branches.It determines whether or not their laws and acts are in accordance with the Constitution.

Congress has the power to the fix the number of judges sitting on the Court,but it cannot change the powers given to the Supreme Court by the Constitution itself. The Supreme Court consist of a chief justice and eight associate justices. They are nominated by the President but must be approved by the Senate.Once approved, they hold office as Supreme Court Justices for life. A decision of the Supreme Court cannot be appealed to any other court. Neither the President nor Congress can change their decisions. In addition to the Supreme Court, Congress has established 11 federal courts of appeal and below them, 91 federal district courts.

The Supreme Court has direct jurisdiction in only two kinds of cases. Those involving foreign diplomats and those in which a state is a party. All other cases which reach the court are appeals from lower courts. Most of the cases involve the interpretation of the Constitution.The Supreme Court also has the “power of judicial review” that it has the right to declare laws of actions of the federal state and local governments unconstitutional.While not stated in the constitution,this power was established over time.

7.CHECKS & BALANCES.

The Constitution provides for three main branches of government which are separate and distinct from one another. The powers given to each are carefully balanced by the powers of the other two.

Each branch serves as a check on the others. This is to keep any branch from gaining too much power or from misusing its powers. The Chart below illustrates how the equal branches of government are connected and how each is dependent on the other too.Congress has the power to make laws, but the President may veto any act of Congress. Congress in its turn,can override a veto by two-third vote in each house. Congress can also refuse to provide funds requested by the President.The President can appoint important officials of his Administration,but they must be approved by the Senate. The President has also the power to name all federal judges; they also must be approved by the Senate. The courts have the power to determine the constitutionality of all acts of Congress and of Presidential actions and to strike down those they find unconstitutional.

The system of checks and balances makes compromise and consensus necessary. Compromise is also a vital aspect of other levels of government in the US. This system protects against extremes. It means, for example, that new presidents cannot radically change governmental polices just as they wish. In the US. therefore, when people think of ”the government”, they usually mean the entire system, that is,The Executive Branch and the President, Congress and The Court. In fact and in practice,therefore,the President (i.c. the administration) is not as powerful as many people outside the US seem to think he is. In comparison with other leaders in system where the majority party forms ”the government” he is much less so.

8.POLITICAL PARTIES.

The constitution says nothing about political parties, but over time the US has in fact developed a two-party system. The two leading parties are the Democrats and the Republicans.There are other parties besides these two, and foreign observes are often surprised to learn that among these there are also a Communist party and several Socialist parties. Minor parties have occasionally won offices at lower levels of government but they do not play a role in national politics. In fact, one does not need to be a member at a political party too run in any election at any level of government.Also, people can simply declare themselves to be members of one of the two major parties when they registered to vote in a district. Sometimes the Democrats are thought of as associated with labour and the Republicans with business and industry. Republicans also tend to oppose the greater involvement of the federal government in some areas of public life which they consider to be the responsibility of the states and communities.Democrats,on the other hand tend to favor a more active role of the central government in social matters.

To distinguish between the parties is often difficult. Further more, the traditional European terms of “right” and “left” or “ conservative” and ”liberal” do not quite fit the American system. Someone from the “conservative right” for instance, would be against a strong central government. Or a Democrat from one part of the country could be very “liberal», and one from another part quite ”conservative. While some voters will vote a “straight ticket», in other words, for all of the Republican or Democratic candidates in an election,many do not. They vote for one party’s candidate for one office, and another’s for another. As a result,the political parties have much less actual power than they do in other nations. In the US the parties cannot win.

In about 70% of legislative decision, congressman will vote with the specific wishes of their constituencies in mind, even if they go against what their own parties might want as national policy.

It’s quite common, in fact, to find Democrats in Congress voting for a Republican President’s legislation, quite a few Republicans voting against it and so on.

 

Lecture 8