APAG Ch. 13 The Presidency

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APAG Ch. 13 The Presidency

• Assignment 2
• Pages 400-407

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• 1. Who has the sole power to negotiate treaties?
  What has to happen before it becomes legal?

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• The president has the sole power to negotiate
  treaties with other nations.
• The Senate must approve it by a two-thirds vote.

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• What happened when the Senate made too many
  amendments to the Versailles Treaty of 1919?

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• Pres. Wilson felt that the senatorial
  reservations would weaken the treaty so much that
  it would be ineffective. His refusal to accept
  the senatorial version of the treaty led to the
  eventual refusal of the U.S. to join the League
  of Nations.

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• List three treaties that Bill Clinton negotiated
  and had approved.

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• North American Free Trade Agreement
• 1998 treaty governing the use of chemical weapons
• 2000 permanent trade relations with China

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• How did Pres. George W. Bush intend to steer the
  U.S. when it came to foreign policy? Give
  examples. How did this compare to his father,
  George H.W. Bush?

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• He intended to steer the U.S. in a unilateral
  direction on foreign policy, citing the priority
  of domestic concerns over the need for
  international cooperation.
• He backed away from the Kyoto Agreement.
• He proposed ending the 1972 Anti-Ballistic
  Missile Treaty that was part of Salt I.

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• His father went to the U.N. to seek support for
  Desert Storm.

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• How is presidential power in foreign affairs
  enhanced? What are the problems? Advantages?

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• Presidential power in foreign affairs are
  enhanced by the use of executive agreements made
  between the president and other heads of state.
• The problems with executive agreements is that
  future presidents do not have to honor them.
• The advantage is that they do not need the
  approval of the Senate.

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• What does the Constitution require of the
  president as chief legislator in Article II,
  Section 3?

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• The president must make an annual State of the
  Union address usually given in late January
  shortly after Congress reconvenes.

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• How does the president exercise his power as
  chief legislator to get legislation passed?

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• He exercises the power of persuasion. He writes
  to, telephones, and meets with various
  congressional leaders makes public announcements
  to force the weight of public opinion onto
  Congress in favor of a legislative program and
  as head of the party, exercises legislative
  leadership through the congresspersons of the
  presidents party.

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• What are the four ways a president may act on a
  bill?

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• If the bill is signed, it becomes law.
• If the bill is not sent back to Congress after
  ten congressional working days, it becomes law
  without the presidents signature.
• The president can reject the bill and send it
  back to Congress with a veto message setting
  forth objections.

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• Congress then can change the bill, hoping to
  secure presidential approval and repass it. Or
  it can simply reject the presidents objections
  by overriding the veto with a two-thirds
  roll-call vote of the members present in each
  house.

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• 4. If the president refuses to sign the bill and
  Congress adjourns within ten working days after
  the bill has been submitted to the president, the
  bill is killed for that session of Congress. If
  Congress wishes the bill to be reconsidered, the
  bill must be reintroduced during the following
  session. The is called a pocket veto.

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• How many times has Pres. G.W. Bush exercised his
  veto power? What is the only issue that he has
  threatened to veto if passed?

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• He has never vetoed a bill.
• He has threatened to veto any legislation that
  limits the U.S. ability to torture prisoners of
  war.

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• Who proposed the line item veto? Who used it?
  What happened to it?

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• The line-item veto was proposed by Reagan.
• It was first used by Bill Clinton.
• The Supreme Court declared that it was
  unconstitutional.

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• What is required to override a veto? What
  percentage of vetoes has been overridden?

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• To override a veto, two-thirds of the members of
  each house must vote for the override.
• Only about 7 of all vetoes have been overridden.

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• What are the constitutional powers of the
  president? The statutory powers? The expressed
  powers? The inherent powers?

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• Constitutional powers are those vested in the
  president by Article II of the Constitution.
• Statutory powers are those vested in the
  president that Congress has established by law,
  or statute, and numerous other presidential
  powerssuch as the ability to declare national
  emergencies

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• Both constitutional and statutory powers are
  called the expressed powers.
• Inherent powers of the president are derived from
  the loosely worded statement in the Constitution
  that the executive Power shall be vested in a
  President and that he president should take
  care that the laws be faithfully executed.

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• 13. Has presidential power gone too far with the
  passage of the Patriot Act?

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• (opinion) In the beginning after 9/11, the extra
  powers extended to the president were probably
  needed in a time of crisis. However, once the
  crisis was over, the loss of rights to the public
  should have been restored.

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• 14. What are some ways presidents can exert
  influence as the party chief and super
  politician?

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• One way of exerting political power within the
  party is by patronageappointing individuals to
  government or public jobs. Presidents also
  reward loyal supporters in Congress with funding
  for local projects, tax breaks for regional
  industries, and other forms of pork.

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• What limits the presidents patronage power?

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• The establishment of the civil service in 1883,
  which protects federal workers from abuses with
  the patronage system.

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• What is the Washington Community? What do they
  do?

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• The Washington Community is made up of
  individuals regularly involved with politics in
  Washington, D.C.
• They are intimately familiar with the workings of
  government, thrive on gossip, and measure on a
  daily basis the political power of the president.

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• Which president since Eisenhower ended his
  administration with the highest approval rating?

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• Bill Clinton