executive branch... Flashcards
memorize
cost of congestion infographic image*
how can the bureaucracy address this issue
The Department of Transportation can write stronger regulations on freight volume.
cost of congestion infographic image*’
Which of the following possible actions illustrates a way Congress interacts with the bureaucracy to address the problem shown in the infographic?
Congress could have members of the Department of Transportation testify before a committee to discuss the issue and potential solutions.
(To better understand an issue, Congress will often request that government officials testify before congressional committees. Congress is investigating to make sure the bureaucracy is performing its job correctly and efficiently)
All of the following help to explain the President’s difficulty in controlling cabinet-level agencies EXCEPT.
The President can only fire appointees before they have been confirmed by the Senate
A President attempting to influence Congress to pass a legislative program might employ all of the following strategies EXCEPT
denying campaign reelection funds to legislators who oppose the President’s policy stand
A President may persuade recalcitrant members of Congress to vote for a particular bill by
making a direct appeal to the public through mass media
Which of the following is the best predictor of the Department of Education’s annual budget?
The size of the previous year’s budget
On February 9, 2016, President Barack Obama released his budget proposal for the 2017 fiscal year. Facing a Republican Congress, many declared the plan “dead on arrival.” Among the cited issues was Obama’s request for $582.7 billion in discretionary spending for defense, which many Republicans believed was not enough. Which of the following most accurately explains the interaction between the president and the Congress regarding the defense budget?
Congress passes a budget for the entire federal government, including defense, but it must consider the president’s proposal because the president may veto the bill.
( In the scenario, President Obama released a budget proposal, an annual report that outlines the president’s advice to Congress on how to fund the federal government. However, all appropriations bills must be introduced by a member of Congress; they are then sent to committee and eventually voted on in both chambers. This gives Congress considerable power in the budget process. Some consideration, however, usually needs to be given to the president’s proposal, since budget bills can be vetoed.)
Cabinet departments differ from independent regulatory agencies in which of the following ways?
The President can dismiss cabinet officers, but not commissioners of independent regulatory agencies.
One of the formal tools used by Congress for oversight of the bureaucracy is
authorization of spending
In selecting members of the White House staff, Presidents primarily seek people who…
are personally loyal to the President
Shortly after the 2008 election, President Obama appointed outspoken and controversial House member Rahm Emanuel to lead his White House as chief of staff, the head of the Executive Office of the President. The selection drew criticism from Republican leaders, including House minority leader John Boehner, who remarked that the selection “is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center.” Which of the following explains how Congress could legitimately respond to the appointment?
Members of Congress could issue statements opposing the appointment but have no formal power to block it. (Unlike cabinet members, appointments to the Executive Office of the President, including the White House chief of staff, do not require Senate confirmation. However, as the scenario illustrates, members of Congress can express their disapproval in statements to the media.)
Which of the following is an example of the executive branch implementing a public policy passed by Congress?
The Department of Health and Human Services determines eligibility requirements for government assistance.
(The Department of Health and Human Services making a decision about eligibility requirements for a program is an example of implementing a policy.)
In 2012, after negotiations on a bill in Congress failed, President Obama issued an executive order that protected from deportation individuals illegally brought to the United States as children by their parents. The president took this action because
disagreement between congressional leaders and the president on the issue meant that a compromise on a bill was not likely
( The scenario indicates that the president wanted a bill to be passed by Congress but failed. Presidents sometimes choose to wield their influence by issuing an executive order that can create sweeping changes to policy although it does create some risks as far as public perception.)
The expansion of the executive branch since 1939 has affected the separation of powers by
increasing presidential control over the legislative process
To be sure, the President’s control over foreign affairs had been growing since the Theodore Roosevelt administration [1901–1909]. . . . [President Roosevelt’s] acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone preceded Woodrow Wilson’s decision to enter World War I, which was a prelude to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s management of the run-up to the victorious American effort in World War II. In the 1950s, Harry S. Truman’s response to the Soviet threat included the decision to fight in Korea without a Congressional declaration of war, and Dwight Eisenhower used the Central Intelligence Agency and brinkmanship to contain Communism. Nineteenth-century presidents had had to contend with Congressional influences in foreign affairs, and particularly with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But by the early 1960s, the president had become the undisputed architect of U.S. foreign policy.
One reason for this was the emergence of the United States as a great power with global obligations. Neither Wilson nor FDR could have imagined taking the country to war without a Congressional declaration, but the exigencies of the cold war in the 1950s heightened the country’s reliance on the president to defend its interests. Truman could enter the Korean conflict without having to seek Congressional approval simply by describing the deployment of U.S. troops as a police action taken in conjunction with the United Nations
The United States has emerged as a global power, which has enhanced the power of the president in foreign affairs. (The United States has emerged as a global power and, as a result, the author argues, the executive branch has become more powerful in foreign affairs.)
To be sure, the President’s control over foreign affairs had been growing since the Theodore Roosevelt administration [1901–1909]. . . . [President Roosevelt’s] acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone preceded Woodrow Wilson’s decision to enter World War I, which was a prelude to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s management of the run-up to the victorious American effort in World War II. In the 1950s, Harry S. Truman’s response to the Soviet threat included the decision to fight in Korea without a Congressional declaration of war, and Dwight Eisenhower used the Central Intelligence Agency and brinkmanship to contain Communism. Nineteenth-century presidents had had to contend with Congressional influences in foreign affairs, and particularly with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But by the early 1960s, the president had become the undisputed architect of U.S. foreign policy.
One reason for this was the emergence of the United States as a great power with global obligations. Neither Wilson nor FDR could have imagined taking the country to war without a Congressional declaration, but the exigencies of the cold war in the 1950s heightened the country’s reliance on the president to defend its interests. Truman could enter the Korean conflict without having to seek Congressional approval simply by describing the deployment of U.S. troops as a police action taken in conjunction with the United Nations.
Which of the following is a difference between the power of nineteenth-century presidents and that of the modern president according to the passage?
Presidents in the nineteenth century had to contend with congressional committees, which had significant powers in foreign affairs. (The article specifically mentions an active Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the nineteenth century.)
