executive branch Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is the executive branch?
The branch of government charged with putting the nation’s laws into effect.
What are formal (or enumerated) powers?
Powers expressly granted in the Constitution.
What are informal powers?
Powers not laid out in the Constitution but used to carry out presidential duties.
What is a treaty?
An agreement with a foreign government negotiated by the president and requiring a two-thirds vote in the Senate to ratify.
What is the State of the Union Address?
The annual speech from the president to Congress updating that branch on the state of national affairs.
What is a pocket veto?
An informal veto caused when the president chooses not to sign a bill within ten days, during a time when Congress adjourned at the end of a session.
What is a presidential pardon?
Presidential authority to release individuals convicted of a crime from legal consequences and set aside punishment for a crime.
What is executive privilege?
A right claimed by presidents to keep certain conversations, records, and transcripts confidential from outside scrutiny, especially that of Congress.
What is an executive agreement?
An agreement between a president and another nation that does not have the same durability in the American system as a treaty but does not require Senate ratification.
What is a signing statement?
Written comments issued by presidents while signing a bill into law that usually consist of political statements or reasons for signing the bill but may also include a president’s interpretation of the law itself.
What is an executive order?
Policy directives issued by presidents that do not require congressional approval.
What is the War Powers Resolution?
A law passed over President Nixon’s veto that restricts the power of the president to maintain troops in combat for more than sixty days without congressional approval.
What is impeachment?
The process of removing a president from office, with articles of impeachment issued by a majority vote in the House of Representatives, followed by a trial in the Senate, with a two-thirds vote necessary to convict and remove.
What is the Executive Office of the President (EOP)?
A collection of offices within the White House organization designed mainly to provide information to the president.
What is bargaining and persuasion?
An informal tool used by the president to persuade members of Congress to support his or her policy initiatives.
What is the bully pulpit?
Presidential appeals to the public to pressure other branches of government to support his or her policies.
What is going public?
A tactic through which presidents reach out directly to the American people with the hope that the people will, in turn, put pressure on their representatives and senators to press for the president’s policy goals.
