Unit 2 Review: Executive

Question 1

Policy agenda

Answer 1

Every president comes into office with a set of policies that they want see enacted

Question 2

Formal powers

Answer 2

Laid out in Article 2 of the Constitution
• Veto
• Foreign policy (President is Commander-In-Chief of the US armed forces)

Question 3

Informal powers

Answer 3

• Bargaining and persuasion (the President has the nation’s attention in a way that no other politician does. The President can use that attention to persuade the people according to the executive policy agenda)
• Executive order (direct the actions of the federal bureaucracy and the military which are both areas that the President has authority over.)
Ex: by an executive order, the president can move money from one bureaucratic agency to another in order to get what the President wants done
• Signing Statement (when signing a bill into law, the President can also issue a signing statement which informs the nation how the executive branch interprets that law and thus how the President intends to execute it)

Question 4

Pocket veto

Answer 4

The bill remains unsigned by the president until its too late

Question 5

Executive agreements

Answer 5

Agreement between the US & another nation that’s less formal than a treaty & doesn’t require ratification by 2/3 of the US Senate

Question 6

Cabinet

Answer 6

Team of advisors who lead each of the executive agencies

Question 7

Ambassadors

Answer 7

Someone sent on a mission to another country by the President to negotiate a treaty

Question 8

How are the white house staff hired

Answer 8

Requires no Senate confirmation and are usually appointed by the President

Question 9

What could cause tension between the executive and legislative branch?

Answer 9

The President appoints people on the Supreme Court and these people work for the rest of their lives. So even after the President is out of office, these Supreme Court judges may still work in that President’s favor

Question 10

Federalist 70

Answer 10

• Hamilton argues that a single executive is necessary because one person is able to act quickly / decisively on matters that require firm leadership & tactical decision making
• Argued that the executive branch can be checked with the power of the other two branches so a presidential monarch would be impossible
• If the President does turn out to be corrupt, then it’s much more easily detectable in a single individual than in multiple & thus a single executive will have to be much more careful with their power since they’ll be much more closely watched

Question 11

22nd Amendment

Answer 11

Limits the President to two terms

Question 12

Bully Pulpit

Answer 12

A position of authority that provides an outstanding opportunity to speak out on any issue

Question 13

State of the Union Address

Answer 13

Annual message delivered by the President to a joint session of Congress on the current condition of the nation