POLS 1101Week 8February 25- March 1, 2013Struggle for Power between President and Congress- Ambition countered by ambition- Strong legislature (Congress was the dominant branch through the 1800s with little exception)- Two strong Presidentso Andrew Jacksono Abraham Lincoln - Presidents make quick decisions, Congress does noto During a war, a strong picture is advantageous- Congress is dominant, but it wasn’t when Lincoln was presidento Lincoln was a northern Republican. He chose his running mate, a southern democrat in hopes of bringing all people together. o When he was assassinated, Andrew Johnson became president and the Republican congress was unhappy. They managed to bring the power back down to Congress from the President. - During the 20th centuryGreat Depression, WWI, WWIIo During these times, a powerful president was necessaryo FDR, LBJ, Nixon- In the 1800s and first half of the 20th century it was typical for the President and Congress to be of the same party. o This lead to extreme policies because they all agreedo 2 examples LBJ was a democrat and had a democratic congress. He had major changed in domestic policy George W Bush (republican president and congress)o Most of the last 35 years we have had a divided government. Divided government tends to either compromise or gridlock where nothing can get done Obama has policies he wants to initiate but Congress is controlled by Republicans Vice versa, House of Representatives suggests policies but Obama vetoes themStruggle for Power in the 70’s and 80’s- Richard Nixono Republican president with a democratic house and senateo He was a very strong Presidento Congress would pass a law, Nixon would sign it but then started impounding fundso Impounding funds: leaving money in the treasury which was supposed to have been spent on different things.POLS 1101Week 8February 25- March 1, 2013o Budget and Impoundment Control Act: The President MUST spend the money on what it was intended for in the law- Congress tried increasing their power in the 70s- Legislative Veto: Congress would write a bill if they didn’t like the way the president was acting. They could veto the bill passed if the president didn’t carry it out the way they wanted. This ideas is NOT in the ConstitutionINS vs Chada (spelling?)- Legislative Veto Case- Supreme Court said the legislative veto violates separation of powers and therefore is unconstitutional- At the time, there were actually about 200 laws passed that had something with legislative veto in them. So, Congress had to go back and rewrite all of these laws.- Only Congress can declare war, but the President is the Commander in Chief.- Congress has only declared was 5 times.- War Powers Act: if the president calls troops into action, they must notify congress within 2 days and they have 60 days to get approval.o If there is no approval, troops will be brought back.o This gives 2 months in times of need for troops, but also gives 2 months for Congress to agree- During the Cold War (70s and 80s), there was a situation called the Iran-Contra Scandalo In Nicaragua, there was a group of people controlling the government who were associated with the Soviet Uniono Reagan told the CIA to help those opposed to the government by giving them money and arms to overthrow the communist government Congress did not approve of this decision Bolland Amendment: no government or US money can be given to another country to overthrow a government. Reagan signed this.o 8 Americans were taken hostage in Irano The US policy says the United States will not negotiate with terroristso Reagan said: if we just give them money, they will continue taking Americanso Reagan made this clearo Colonel North had an idea the United States would sell weapons to Iran and then theywould use their leverage to release the hostages. The weapons would be sold at a profitPOLS 1101Week 8February 25- March 1, 2013of 8 million dollars which would then be given to Nicaragua to overthrow their government- Why didn’t Congress impeach Reagan for this?o The democrats did consider it.o Reagan did lie to the people on television.  He said he would not send money to the contras but he did. He approved actions that contradicted policy (but not law).- His aids broke the law, but Reagan did noto They said his actions were wrong, but he was not directly involved enough for impeachmentBill Clinton (1990s)- During his first 2 years, he had a Democratic Congress. The next 6 years were Republican- There was a scandal called Whitewater o It was a land deal while he was governor where he used his influence to profit himself- Independent Counsel: if the executive branch is accused of wrongdoing, who will investigate? Usually it is FBI, but they are under the executive too. So, an independent counsel will be called in to investigate.- Kenneth Star (prosecutor) investigated the Whitewater scandalo He looked into other scandals as well but found no wrongdoingo He investigated his sex life and found out Clinton was having an affair with the interno Recorded conversations about the affair were given to the independent counselo Clinton went on national television and denied it. o He later explained he hadn’t actually lied. He said he had an affair but not “relations”. He said this under oath.- Congress considered impeaching Clinton (they hated him).- Lindsey Graham asked: is this impeachment really about having an affair or were there actual crimes being committed?- No laws were actually broken but the Republicans said Clinton:o Lied under oath (perjury)o Destroyed evidence o Told Monica to lie under oath in return for a very good job (illegal)- Clinton’s lawyers did not deny inappropriate behavior but there were no serious crimes- The independent counsel gave 4 years of evidence to the House of Representativeso The house considered a large number of charges and narrows it down to two that they considered to be impeachable (which would need 2/3 senate vote to convict) If the President breaks a law, he will be charged and convicted If he is impeached, he will just be removed from officePOLS 1101Week 8February 25- March 1, 2013- Charges against Clintono Perjury: knowingly and intentionally giving false information under oath that is material (relevant) to the case at hand. Clinton’s lawyers said he was misleading but that is not a crime. He did not directly lie under oath. They also said the things he did lie about