Political Science 206 Texas A M University Midterm Review II You should be comfortable with the following terms and concepts Keep in mind that these are just some but by no means all of the more important topics we ve covered since the 1st midterm Presidency Formal powers of the president o Commander in chief veto power executive pardons make treaties Informal Inherent powers of the president o take care clause o How why did they evolve Changing world Different views of presidential leadership Constitutional powers of the vice president o 25th amendment Why has presidential power grown o Public expectations have grown Take care clause of the Constitution o How have presidents construed their broad constitutional provisions differently o What powers have arisen from this clause Executive power order and agreements Why would Congress ever delegate authority to the executive branch o Controversial issue technical issue diffuse policy benefits o Examples of EPA OSHA FDA Persuasion techniques o Inside the Beltway Bargaining Bargaining with WDC insiders Negotiation compromise Mutual accommodations reciprocity Good IBB s The Johnson Treatment Reagan The Great Communicator o Presidential Approval Ratings o Going public Thought of as a force of the hand by rallying constituents Can be risky spark the wrong emotion have unintended outcome o Why is it important for presidents to be persuasive Build key relationships across the aisle Executive office of the President o Who is a part of the EOP National Security Council Vice President Sec of State Sec of Treasury Sec of Defense Chief of Staff Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff Information policy recommendations on National security National Security Advisor o Does not require Senate confirmation o Honest broker to President Office of management and budget Reviews budget requests of cabinet level departments fit in w Pres objectives Develops omnibus budget Director o Must be confirmed by the senate Council of Economic Advisors 3 members nominated by President confirmed by Senate Prepares the Economic Report of the President o Current future economic trends White House staff o Who is a part of the WH staff Chief of Staff Decides who has access to Pres o Potential to isolate President Hires and supervises WH staff Congressional liaisons National Security advisor Press secretary o None are confirmed by Senate o Insulated from Political control o Lack Washington experience Rally around the flag effect o What is this President 9 11 Bureaucracy Four main bureaucratic types o What are they Cabinet Departments When there is a crisis or war to rally around there is more public support of the Biggest units of the executive branch 15 broad areas of Govn t responsibility o State Treasury Defense interior justice agriculture commerce labor health human services housing homeland security veterans affairs etc Broken down into subsidiary agencies o FBI Justice Department o National Park Service Dept of Interior Created after changes in economy or international relations or public expectations o Post WWII Dept of Defense o 1950 s Dept of Health and Human Services Cabinet members picked up for their expertise nominated by Pre confirmed by Senate Independent Executive Agencies Outside of Cabinet Dept report directly to President o NASA CIA EPA Selective service o Director heads nominated by President confirmed by senate Independent Regulatory Commissions Maintain independence from Pres politicians Deal w complex economic or technical issues o Congress delegates to bureaucracy to avoid making unpopular decisions Federal Elections Commission Federal Reserve Board Ran by board of commissioners nominated by Pres confirmed by Senate Government Corporations Semi independent agencies Provides goods services that are not profitable o USPS PBS FDIC etc Ideal type bureaucracy o Hierarchical control o Division of labor specialization o Consistent set of abstract rules o Meritocracy o Why does the bureaucracy fail to conform to this ideal Bureaucratic red tape Pluralistic democracy People have differences Multiple goals Marrying the natives o Appointees appointed to represent President but then side with Agency Theories of bureaucratic behavior o Not designed to be efficient o b c they care about policy they care about the structure of the buraucracy Politics of agency creation o How does democratic politics contribute to bureaucratic problems Groups are involved in policy creation of bureaucratic structures o How are bureaucracies created Congress delegates authority to bureaucracies to avoid unpopular decisions Agency capture o Why is this problematic Legislative veto Pieces of the agency are jerry rigged inconsistent o Ruled unconstitutional but is still used because SC has no enforcing power How to limit bureaucratic drift o What can presidents congress do Nominate directors Build in appropriate structures engage in police patrol Reporting requirements Constrained jurisdictions Constantly monitoring agency Federal register o What is this Publication of federal rules and regulation changes and annoucments o Why is it significant Lets people know when a rule of regulation is being changed Fire alarm oversight o How does this differ from police patrol oversight Reactive Rules regulations must be published in the Federal Register before being implemented Interest groups pull fire alarms alerting their MC of the adverse agency decision Banking industry groups that oversee SEC Regulations Red tape o What is this Excessive regulations and rules o What are some examples Iron triangles o What does this consist of Arrest a suspect suspect requests their lawyers NOTHING may be done with the suspect until they have spoken to legal counsel Relationships between agencies and MCs is often interdependent Mutually beneficial relationships between MCs interest groups bureaucrats Bureaucrats give MCs info help w constituent complaints requests MCs give bureaucrats bigger budgets favorable legislation also helps advocacy interest group Advocacy interest groups give contributions to MCs campaign fire alarm oversight in case Bureaucrats get outta line o Why are these problematic Enables interest groups to dominate policy May contribute to inflated budgets encourage policy that benefits narrow special interests Judiciary Structure of federal judiciary o How is the federal system structured 94 district courts Criminal civil involving federal law Hears about 300k cases annually Where most cases
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