POLS 1101 1st edition Lecture 20 Outline of Previous Lecture I Congress Party s II The benefits and disadvantages of committees in Congress Outline of Current Lecture I Presidents Success Legacies and Congress II Conflicting Goals III Presidential Power IV Bargaining Tool Set V Formal Contacts Consultation VI Going Public Going over Congress s Heads VII Bargaining Under Divided Government Weak Incentives to Cooperate VIII Origins of this Logic Current Lecture I II III Presidents Success Legacies and Congress Presidents want to pass their policies and build a positive legacy They all want to be high up or on top of the historians rankings In order to do so they must successfully negotiate with Congress There are conditions when success is more likely than others Presidents want to be remembered for doing a lot they have a big ego Reagan was remembered for doing big things he brought down income tax and reformed the tax code For the president to be able to get big things done they must be able to work with congress Conflicting Goals Congress and presidents have different constituencies and different goals o This means that the president must be willing to sacrifice some goals or policy components to pass the broader bill o Especially during divided government Presidential Power Richard Neustadt presidential power is the power to persuade Power to persuade is the power to bargain You want to get other people in Washington to do what you want them to do when they otherwise would not But you get them to believe that it is in their interest to do so These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute IV V VI VII Bargaining Tool Set Negotiating style skill in interpersonal relationships o Closer relations may help the president persuade members of congress to pass his her policy o Being social and being good with one on one conversation helps the president Interpersonal tactics Helps to interact with Members of Congress o Give Congress info attend to the needs and wishes of Members of Congress o The White house needs information that Congress has and Congress needs information that the White House has so relationships and sharing information helps both sides Figure out how to use carrots o Reward cooperative Members of Congress with invitations to state dinners free media campaign help etc o Support pet projects Sticks run challengers in primary fund general election opponents o Be able to make credible threats Members of Congress are not afraid of Obama because he doesn t use carrots and sticks very well Formal Contacts Consultation Relationships with Members of Congress can be key on the margins Resident sends envoys to Congress VP WH Legislative Liaison o Deals with congressional leadership Coordinated through WH Leg Affairs Office WHLAO o Distributes carrots already discussed Former WH aide Members of Congress need constant attention care and feeding Persuasion WHLAO identifies pivotal Members of Congress and focus on them Policy formulation is more successful the more inclusive it is Going Public Going over Congress s Heads President can go public asking public to pressure Members of Congress to support the president s agenda o Members of Congress don t want to make the public mad at them More likely to work with high popularity Less successful the more you do it Issue can t be dead in the water in Congress or among the public Shrinkages in President s audience over time has made going public more difficult Bargaining Under Divided Government Weak Incentives to Cooperate Presidential popularity and public s opinion on the issue matters greatly here VIII When opposition controls Congress they have almost no incentives to work with the president Reach out on major issues with broad ambiguous recommendations that may garner public support Become as self reliant as possible Executive orders or any other constitutional resource Goal of policymaking less important than winning the next election Cooperation falls apart gives way to conflict A lot of threats occur and mutual retaliation Blame game propose something high profile but something other side will surely oppose Pressure them to accept your plan Origins of this Logic Trumans administration Before parties were as polarized as they are today 1946 Aide James H Rowe wrote a memo to president Truman after he lost congress His aide laid out a strategy to deal with congress GOP is not a united front working with Obama Polarized parties in Congress make it even worse o No immigration reform despite both parties wanting a deal o No budget deal we may have a government shutdown in the next few weeks
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