3. What are the effects of executive orders, executive agreements, executive privilege, impoundment of funds, and signing statements? Define each term.
The President of the United States is awarded privileges as Commander and Chief. Examples of these are executive order, executive agreement, executive privileges, impoundment of funds and signing statements. Executive orders of the Presidency have the power and authority of the law (which Congress allows). These orders have domain over enforcing the Constitution, treaties, or legislature rules. Executive orders also have the power to establish or change rules or procedures of various executive agencies. However there is one “check” on the executive order; all orders must be published in the Federal Register (a daily publication for the U.S. government). In order for the President to make treaties with other countries he requires a two-third Senate approval. This process does not make the President’s signature binding, and puts a check on the executive branch. However there is a way the President can avoid this check and it is though the executive agreement. Executive agreements are made between the President and other heads of state, without Congressional approval. The Congress can still however, withhold funding for these treaties. Executive privileges are not mentioned in the Constitution, and there is no definite right the Presidents posses. However, Presidents have always claimed the right to have private communications between himself and his advisers. The base this claim on the basis of separation of powers, and the fact that the President needs assurance that their private conversations are indeed private , especially when it comes to matters of national security. The Legislative branch has never been fond of the executive privilege. They have tolerated it, until it came to the Supreme Court in 1973, with United States v. Nixon. Impoundment of funds is an act by the President when he refuses to spend money appointed by Congress. The main goal of President Nixon’s administration was to reduce federal spending, when the majority Democratic congress passed spending bills. In response Nixon pocket-vetoed twelve bills and then impounded funds that were appointed by Congress. However, Congress then passed the Budget Reform Impoundment Act in 1974, which require the President to spend all funds approved by Congress. A signing statement is a written announcement that the President publishes before he signs a bill into a law. These statements are normally printed with the proposed bill and are shared along with the bill in The United States Code Congressional and Administration News (USCCAN).
Executive orders are orders that are generally directed to staff of the executive branch and not to citizens themselves. They give a certain degree of discretionary power to the President as long as they are in a certain degree of adherence with the Acts of Congress. Although there is no exact specifications in the Constitution that allow executive orders, loose constructionists feel that the President should "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" in Article II, Section 3. The effect of executive orders are to essentially enforce laws that are already in place (Emancipation Proclamation) or to sometimes essentially “create” new laws that in essence act as Acts of Congress (Harry Truman placing regulation on steel mills.) Executive agreements are agreements made between the executive branch of the American government and a foreign government without being passed by the Senate. Essentially, they allow the executive branch, the President, to conduct foreign policies and make treaties with foreign countries without the legislative branch’s consent. An example of this was when President Franklin D. Roosevelt traded 50 U.S. destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for 99-year leases on British Atlantic ports. Executive Privilege is the right of the president of the United States to withhold information from the courts or Congress. The effect of this is to attempt to minimize the risk and danger placed on Congress and the American public in an attempt to keep top secret information under wraps and in turn, keeping the citizens safe. Impoundment funds are the power of the President to withhold from federal departments or agencies some of the funds appropriated and designated by Congress. In effect, this gave the President the power to curb essentially any programs he did not wish to run by cutting off their funds. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 took away the President’s ability to impound projects because of Nixon’s abuse. Signing statements are issued by the President and are printed alongside of the accompanying law they describe. Signing statements are often issued by President’s when they don’t want to veto a law, but at the same time don’t necessarily agree with them. Effectively, they can nullify a law in some cases and they often regard how the President intends to decipher the law for his own benefit.
Truman used an executive order to desegregate the armed forces. Obama recently issued an executive order for all federal agencies to review their regulations. The next president can reverse an executive order. This has been done on some abortion issues since the first President Bush. The Bushes ordered more restrictions on federal money and abortions. Clinton and Obama relaxed some of these restrictions.
Executive agreements are only binding during that president's term. The next president does not have to honor the agreement. Bush ended several executive agreements made by Clinton.
In US v. Nixon the Supreme Court ruled that there is NO ABSOLUTE CONSTITUTIONAL EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE particularly if information is needed for a criminal investigation. VP Cheney won an executive privilege case and was allowed to withhold some information.
George W. Bush made frequent use of signing statements. This caused controversy as some claimed that he was "re-writing" the bill after it came from Congress.
The President of the United States is awarded privileges as Commander and Chief. Examples of these are executive order, executive agreement, executive privileges, impoundment of funds and signing statements.
ReplyDeleteExecutive orders of the Presidency have the power and authority of the law (which Congress allows). These orders have domain over enforcing the Constitution, treaties, or legislature rules. Executive orders also have the power to establish or change rules or procedures of various executive agencies. However there is one “check” on the executive order; all orders must be published in the Federal Register (a daily publication for the U.S. government).
In order for the President to make treaties with other countries he requires a two-third Senate approval. This process does not make the President’s signature binding, and puts a check on the executive branch. However there is a way the President can avoid this check and it is though the executive agreement. Executive agreements are made between the President and other heads of state, without Congressional approval. The Congress can still however, withhold funding for these treaties.
Executive privileges are not mentioned in the Constitution, and there is no definite right the Presidents posses. However, Presidents have always claimed the right to have private communications between himself and his advisers. The base this claim on the basis of separation of powers, and the fact that the President needs assurance that their private conversations are indeed private , especially when it comes to matters of national security. The Legislative branch has never been fond of the executive privilege. They have tolerated it, until it came to the Supreme Court in 1973, with United States v. Nixon.
Impoundment of funds is an act by the President when he refuses to spend money appointed by Congress. The main goal of President Nixon’s administration was to reduce federal spending, when the majority Democratic congress passed spending bills. In response Nixon pocket-vetoed twelve bills and then impounded funds that were appointed by Congress. However, Congress then passed the Budget Reform Impoundment Act in 1974, which require the President to spend all funds approved by Congress.
A signing statement is a written announcement that the President publishes before he signs a bill into a law. These statements are normally printed with the proposed bill and are shared along with the bill in The United States Code Congressional and Administration News (USCCAN).
Executive orders are orders that are generally directed to staff of the executive branch and not to citizens themselves. They give a certain degree of discretionary power to the President as long as they are in a certain degree of adherence with the Acts of Congress. Although there is no exact specifications in the Constitution that allow executive orders, loose constructionists feel that the President should "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" in Article II, Section 3. The effect of executive orders are to essentially enforce laws that are already in place (Emancipation Proclamation) or to sometimes essentially “create” new laws that in essence act as Acts of Congress (Harry Truman placing regulation on steel mills.)
ReplyDeleteExecutive agreements are agreements made between the executive branch of the American government and a foreign government without being passed by the Senate. Essentially, they allow the executive branch, the President, to conduct foreign policies and make treaties with foreign countries without the legislative branch’s consent. An example of this was when President Franklin D. Roosevelt traded 50 U.S. destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for 99-year leases on British Atlantic ports.
Executive Privilege is the right of the president of the United States to withhold information from the courts or Congress. The effect of this is to attempt to minimize the risk and danger placed on Congress and the American public in an attempt to keep top secret information under wraps and in turn, keeping the citizens safe.
Impoundment funds are the power of the President to withhold from federal departments or agencies some of the funds appropriated and designated by Congress. In effect, this gave the President the power to curb essentially any programs he did not wish to run by cutting off their funds. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 took away the President’s ability to impound projects because of Nixon’s abuse.
Signing statements are issued by the President and are printed alongside of the accompanying law they describe. Signing statements are often issued by President’s when they don’t want to veto a law, but at the same time don’t necessarily agree with them. Effectively, they can nullify a law in some cases and they often regard how the President intends to decipher the law for his own benefit.
Truman used an executive order to desegregate the armed forces. Obama recently issued an executive order for all federal agencies to review their regulations. The next president can reverse an executive order. This has been done on some abortion issues since the first President Bush. The Bushes ordered more restrictions on federal money and abortions. Clinton and Obama relaxed some of these restrictions.
ReplyDeleteExecutive agreements are only binding during that president's term. The next president does not have to honor the agreement. Bush ended several executive agreements made by Clinton.
In US v. Nixon the Supreme Court ruled that there is NO ABSOLUTE CONSTITUTIONAL EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE particularly if information is needed for a criminal investigation. VP Cheney won an executive privilege case and was allowed to withhold some information.
George W. Bush made frequent use of signing statements. This caused controversy as some claimed that he was "re-writing" the bill after it came from Congress.