The President

Founder’s Intentions

The president would speak for the nation in terms of foreign affairs

Be a more constant presence than the Congress that was often out of session

Represent the nation as a whole

In order to be president…(qualifications)

The president must be at least 35 years old

a natural-born citizen

have lived in the United States at least 14 years.

How he or she gets elected…

Americans vote for president every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

That popular vote chooses delegates to the Electoral College, which actually elects the president in December. (more on this later)

Time, Wage and Benefits

Four years. The president cannot serve more than two terms.

Yearly salary: $400,000. Includes a $50,000 expense

allowance$190,000 lifetime pensionLifetime secret serviceLifetime health care plan

Succession

Line of succession… Vice Pres. (Joe Biden) Speaker of House (Nancy

Pelosi) Pres. Pro Tempore of the

Senate (Robert Byrd) Sec. Of State (Hillary

Clinton) Sec. Of Treasury (Tim

Geithner) Sec. Of Defense (Robert

Gates)

If a president dies, resigns, is disabled, or is removed from office, the Vice president assumes the office. This has occurred nine times

Backup qbs-1.Tyler replaced Harrison (1841, death )2. Fillmore replaced Taylor.3. Johnson replaced Lincoln.4. Arthur replaced Garfield.5. T. Roosevelt replaced McKinley.6. Coolidge replaced Harding.7. Truman replaced FDR.8. LBJ replaced JFK.9. Ford replaced Nixon

Organization of the Constitution

3 b ra nch es o f g overn m e nt

A rt. IDescribes Leg. branc h

Congress al powers3150 word s

A rt. IIDescribes ex. branc h

Ex. power1820 word s

A rt. IIIDescribes jud. branc h

Jud. powers1000 word s

7 A rtic lesA rticle I L e g .A rtic le II E x.

A rticle III Ju d .

Job description

The Constitution assigns the president two roles: chief executive of the federal government and Commander in Chief of the armed forces.

1. As Commander in Chief, the president has the authority to send troops into combat, and is the only one who can decide whether to use nuclear weapons.

2. As chief executive, he enforces laws, treaties, and court rulings; develops federal policies; prepares the national budget; and nominates federal officials. He also approves or vetoes acts of Congress and grants pardons.

 

Constitutional Powers

The presidents responsibilities and powers are defined in Article II of the Constitution. Art. II, sec. I “The executive power shall be invested

in a President of the United States of America.” The Commander in Chief Art. II, sec. II, subsec. I ‘The President has be the

Commander in Chief of the army, navy of the United States and the militia of the several states.”

Make treaties Art. II, sec. II, subsec. II “…With the advice and

consent of the senate make treaties.”

Constitutional Powers cont.

Make appointments Art. II, sec. II, subsec II “… Shall nominate with

consent of the senate, ambassadors, judges, etc.”

Recess appointments Art II, sec II, subsec III “Fill vacancies of judges

and other posts on a temp. basis.”State of the Union Art II, sec III “Time to time give congress

information of the state of the union and recommendations.”

President’s Job DescriptionBesides being the Commander in Chief, the president is also the chief executive. This is a rather vague term and rightly so. As mentioned earlier as Chief executive he/she enforces laws, treaties, and court rulings; develops federal policies; proposes the national budget; and appoints federal officials. In order to do all of these jobs the executive branch and the legislative branch have developed a rather large group of agencies to help him or her carry out their duties. This group is known as a bureaucracy.

Next is a list of the executive offices….

As Chief executive…The president has a lot of duties and needs a lot of help. Over the years the president has developed a laaaaarge beucracy.

The Department of Agriculture

,

The Department of Commerce The Department of Defense

,. The Department of Education

The Department of Energy

Health and Human ServicesVeterans AffairsState

The Department of Homeland SecurityHousing and Urban Development

Interior. Justice, The Department of Labor The Department of Transportation

. Treasury.

BureaucracyWhen congress passes a laws they need a mechanism of enforcement This usually falls to the president.

Congress often creates enabling legislation in which the bureaucracy ”fills in the blanks” of vague legislation – usually because Congress lacks the expertise or the interest in determining every little detail – Congress may also want the government to be able to respond quickly to changing circumstances (egs trade deals)– this leaves the President-controlled bureaucracy with a lot of power

Presidential authority expanded

As his bureaucracy as increased so has the influence on political decisions and ability to shape public policy.

1970- EPA given power to “monitor conditions of the environment, “established quantitative base lines for pollution levels,” and “set and enforce standards of air and water quality.”

President and the budget

The President starts the budget process when his bureaucracy (The Office of Management and Budget) prepares a proposed budget

Congress then revises (sometimes heavily) the budget

It then goes to the President to be signed

What does the government spend money on

The government collected $2,5 trillion and spent 2.9 trillion – contributing to the $11 trillion national debt

More than half the federal budget goes to payments on the nation debt (about 8%) and entitlements (about 53%)

The rest is discretionary spending

Budget cont.

In Oct. and Nov. of 09 Congress debated the presidential budget and passed a budget of 1.21 trillion dollars (Not including the stimulus package or TARP).

901 billion dollars of President Obama’s discretionary budget went to military spending (63%) and 520 billion went to non defense (37%)For more information about the federal budget visit http://www.wallstats.com/deathandtaxes/

Presidents budgetThe Department of Agriculture – 25 billion

The Department of Commerce – 14 billion

The Department of Defense – 664 billion

The Department of Education – 46 billion

The Department of Energy –26 billion

Health and Human Services – 80 billion

Veterans Affairs – 53 billion

State – 27.5 billion

Presidents budget cont.

The Department of Homeland Security – 41 billionHousing and Urban Development – 42 billionInterior – 12 billionJustice – 24 billionThe Department of Labor – 13 billion The Department of Transportation – 51 billionTreasury – 13 billion

Although the president has all of this enormous bureaucracy, agencies and staff at his command they must still work in a government filled with checks and balances. Use your textbook to answer the following perfect president handout to determine what actions fall under the presidents jurisdiction, and which are outside of normal presidential duties.