Dont expect miracles

1
Dont expect miracles

• Cooperation and conflict for the 111th Congress
  and the 44th President

Dr. Chuck Cushman Associate Dean Graduate School
of Political Management George Washington
University 805 21st Street NW Suite
401 Washington DC 20052 [phone]
Phone [phone] Fax cushmanc_at_gwu.edu
2
Agenda

• The system wont allow it
• The Democrats do not have the same theory of
  president as party leader as the Republicans do
• There is so much to be done that they cannot
  possibly do it all

3
The system wont allow it

• Congress makes laws and represents the people,
  but needs the Executive Branch to get things
  done
• The president manages the bureaucracies but needs
  Congress to enact policy decisions and pay for
  programs

Both branches must work together to succeed
4
Why is it so complicated?
First, blame Cromwell and the Indians!

• Civil War (1642-49) Tyranny!!
• Charles I tried to rule without Parliament
• Cromwell became dictator
• George III Flashback to Civil War
• Indians a constant threat
• New England
• Virginia
• Colonial borders until 1763

The Founders needed energy in government but
they feared tyranny, so they built a COMPLEX
system of checks and balances
5
Wait theres more!
Second, blame the budget process!

• Originally president had no role in legislation
• House-driven lawmaking
• Small Federal government
• Expenses paid by tariffs excises
• Budget Act of 1921 brought White House directly
  into process
• Spanish war (1898) world power
• WW 1 (1917-18) big debts
• Demand for centralized budget

Demands of modern, large government pulled the
White House into the legislative process a
foothold they have expanded ever since!
6
Is the President THE leader?

• Since the end of World War Two, normal
  Republican White House, Democratic Congress
• Good Soldiers Hill GOPers support their partys
  leader in the White House against the majority
  Democrats
• Co-Equal Branches Hill Democrats see and use the
  power of Congress as a counter vs. the White House

Democrats do not have the same theory of
president as party leader as Republicans do
7
Example Oversight

• Main tool for shaping agency priorities
• Investigations, hearings and committee reports
• Letters and phone calls from members
• Agency actions (CBO, GAO)
• Compare 1981, 1993, 2003, and 2007

Committees use oversight to signal their
priorities, question unpopular agency actions,
and add issues to the official record
8
Example Appropriations

• Focus on programs, not strategy
• Control over revenue, budget, and spending
  decisions
• No connection between revenue, spending
• CBRICA of 1974 failed
• Compare OMB vs. passed budgets

Coordination among the money committees (taxing,
budgeting, spending) is weak as it is between
them and the oversight committees
9
Example Organizing

• Makes a permanent change in structure
• DOD, CIA, NSC in 1947
• Homeland Security, 2002
• Rarely used!!!
• Oversight changes?
• Will change work?
• Oversight committees plus the HGROC and SGAC use
  this power

Congress uses the organizing power sparingly
it takes too much time, energy and political
capital and it forces changes on the Hill, too
10
What is to be done?
Regardless of the November results.

• Washington will have a HUGE urgent to-do list
• Taxes
• Iraq, Afghanistan
• Banking/financial system
• Health care
• Wiretapping, military commissions, and the
  general collapse of the rule of law

There is so much to be done that they cannot
possibly do it all
11
Is that all anything else?
And there are many other questions too

• Support for student loans?
• Education policy (NCLB)?
• Higher education policy?
• Foreign policy strategy?
• DHS organization?
• Deficit reduction, paying down national debt?
• Accountability?

There is so much to be done that they cannot
possibly do it all
12
Conclusion

• The system wont allow it
• Fear of tyranny was real, and still matters.
• Complexity slows us down
• Democrats do not have the same theory of
  president as party leader as Republicans do
• Congress can stymie the White House
• And they have their own agendas, too!
• There is so much to be done that they cannot
  possibly do it all
• The next president will have to strike fast to
  get anything done where would you begin?!?!?!

13
Dont expect miracles

• Cooperation and conflict for the 111th Congress
  and the 44th President

Dr. Chuck Cushman Associate Dean Graduate School
of Political Management George Washington
University 805 21st Street NW Suite
401 Washington DC 20052 [phone]
Phone [phone] Fax cushmanc_at_gwu.edu