The President as Chief Executive:

1
The President as Chief Executive

• The bureaucracy as resource and constraint

2
Freewrite

• How do you think the federal bureaucracy serves
  as a resource for presidents? How could it
  constrain what presidents try to do? Should the
  bureaucracy be mostly a source of expertise that
  is independent of political control? Or should it
  be more responsive to direction by the elected
  Chief Executive?
• Dont forget to turn this in for participation
  credit!

3
Today

• What are the components of the executive branch?
• How can the president control the executive
  branch?
• Control whos running it
• Control its budget
• Control its output
• What are executive orders, and how do they help
  the president execute the laws?

4
Head of the Executive Branch?

• One aide said to President Carter,
• I have come to the conclusion that there is
  only one thing you can do, unilaterally, without
  getting the bureaucracy involved, or having it go
  through 14 different levelsits the only power
  youve got.
• And he said, Whats that?

5

• And I said, Youve got the power to blow up
  the world. Cant nobody stop youBut if you want
  anything else to happen and you say, I want this
  done tomorrow, there aint very much you can do
  to get it done tomorrow. Somebodys got to write
  a position paper. Somebodys got to go through
  this, or youve got to check with Congress.

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Executive Power

• The Executive power shall be vested in a
  President of the United States of America.
• --Article II, Section I
• He shall take care that the laws be faithfully
  executed.
• --Article II, Section III

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Bureaucracy in the Constitution

• Article II, Section 2
• the President may require the Opinion in
  writing, of the principal Officer in each of the
  executive Departments, upon any subject relating
  to the Duties of their respective Offices
•                                                   
                      
• The Congress may by Law vest the Appointment
  of such inferior Offices, as they think proper,
  in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or
  in the Heads of Departments.

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19th century Cabinet Departments

• 1789 State, Treasury, War
• 1798 Navy
• 1849 Interior
• 1870 Justice
• 1872 Post Office
• 1889 Agriculture
• 1903 Commerce and Labor
• (split in 1913 into Commerce Dept. and Labor
  Dept.)

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New 20th Century Cabinet Depts.

• 1947 Defense (from War)
• 1953 Health, Education Welfare
• (split into HHS and Education in 1973)
• 1965 Housing and Urban Development
• 1966 Transportation
• 1977 Energy
• 1979 Education
• 1989 Veterans Affairs
• 2003 Homeland Security

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Appointments and Confirmations

• 12 cabinet appointments have been rejected
• 1834 Taney
• 1843 Cushing (three times!)
• 1844 Henshaw Porter Green
• 1868 Stanberry
• 1925 Warren (twice)
• 1959 Strauss
• 1989 John Tower

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How can the president control the bureaucracy?

• 1 Control whos running it
• Cabinet Secretaries
• The problem of Bureaucratic Capture
• Jimmy Carters Senior Executive Service
• Reagans Office of Personnel Management

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How can the president control the bureaucracy?

• 2 Control its budget
• 19th Century
• Bureau of the Budget
• Office of Management and Budget

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How can the president control the bureaucracy?

• 3 Control its output regulations!
• Quality of Life Review Program
• Council on Wage-Price Stability
• Exec. Order 12291Regulatory Review

14
Terry Moe The Presidential Advantage?

• Even when the interests of presidents and
  Congress are in conflict, which is much of the
  time, presidents have inherent advantages in the
  realm of institution building that allow them,
  slowly but surely, to strengthen their hand in
  the ongoing battle with Congress for control of
  the bureaucracy.