PRESIDENTIAL POWER:

UNCHECKED AND UNBALANCED

Mathew Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg

Georgiana Calitescu, group 4

Cristina Georgescu, group 4
Irina Lazar, group 5
Claudia Prislopeanu,group 5

October 31st, 2017

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  Prislopeanu Claudia
Making the President Imperial

In the past fifty years, the candidate-centered campaign started early in the presidential
election cycle, because it helped them to build the essential impulse that attracts new coverage,
contributions, enthusiastic activists, and also a loyal professional staff.
Franklin Roosevelt tried to expand the reach, power, and size of the Executive Office of
the President.
The EOP staff has been the president’s principal way of advancing along three other
dimensions of White House influence:
1. presidential influence over Congres
2. establish and extend control over the federal bureaucracy
3. it helps to expand the sphere of direct presidential governance through executive
orders
The result was represented by a capacity to make and execute policy without venturing
outside the executive branch to consult Congress or even to heed public opinion.

The Executive Office of the President

In 1939 the Congress gave to Roosevelt the authority to appoint six administrative
assistants, also for 2 years he had the authority to implement reorganizations of the executive
branch.
The executive order by which Roosevelt created the Executive Office of the President,
counted five divisions within the organization, and the most important was The Bureau of the
Budget. (BoB)
Under the rule of Roosevelt, all legislative proposals had to pass through the bureau before
going to Congress, whether they had budgetary implications or not.
The Bureau of the Budget provided president Roosevelt with two different kinds of
administrative support:

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 1. the staff in the White House served the president by giving aid of a personal public
relation and political nature
2. and the other one was responsible with the presidency and its duties were of institutional
in nature.
There were two kinds of executives in Washington: the president and the presidency.
Before the World War II the staff was ruled primarily by Roosevelt, but because of the
pressure of the war, the presidency had begun to break away from the president.

 Calitescu Georgiana

John F. Kennedy became his own chief of staff, after dismantling the White House’s
management organization. The presidential assistants were no longer appointed or limited just to
their specialized domain, but, as Robert Kennedy and Theodore Sorensen did, they were allowed
to move freely between the domestic and foreign policy. Kennedy believed that by dissolving
interdepartmental committees the White House would be more receptive to policy innovation.
After the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the presidential staff expended to deal with
serious business, because Kennedy was reluctant to trusting anyone outside the White House,
while operations that were to big to be run from the White House itself, such as the Peace Corps,
got their own independent agencies. The Kennedy administration predicted a future
antibureaucratic consensus.

The Conquest of Congress

Under Kennedy’s presidency congressional relations became more prominent, despite

being advised otherwise by two prestigious advisers, Richard Neustadt and Clark Clifford, who
recommended that the vice president should deal with congressional demands, to avoid violating
the separation of powers.
Lawrence O’Brien, one of the presidential aides with direct access to the Oval Office, and
his assistants converted the Office of Congressional Relations, designed by Eisenhower, to an
important tool of presidential leadership. By doing so, the White House was given the capacity to

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bypass the legislative leaders and treat the Congress not as a single institution, but as a group of
self-interested political entrepreneurs, taking advantage of the congressional disunity and even
recruiting individual members of the Congress to promote the power of the presidency.
President Lyndon Johnson reduced the White House’s advantage over the Congress, by
expending the presidential staff and appointing Lawrence O’Brien postmaster general, while also
remaining on charge of congressional relations. Joseph Califano, the head of a newly emerged
domestic policy staff, and his specialists frequently worked directly with the Congress, leaving
the Office of Congressional Relations out of the picture.
Johnson’s former position as the Democratic Leader of the Senate made the relations
between the White House and the Congress more relaxed, than they were under John F.
Kennedy, who was never a member of the Senate. The Office of Congressional Relations kept
track of every phone call that the president made to a Congress member, of the benefactions
asked and those granted, of the legislators’ attendance to White House social functions and
occasions on which they had been photographed with the president. The Office of Congressional
Relations requested and was given the authority to oversee the president’s meetings with
members of the Congress. But the authority of the office, which had survived three presidents,
Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson, began to diminish after Democratic losses in the
congressional elections in 1966, as the Congress became less responsive to the president.
Beginning with Richard Nixon’s presidency the Congress and the White House would
belong to different parties. The congressional relations became a concern for the entire
presidential staff, rather than just an office. In 1976, when Jimmy Carter was elected as president
after campaigning against the Washington establishment after Watergate, the Democrats were in
command of both branches of government, but that did not ease the relation between the
Congress and the White House. Carter’s campaign aggravated the congressional relations, which
led to the president encouraging various interest groups to push Congress towards the president’s
legislative priorities.
Congressional relations were even more difficult when the White House and the
Congress were held by different parties, as it was under Nixon’s presidency.

Governing by Decree

Executive orders, signing statements, national security findings and directives and other
executive powers of the president, which allow him to legislate unilaterally without consulting
any legislators, have replaced the conduct of congressional relations.
In national emergency situations, presidents have issued executive orders, which were
supported by the Congress. This orders were usually regarding military and national security,

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like the internment of the Japanese during World War II, expending the size of the military, the
purchase of military equipment, while also having implications for the lives of civilians.
Even though executive orders were less numerous during peace time, the policymaking
of recent presidents has become a routine affair, turning them into lawgivers, whose unilateral
decisions cover the entire range of governmental concerns.
Executive orders have replaced treaties regarding foreign policy. Several presidents,
including Kennedy, Truman, Nixon, have signed orders according to which contractors had to
hire minority orders.
Some of the executive orders have been argued by courts, like Clinton’s order prohibiting
federal agencies from replacing striking workers with new workers, which according to The
District of Columbia Circuit Court violated the National Labor Relations Act.
Executive orders have served as a “weapon” in conflict between the will of the President
and the will of the Congress, used by presidents their powers of unilateral action.
Signing statements serve as instruments for the president to call attention to provisions of
a bill that they consider improper of unconstitutional, even if they approve the bill in general.

 Irina Lazar

Presidents issue signing statements in bills that arrive at their desk for several reasons.
This practice allows presidents to offer their commentary on some laws they sign.
President Reagan received signing statements from the Congress straight to his desk,
prepared by the Department of Justice. An example is the 1988 Veterans Benefits Act, where
he declared that parts of the bill would harm the integrity of the executive branch and so it would
not be enforced.
These facts and actions draw some attention and they didn’t always succeed, the
reason being that the president did not have full authority to declare some acts, enacted by the
Congress. However, presidential signing statements to reshape bills continued.
President George H. W. Bush signed a bill requiring that contractors building the
Superconducting and Supercollider in Texas pursue affirmative action requirements. He opposed
and nullified a passage of the received bill, not giving the Congress an opportunity to abrogate a
presidential veto.

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 During George W. Bush’s presidential years, the signing statements had grown
more than ever. He had challenged 500 legislative provisions, while Clinton had 105 and Reagan
71.
Soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Bush enabled NSA to act in gathering information
inside the country. However, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act required for such acts to
obtain warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Bush acted against the
statutory restrictions, due to the fact that NSA had superior electronic information-gathering
capabilities.
As his predecessors, President Bush used signing statements to erode legislation he was
unable to block.
Other signing statements during Bush’s presidential period:
- The signing campaign finance reform legislation in March 2002
- Signing Legislation creating an inspector general to oversee the U.S.
administration governing Iraq in 2003
- The legislation creating the 9/11 Commission

Regulatory Review
As the Congress is responsible for composing and passing laws inside the United
States of America, there is another force that is focused on establishing new ways to implement
laws at the executive level. Although the Presidents of the USA throughout the last 70 years
should not involve themselves in the ”making of law” process, they developed a regulatory
office which should hold the power of executive implementations of laws. The regulatory review
is carried from the White House at the state level where the organizational structure can vary
from state to state.
Executive agencies carry out congressionally enacted laws by drafting and
enforcing regulations (how will these rules apply, exact measures). As an example, EPA
(Environmental
Protection Agency) has responsibility for writing the regulations that implement
environmental laws. They include specifications for equipment or applications, everything that
needs to be done in order for a specific law to be applicable in the territory.
In 1979 under the Reagan administration was founded the Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the OMB (Office of Management and Budget). OIRA
has
developed itself into a very powerful executive tool in order to control the rulemaking
process. OIRA either approves, rejects or asks for specific changes in the target
regulations.
After it is approved it can be publically announced and opened for public comments.
The rule-making process was since the establishing of OIRA changed forever, and this
instruments permitted presidents to enlarge their constitutional role in the legislative
process
by dictating the way in which laws should be implemented.

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 In 1985 another change appears into the internal OIRA office. Reagan requested
every regulatory agency to report annually to OIRA. This way the White House was able to
intervene before the rules were even drafted. Moreover, the George H. W. Bush administration
followed the same practices using presidential power to control the review process. In 1993
Clinton started another movement within OIRA, giving it even much power. Clinton forced
agencies to implement rules that he wanted. ( Rules = Terms of which laws should be applied).
In September 1993, Executive Orders 12291 and 12498 were replaced by
President Clinton with Executive Order 12866 on regulatory planning and review. While
Executive Order 12866 left the basic structure of OIRA in place, the order was intended to
harmonize federal regulations regarding the environment with the state, local, and tribal
regulations and procedures. (Clinton was able to control the rule-making activities of executive
agencies).
Although Republicans denounced Clinton's actions as ”usurpation of
congressional powers” (Qe. 102, Reader), George W. Bush’s OIRA administration followed the
same steps as Clinton’s, with even more control over the agencies and their rule-making
activities. Institutions like NHTSA and FDA were forced to follow OIRA decisions which were
issued via ”prompt letters” which instructed agencies to publish new regulations. Through this
whole process of defining power, instructing agencies to follow a certain guiding line and
political influence, OIRA has grown into an office that is being able to reshape the legislation
and even to achieve policy goals. This little office under the OMB was able to redefine how
presidents interact with the executive part of implementing certain laws.

 Cristina Georgescu

The presidential power expanded over budgets, staffing and the quality of agency life.
Moreover, President Reagan expanded even more the presidential control by deciding that
every regulatory agency should report annually to Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA) . In this way the president could make sure that the agencies’ objectives for the coming
year were aligned with the president’s view and that the presidential goals were taken into account
when formulation the rules. This enabled the White House to review rules before being drafted
and to influence the implementation of them.
After Reagan, President George H. W. Bush continued to minimize the congressional
power by shifting the regulatory review from OIRA to the “Council on Competitiveness”, from a
statutory agency to a presidential office. President Bill Clinton, on the other side, decided in 1993
to abolish the Competitiveness Council and required OIRA to formulate the rules that he wanted
by implementing the “regulatory prompts”. More than this, Clinton asked the independent agencies

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to send their annual regulatory agendas to OIRA, planning to bring the independent agencies under
presidential control too. Clinton was starting to take control and conceive rules, giving the
president full control over the regulatory process. In order for Clinton to achieve his legislative
objectives, he focused on administrative rule making. Republicans were not pleased with his
actions, considering that it was a usurpation of congressional power. Continuing Clinton’s
Executive Order 12866, Bush exercised his power by rule drafting ( for example NHTSA =
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, when Bush blocked the Congress’ will
concerning the implementation of the cost of the pressure monitoring devices on new cars).
In 2003 several members of the Congress were concerned with the presidential influence
over the agency rule making and asked General Accounting Office (GAO) to examine the rules
adopted by the agencies and it has been discovered that in 25 out of 85 cases OIRA’s influence
was exercised in modifying rules.

The Unilateral Presidency

According to the constitution, the presidents should govern collaboratively. Only
fundamental constitutional objectives would make them use their veto right over the Congress’s
will and hardly would they address the public topics of policy.
Originally, the president’s speech from the ritual of inauguration was not public, but
delivered to the Congress in its own chamber.
Since the turn of the twentieth century, for the presidential campaigns, the candidates have
given up going partisan or going public, and have attempted to go alone in carrying their cases to
the people. This happened because the risk of decline is major, taking into consideration the
exposure.
In 2000, the Republican controlled Congress passed the Congressional Review Act,
meaning that agencies needed to send their proposed regulations for congressional review 60 days
before implementation. The law allows the House and Senate to pass a join resolution of
disapproval.
In Bush’s first weeks, the Congress passed a joint resolution supported in Clinton’s
administration and adopted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Bush
signed the resolution and the voided it, thus making the Congress powerless. Had Clinton still been
president, he could have vetoed the resolution. The main reason Clinton was willing to sign the
Congressional Review Act was because it gave the president the veto right over the Congress’s
decision.
According to the constitution, the president acts and the Congress reacts. However, today’s
situation shows how the president can govern without a Congress.(taking into consideration the

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example of Capitol Hill, where the Congress stopped functioning and the president and his staff
governed the country).

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 Glosary

Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic,

or environmental reform or stasis with the desire to make improvements in society.

Bureaucracy refers to both a body of non-elective government officials and an administrative

policy-making group.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), commonly known as FDR, was
an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United
States from 1933 until his death in 1945.

The Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOPOTUS or EOP) consists of the
immediate staff of the President of the United States and multiple levels of support staff reporting
to the President.

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the President of the United States.

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United
States consisting of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Federalism is the mixed or compound mode of government, combining a general government

with regional governments in a single political system

Executive Orders are presidential directives issued by United States Presidents and are generally
directed towards officers and agencies of the U.S. federal government

In 1921, President Harding established the Bureau of the Budget. The bureau, for the first time,
placed formal restrictions on the spending of government funds. The Bureau of the Budget later
became the Office of Management and Budget.

The four-year United States presidential election cycle is a theory that stock markets are weakest
in the year following the election of a new U.S. president

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The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans
who had fled their homes when Castro took over. The invaders were badly outnumbered by
Castro’s troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting. 114 were killed and
over 1,100 were taken prisoner.
John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States (1961-1963), the youngest man
elected to the office. On November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas,
becoming also the youngest President to die.
Dwight David Eisenhower was an American Army general and statesman who served as
the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
Lyndon Baines served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969, assuming
the office after serving as the 37th Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963.
Watergate - A US political scandal in which an attempt in 1972 to bug the national headquarters
of the Democratic Party (in the Watergate building in Washington DC) led to the resignation of
President Nixon (1974).
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States from 1969 until 1974.
James Earl Carter Jr. (Jimmy Carter) served as the 39th President of the United States from
1977 to 1981.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 1988 = changed the former Veterans
Administration, an independent government agency established in 1930, primarily at that time to
see to needs of World War I, into a Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs. It was signed
into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 25, 1988, but actually came into effect under
the term of his successor, George H. W. Bush, on March 15, 1989.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is
a federal executive department of the U.S. government, responsible for the enforcement of
the law and administration of justice in the United States, equivalent to the justice or interior
ministries of other countries.
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United
States consisting of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives.
A signing statement is a written pronouncement issued by the President of the United
States upon the signing of a bill into law. They are usually printed along with the bill in United
States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN).
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United
States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence. The
NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for
foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes U.S. EPA) is
an agency of the federal government of the United States which was created for the purpose of

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protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws
passed by Congress
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is a United States Government office
established in 1980 within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), an agency in
the Executive Office of the President. The OIRA oversees the implementation of government-
wide policies and reviews draft regulations.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of
the President of the United Stat
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an agency of the Executive
Branch of the U.S. government, part of the Department of Transportation
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) is a federal agency of the United States
Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive
departments.
Congress - The term was chosen for the Continental Congress to emphasize the status of each
colony represented there as a self-governing unit. Subsequent to the use of congress by the U.S.
legislature, the term has been adopted by many states within unions, and by unitary nation-states
in the Americas, to refer to their legislatures.
Constitution - a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state
or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is.
When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those
documents may be said to embody a written constitution; if they are written down in a single
comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. Some constitutions (such
as the constitution of the United Kingdom) are uncodified, but written in numerous fundamental
Acts of a legislature, court cases or treaties
Joint resolution - a legislative measure that requires approval by the Senate and the House and is
presented to the president for his approval or disapproval
President Bill Clinton - William Jefferson Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III; August 19,
1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993
to 2001
President George H. W. Bush - George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) is an
American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993
President Reagan- Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American
politician and actor who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989
Republic is a form of government in which the country is considered a "public matter", not the
private concern or property of the rulers. The primary positions of power within a republic are not
inherited, but are attained through elections expressing the "consent of the governed". Such
leadership positions are therefore expected to fairly represent the citizen body. It is a form of

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government under which the head of state is not a monarch. In American English, the definition
of a republic can also refer specifically to a government in which elected individuals represent the
citizen body, known elsewhere as a representative democracy (a democratic republic) and exercise
power according to the rule of law (a constitutional republic)
Senate - a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature or
parliament. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate, so-called as an assembly of the
senior (Latin: senex meaning "the elder" or "old man") and therefore allegedly wiser and more
experienced members of the society or ruling class. Thus, the literal meaning of the word "senate"
is Assembly of Elders.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) - is a legislative branch government agency that
provides auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the
supreme audit institution of the federal government of the United States
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) - is an agency of the Executive
Branch of the U.S. government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission
as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an agency of the United States
Department of Labor. Congress established the agency under the Occupational Safety and Health
Act, which President Richard M. Nixon signed into law on December 29, 1970. OSHA's mission
is to "assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and
enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance". The agency is
also charged with enforcing a variety of whistleblower statutes and regulations. OSHA is currently
headed by Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor Loren Sweatt. OSHA's workplace safety
inspections have been shown to reduce injury rates and injury costs without adverse effects to
employment, sales, credit ratings, or firm survival.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) - is a United States Government
office established in 1980 within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), an agency in the
Executive Office of the President. The OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide
policies and reviews draft regulations
The U.S. Council on Competitiveness is an American non-profit organization based in
Washington, D.C. The Council’s goal is to increase the United States' economic competitiveness
in the global marketplace. The Council also works to bring high-value economic activity into the
United States
The White House - is the official residence and workplace of the President of the United States.
It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence
of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800

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