Group Member Names (Max 3):
American Government
Mr. Bekemeyer
Presidents and the Legislature
Instructions: Choose a recorder for the group. Use this answer document to respond to the questions. Read
and watch “Presidents and the Legislature” as a team and discuss the questions together before your recorder
responds. You only need to turn-in one document per group, however for examination purposes, each group
member may want an individual copy.
In this unit, you will learn about the U.S. Presidency. In particular, you will explore the several roles
assumed by the modern U.S. President, including the role of legislator, chief executive, commander-in-chief
of the military, and chief diplomat. This online activity will focus on the powers wielded by the President in
the legislative process.
How does the President of the United States influence the legislative process? What are the sources -- and
limits -- of the President's legislative powers?
In this activity, you will explore two of the major sources of the president's legislative power:
(1) the president's role in setting the legislative agenda (that is, informally proposing bills to Congress) and
(2) the president's power to veto or sign bills into law.
Step 1 - Setting the Legislative Agenda
Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution states: "[The President] shall from time to time give to the
Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he
shall judge necessary and expedient." This has been interpreted to mean that the President is expected to help
set Congress' legislative agenda -- that is, to propose bills for Congress' consideration (though not to formally
introduce bills to Congress; only congresspersons can do that). The yearly State of the Union address is one
opportunity for the President to attempt to set the legislative agenda.
The State of the Union Address
1.
What are the measures proposed by Obama for Congress to consider?
2.
How does Obama attempt to persuade Congress of the importance of passing his proposals?
3.
What does Johnson say to try and persuade Congress to enact the voting rights legislation?
4.
5.
Why do you think that Johnson and Democratic leaders insisted that the speech be televised nationwide?
Describe the events.
6.
In what ways are these events designed to enhance support for the plan?
7.
Where is Obama? Who is in the audience?
8.
How does Obama's message fit with the setting and the audience of the speech?
9.
In what way is the event designed to generate support for Obama's proposal?
10.
Compare and contrast the practice of "going public" with the special interest strategy of indirect
lobbying.
11.
Examine the "Public Appearances by President" graph. Thinking about the changing nature of our
news media, what do you think accounts for the increase in presidential public appearances over
time?
12.
Read this article from the Onion humor site. How does this article poke fun at the practice of "going
public"?
Step 2 - The Presentment Clause: Signing or Vetoing Bills
Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution is known as the presentment clause: "Every Bill which shall have
passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the
President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it." Thanks to the
President's power as gatekeeper in the legislative process (no bill becomes law without his or her approval -or a two-thirds vote of Congress to override his or her veto, a very difficult threshold to meet), congressional
leaders must negotiate with him or her in order to achieve their legislative goals.
The Budget Process
Some of the most important pieces of legislation that require the President's signature are the bills that
authorize federal taxing and spending. Often these bills are subject to intense negotiations between the
President and the party leaders in Congress.
13.
14.
Read this description of the formal federal budget process.
(a)
Describe the role of congressional committees in the budget process.
(b)
What is the difference between the budget resolution enacted at the beginning of the process
and the final appropriations bills?
(c)
Describe the president's role in the formal budget process.
Read this description of the budget process as it actually tends to look.
(a)
Define continual budget resolutions.
(b)
Under what circumstances does Congress pass continuing budget resolutions?
(c)
How might partisan polarization in Congress lead to greater reliance on continuing budget
resolutions?
The Presidential Veto
15.
What is a typical president's veto "success rate" -- the percentage of their vetoes that are NOT
overridden by Congress?
16.
Why do you think that, historically, so few presidential vetoes are overridden by Congress?
17.
Often, the mere threat of a veto by the President is enough to get the Congress to alter a bill. Based on
the information above, why do you think that is?
18.
Why do you think the number of vetoes issued by President George W. Bush increase in 2007?
19.
Why do you think Obama has vetoed so few bills?
Step 3 - The Limits of the President's Legislative Powers
The President spends a great deal of his or her time negotiating legislation with Congress -- with varying
success. A number of factors contribute to a president's ability to influence legislation. Two such factors are
(a) the president's approval ratings and (b) the party balance in Congress.
20.
A more popular president will have greater power to sway public opinion to put pressure on
Congress, while a less popular president will have difficulty doing the same. Why do you think that
is?
21.
Access the Wall Street Journal's "How the Presidents Stack Up" feature. These are the approval
ratings for every president since Truman. Click on the arrows on the bottom right hand-side of the
graph to see every president's ratings in detail.
22.
(a)
What general trends do you notice in individual presidential approval ratings in the last sixty
years or so?
(b)
What do you think causes this (mostly predictable) trend?
Examine the "Percentage of Public Expressing Approval of President's Performance" graph.
(a)
Generally, what is the difference between the first-year average and the overall average
during each presidency?
(b)
Why do you think the first year or so is called the "honeymoon" period?
(c)
Why do you think the honeymoon period usually comes to an end?
(d)
The typical trajectory of a president's approval ratings from the start to the end of his or her
term is known as the cycle effect. Why do you think that is?
23.
Economic conditions have ample impact on presidential approval ratings. The University of
Michigan Consumer Sentiment graph traces changing feelings about the economy held by the
American public in the last thirty years (higher consumer sentiment is indicative of good economic
conditions). Do the trends in the graph help explain any of the presidents' approval ratings in the
"How the Presidents Stack Up" graphs? For instance, how does it relate to the approval ratings of
George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton?
24.
Examine this interactive graph from British newspaper The Guardian, which takes a closer look at
President George W. Bush's approval ratings.
(a)
Roll over the circles in the middle to the end of 2001. The increase in President Bush's
popularity is typical following an event like 9/11 and is known as the rally effect. How might
you define the rally effect?
(b)
Why is there another, less dramatic increase at the beginning of 2003? How might that also be
attributed to the rally effect?
(c)
Examine the first, second, and seventh circle in the year 2004. Why was Bush's approval
rating falling at this point? Why might this be described as a waning rally effect (hint: you
might have to look up the word "waning")?
(d)
Examine the fifth, sixth and seventh circles in 2005. Why was Bush's approval rating
continuing to fall?
(e)
What general conclusions can you draw about conditions -- aside from the economy -- that
impact presidential approval ratings?
25.
In 2005, President George W. Bush and the Republican Party in Congress proposed a plan to alter the
Social Security program. At the beginning of that year, President Bush embarked on a 60-day tour of
the country (watch a news report about it here) to promote the plan in the hopes that greater support
among the public would lead to increased support for the bill in Congress, especially among
Democrats. The president's use of the bully pulpit was unsuccessful, and the bill did not pass. Based
on what you learned in this section, what do you think led to the failure of Bush's proposals?
26.
Examine the results of the Gallup survey organization's presidential approval ratings and economic
outlook surveys.
27.
(a)
Do you see evidence of a honeymoon period? The cycle effect? Approval ratings that are
impacted by economic conditions?
(b)
A first-term president's campaign for a second term usually leads to a campaign effect in
approval ratings. Describe the trend in Obama's approval ratings from the summer of 2012 to
today. How might you define the campaign effect? What do you think is the reason behind the
campaign effect?
During the last year or two of his or her second term, a president is known as a lame duck. A lame
duck president has a difficult time getting Congress to act on his or her legislative agenda. Why do
you think that is?
Party Balance in Congress
The President's ability to influence Congress is impacted by the party in power in one or both chambers of
the legislative branch. When the President and the majority of both houses of Congress belong to the same
party, we are said to have unified government. When the majority party of one or both houses of Congress
differs from that of the party of the President, we are said to have divided government.
28.
Examine "Presidential Success in Congress Under Unified and Divided Government." What patterns
do you notice in general? What do you think accounts for this pattern?
29.
In times of unified government, the president is often known as the "coordinator-in-chief," while in
times of divided government, he or she is referred to as the "bargainer-in-chief." Why do you think
this is?