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 pension
 Lifetime secret service
 Lifetime health care plan
Succession
If a president dies, resigns, is disabled, or is removed from
office, the Vice president assumes the office. This has occurred
nine times
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)
Backup qbs1.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 branches of government
7 Articles
Article I Leg.
Article II Ex.
Article III Jud.
Art. I
Art. II
Art. III
Describes Leg. branch
Congressal powers
3150 words
Describes ex. branch
Ex. power
1820 words
Describes jud. branch
Jud. powers
1000 words
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 Description
Besides 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 Services
Veterans Affairs
State
The Department of Homeland
Security
Housing and Urban
Development
Interior.
Justice,
The Department of Labor
The Department of
Transportation.
Treasury.
Bureaucracy
When 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 Presidentcontrolled 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 budget
The 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 billion
Housing and Urban Development – 42 billion
Interior – 12 billion
Justice – 24 billion
The Department of Labor – 13 billion
The Department of Transportation – 51 billion
Treasury – 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.