Chapter Focus
Section 1 Constitutional Powers
Section 2 Investigations and
Oversight
Section 3 Congress and the
President
Chapter Assessment
Chapter Objectives
•
Constitutional Powers Identify and explain
classifications of powers through which
Congress makes laws for the nation.
•
Investigations and Oversight Discuss
occasions in which Congress has exercised its
power to conduct investigations and practice
legislative oversight.
•
Congress and the President Analyze the
dynamics in the relationship between the
legislative and executive branches of the federal
government.
Constitutional Powers
Key Terms
expressed powers, necessary and proper clause,
implied powers, revenue bill, appropriations bill,
interstate commerce, impeachment
Find Out
• Why are the money powers granted to Congress
by the Founders so important?
• How has the commerce clause enabled
Congress to apply a loose interpretation to
the Constitution?
Constitutional Powers
Understanding Concepts
Constitutional Interpretation On what types of
issues did the Founders restrict congressional
actions with the addition of the Bill of Rights?
Section Objective
Identify and explain classifications of powers
through which Congress makes laws for the nation.
Congress sometimes exercises more than
one of its powers at the same time. In 1993
after several months of heated debate, the
Senate approved the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This treaty with
Canada and Mexico ended trade barriers
between those nations and the United
States. In approving NAFTA, the Senate
was carrying out its treaty power in foreign
affairs as well as its power to regulate
foreign commerce.
I. Constitutional Provisions (pages 157–158)
A. The “necessary and proper” clause of the
Constitution enables Congress to expand
its power.
B. Conflicting interpretations of the elastic
clause are reflected in Supreme Court
rulings on the power of Congress.
C. The powers of Congress are limited by the
Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
I. Constitutional Provisions (pages 157–158)
Do you agree with those who believe in a
strict construction of the Constitution or
with those who support a loose
construction? Explain.
Answers will vary. Students should
demonstrate an understanding of strict and
loose construction.
II. Legislative Powers (pages 158–163)
A. The power to levy taxes and appropriate
money is one of Congress’s most
important powers.
B. Congress has the power to borrow money, to
coin money, and to make laws regarding
bankruptcy.
C. Congress has the power to regulate foreign
and interstate commerce.
II. Legislative Powers (pages 158–163)
D. Congress has important powers in foreign
policy and national defense, such as the
power to approve treaties, to declare war, and
to create and maintain an army and
a navy.
E. Congress has power over naturalization of
citizens and the admission of new states to
the Union.
F. Congress has the power to grant copyrights
and patents and the power to establish
federal courts and a post office.
II. Legislative Powers (pages 158–163)
II. Legislative Powers (pages 158–163)
Explain how Congress has used its taxing
and spending power to expand its authority.
Taxing and spending powers are used to
expand regulatory authority; regulatory
powers help control the economy.
III. Nonlegislative Powers (pages 163–165)
A. If no presidential candidate has a majority of
the electoral votes, the House of
Representatives chooses the president from
the top three candidates; if no vice
presidential candidate has an electoral vote
majority, the Senate chooses the vice
president from the top two candidates.
B. Congress has the power to settle problems
arising from the death of candidates or the
president’s incapacity or resignation.
C. Congress has the power to remove officials
of the executive or judicial branches from
office by the process of impeachment.
III. Nonlegislative Powers (pages 163–165)
D. The Senate has the power to approve
officials appointed by the president.
E. The Senate ratifies treaties between the
United States and other nations.
F. Congress shares with state legislatures the
power to propose and ratify constitutional
amendments.
III. Nonlegislative Powers (pages 163–165)
Do you think Congress might sometimes
abuse its power to impeach high officials?
Explain.
Answers will vary. Congress has only rarely
used this power.
Checking for Understanding
1. Main Idea In a chart like the one below, list two
or more examples of powers the Constitution
expresses, implies, and denies to Congress.
Examples might include: Expressed: levying
taxes; declaring war; regulating commerce;
coining money; granting copyrights and patents.
Implied: supporting public schools; maintaining
the Federal Reserve Board; drafting people into
the armed services; limiting immigration. Denied:
suspending writ of habeas corpus; passing bills
of attainder; passing ex post facto laws.
Checking for Understanding
Match the term with the correct definition.
___
F revenue bill
___
C impeachment
___
A appropriation bill
A. a proposed law to
authorize spending money
B. powers directly stated in
the Constitution
formal accusation of
___
E interstate commerce C. amisconduct
in office
against a public official
___
B expressed powers
___
D implied powers
D. powers the government
requires to carry out the
expressed constitutional
powers
E. trade among the states
F. a law proposed to raise
money
Checking for Understanding
3. Identify Twentieth Amendment, Twenty-fifth
Amendment.
The Twentieth and Twenty-Fifth Amendment
give Congress the power to settle problems
arising from the death of elected candidates and
from presidential incapacity or resignation.
Checking for Understanding
4. State the foreign policy powers of Congress.
The foreign policy powers of Congress include
the power to approve treaties, to declare war, to
create and maintain an army and navy, to make
rules governing land and naval forces, and to
regulate foreign commerce.
Checking for Understanding
5. Describe the process by which Congress may
remove a member of the executive or judicial
branch from office.
By majority vote the House impeaches, or
charges an official with wrongdoing. The Senate
can convict by a two-thirds majority.
Critical Thinking
6. Drawing Conclusions Do you think Gibbons v.
Ogden provided a basis for the Supreme
Court’s position in Heart of Atlanta Motel v.
United States that a hotel is a part of interstate
commerce? Explain.
Possible answer: Yes; when the Court decided
that people were interstate commerce in the
Gibbons case, it established a basis for ruling
that a hotel serving interstate travelers was
engaging in interstate commerce.
Constitutional Interpretations Research
legislation that Congress passed in a recent
session. Identify any bills you believe were
based on the power to regulate interstate
commerce. Draw a political cartoon
supporting or criticizing the legislation.
Investigations and Oversight
Key Terms
subpoena, perjury, contempt, immunity,
legislative veto
Find Out
• In what ways are a witness’s rights in a
congressional investigation similar to and
different from a witness’s rights in a court?
• By what methods does Congress exercise its
power of legislative oversight?
Investigations and Oversight
Understanding Concepts
Checks and Balances How does the power of
Congress to oversee the carrying out of laws serve
as a check on the executive branch?
Section Objective
Discuss times when Congress used its power
to conduct investigations and practice
legislative oversight.
Both houses of Congress sometimes
investigate the same thing at the same time.
The Senate Governmental Affairs
Committee held hearings for several months
in 1997 to investigate President Clinton’s
campaign finances in the 1996 election. At
the same time, the House Government
Oversight Committee conducted its own
investigation into fund-raising by the
president and the Democratic National
Committee in that same election.
I. The Power to Investigate (pages 167–169)
A. Standing committees or select committees
of Congress investigate the conduct and
ethics of government officials and members
of Congress.
B. Investigations have a variety of
consequences that range from proposing new
legislation to removing officials from office.
C. Congressional investigations collect
evidence, subpoena witnesses, and grant
witnesses immunity, but they are not trials.
I. The Power to Investigate (pages 167–169)
The Fifth Amendment protects individuals
from being forced to testify against
themselves. Yet Congress may grant
witnesses immunity, in order to obtain
testimony. Do you agree or disagree with this
practice by Congress? Explain.
Answers will vary. For discussion of this
issue see text pages 168–169.
II. Legislative Oversight (pages 169–171)
A. Congress uses the power of legislative
oversight to weigh how well the executive
branch carries out the laws enacted
by Congress.
B. The Legislative Reorganization Acts of 1946
and 1970 require Congress to review and
study, on a continuing basis, how the laws
under its responsibility are administered,
applied, and executed.
C. Realistically, however, Congress cannot
effectively monitor every action of the
executive branch; it does not have enough
staff, time, or money to do so.
II. Legislative Oversight (pages 169–171)
D. Congress uses its legislative oversight to
require executive agencies to submit reports
on their activities, to review those agencies’
budgets, and to direct the GAO and
Congress’s other support agencies to
monitor the executive agencies’ finances.
E. When Congress suspects wrongdoing,
special investigations or even the threat of
such investigations act as a strong deterrent
to defying the intent of Congress.
II. Legislative Oversight (pages 169–171)
Why do you think Congress carries out its
legislative oversight in an inconsistent way?
Lack of time and resources, low priority,
vague laws, and cooperation with federal
agencies. See text page 170.
Checking for Understanding
1. Main Idea Using a graphic organizer like the
one shown, identify the steps Congress can
take if a witness at a congressional
investigation cites Fifth Amendment protection
and refuses to testify.
1. Grant the witness immunity from prosecution.
2. Hold the witness in contempt.
Checking for Understanding
Match the term with the correct definition.
___
B subpoena
A. lying under oath
___
A perjury
B. a legal order that a person
appear or produce requested
documents
___
E contempt
___
D immunity
___
C legislative veto
C. the provisions Congress
wrote into some laws that
allowed it to review and
cancel actions of executive
agencies
D. freedom from prosecution
for witnesses whose
testimony ties them to illegal
acts
E. willful obstruction of justice
Checking for Understanding
3. Identify Watkins v. United States, GAO.
In Watkins v. United States, the Supreme Court
ruled that Congress must respect witnesses’
constitutional rights just as a court does.
The General Accounting Office, or GAO, is the
congressional support agency which monitors
the finances of federal agencies to make sure
public money has been spent appropriately
and legally.
Checking for Understanding
4. Identify three congressional investigations that
focused on the executive branch.
Any three: House and McCarthy investigations
of Communists in government, Senate
investigation of Democratic fund-raising,
Watergate investigation, Iran-Contra Affair
investigation.
Critical Thinking
5. Synthesizing Information How does the use
of a subpoena assist legislators in the
committee hearing process?
A subpoena helps ensure that needed
witnesses or evidence will be available during
investigations.
Checks and Balances Suppose you
are a reporter assigned to cover a recent
congressional investigation. Prepare a
news broadcast to present to the class
in which you analyze the purpose of the
investigation and its findings. You might
want to include interviews as well.
Congress and the President
Key Terms
national budget, impoundment
Find Out
• How have the characteristics of the American
system led to competition and conflict between
Congress and the president?
• Why has power shifted back and forth between
the president and Congress over the years?
Congress and the President
Understanding Concepts
Checks and Balances Why do some people state
that deadlock and inaction are built-in features of
American government?
Section Objective
Analyze the dynamics in the relationship between
the legislative and executive branches of the
federal government.
The Watergate scandal in 1973 marked the
end of a long, bitter struggle between
Congress and the president. By then,
relations between a Republican president and
a Democratic-controlled Congress were
seriously strained. President Nixon had
refused to spend funds appropriated by
Congress to carry out its programs. But when
Congress passed bills to end this practice,
Nixon vetoed them. Angry members of
Congress charged that Nixon had established
an “imperial presidency.”
I. Cooperation and Conflict (pages 172–174)
A. The members of Congress represent local,
more narrow interests than the president,
and therefore their ideas often differ from
the president’s.
B. The Constitution’s system of checks and
balances may cause conflicts between the
legislative and the executive branches.
C. Partisan differences can affect relations
between Congress and the president.
I. Cooperation and Conflict (pages 172–174)
D. The organization of Congress and its
procedures may cause conflicts with
the president.
E. Members of Congress often serve in
government longer than any president and
may resist the president’s timetable for
enacting laws.
I. Cooperation and Conflict (pages 172–174)
What do you think might be done to help end
the “gridlock” that sometimes occurs
between Congress and the president?
Answers will vary. See discussion of gridlock
on text page173.
II. The Struggle for Power (pages 174–176)
A. Throughout the nation’s history, the balance
of power has shifted back and forth between
Congress and the president.
B. Congress can limit or end the emergency
powers it has granted the president.
C. Congress has reduced the president’s power
in planning the budget and spending money
that Congress has appropriated.
II. The Struggle for Power (pages 174–176)
D. The Congressional Budget and
Impoundment Control Act of 1974
established permanent budget committees
for each house, created the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO), and limited the
president’s ability to impound funds.
E. The Congressional Budget Office provides
financial experts to help Congress increase
its role in planning the budget.
F. Congress no longer uses the legislative veto
but still seeks to ensure that the president
carries out its intent in executing laws.
II. The Struggle for Power (pages 174–176)
G. In 1996 Congress
authorized the line-item
veto for the president to
veto specific spending
items in appropriation
bills. In 1998 the
Supreme Court declared
the line-item veto to be
unconstitutional.
II. The Struggle for Power (pages 174–176)
Why did Congress finally act in 1976 to end
the emergency powers it had granted the
president in 1935?
Congress demonstrated its desire to increase its
power relative to the executive branch.
Checking for Understanding
1. Main Idea Using a graphic organizer like the
one below, identify three ways in which
Congress has gained and lost power.
Gained: federal budget; legislative veto; limits
on emergency powers of the president.
Lost: emergency powers to close banks;
control wages and prices; rationing of
consumer goods.
Checking for Understanding
2. Define national budget, impoundment.
The national budget is the yearly financial
plan for the national government.
Impoundment refers to the president’s
refusal to spend money Congress has voted
to fund a program.
Checking for Understanding
3. Identify Congressional Budget Office.
The Congressional Budget Office, or CBO,
provides financial experts to help Congress in
its role of planning the budget.
Checking for Understanding
4. Why do the different constituencies of the
president and Congress cause conflict between
the executive and legislative branches?
Congress speaks for a narrower group of
people than does the president. A program in
the national interest may hurt the people of a
state or congressional district.
Checking for Understanding
5. How does the political party system contribute to
conflict between the president and Congress?
When different parties control Congress and the
White House, party politics adds to congressional
opposition to the president’s proposals.
Critical Thinking
6. Synthesizing Information One analyst
described the constitutional system between
Congress and the president as “an invitation to
struggle.” Is this description accurate? Explain.
Because the Constitution requires that
Congress share powers with the executive
branch, and because Congress has developed
the power to oversee the executive branch, the
relationship is marked by conflict.
Checks and Balances One struggle for
power that exists between the president
and Congress is the president’s right to
send armed forces overseas. When has
the president committed military forces
overseas without a declaration of war?
Create a time line indicating the year and
the reason for these military involvements.
Reviewing Key Terms
Match each of the descriptions below with the term it describes. Not
every item will have a description.
a. appropriations bill
b. impoundment
c. immunity
d. implied powers
e. legislative veto
f. subpoena
____
d 1. Powers not
specified in the
Constitution
____
a 2. Grants money to
carry out programs
____
f
3. Compels a witness
to appear
____
b 4. Refusing to spend
funds
____
c 5. Freedom from
prosecution
Recalling Facts
1. How are expressed powers and implied
powers related?
Implied powers are necessary to carry out
expressed powers.
2. Why has the power to regulate interstate
commerce become such an important power
of Congress?
The definition of interstate commerce has
expanded to give Congress authority over
virtually everything that crosses state lines.
Recalling Facts
3. List five nonlegislative powers of Congress.
Congress chooses the president and vice
president if no candidate has a majority in the
Electoral College; charges federal officials
suspected of misconduct in office and removes
them if guilty; and proposes amendments to the
Constitution. Furthermore, the Senate confirms
presidential appointments of federal officials
and ratifies treaties.
Recalling Facts
4. What are three methods that Congress uses to
oversee the executive branch?
Congress requires executive agencies to report
on their activities, asks the congressional
support agencies to study an agency’s work,
and reviews each agency’s budget.
5. Identify three powers that Congress and the
president share.
The Congress and president share the power to
pay expenses, appoint federal officials, and
make treaties.
Recalling Facts
6. What are the main causes of conflict between
the president and Congress?
Causes include different constituencies, the
system of checks and balances, congressional
organization, party politics, and differing political
timetables.
7. On what grounds did the Supreme Court
declare the legislative veto unconstitutional?
The Supreme Court claimed it is an
unconstitutional violation of the separation of
powers principle. Presidents have called it a
challenge to their authority.
Understanding Concepts
1. Constitutional Interpretations Explain how
the Constitution’s commerce clause has helped
African Americans obtain equal rights.
Congress has used this power to outlaw racial
discrimination by businesses that are in any
way part of interstate commerce. This use of the
commerce clause has ranged from serving
travelers who cross state lines to businesses
that get supplies of products from other states. It
also enables Congress to regulate working
conditions across the nation.
Understanding Concepts
2. Checks and Balances What arguments
might be made to support a legislative veto
power for Congress?
Answers will vary but should focus on the right
of Congress to make sure that the intents of the
laws it passes are carried out.
Critical Thinking
1. Making Generalizations On what basis
might the writers of the Constitution have
decided which powers should go only to
Congress and which powers Congress should
share with the president?
Possible answer: They might have divided
powers they thought were basic to the process
of government and would influence the exercise
of other powers.
Critical Thinking
2. Understanding Cause and Effect In a
graphic organizer like the one below, indicate
how the power struggle between the president
and Congress strengthens or weakens the
government.
Graphic organizers will vary, but those indicating
a stronger government may note a distribution
of power. Those indicating a weaker
government may note deadlock and inaction.
Interpreting Political Cartoons Activity
1. What is happening in this cartoon?
Three speakers are evaluating a glass with
liquid in it. The optimist and pessimist describe it
as “half full” and “half empty,” respectively, but
the administration spokesperson describes it as
both—and finds a way to promote the president
at the same time.
Interpreting Political Cartoons Activity
2. Which side does the administration
spokesperson support? Explain.
The administration spokesperson supports the
president, as shown in his linking the president
with the “half full” view and speaking of the
president’s “tireless efforts.”
Interpreting Political Cartoons Activity
3. Is the administration spokesperson an objective
judge? What biases might he have?
Students probably will suggest that the
administration spokesperson cannot be objective,
for he is employed to support the president. He
probably has biases that favor executive policies
and treat other points of view as obstacles or
even enemies.
If Congress never issued a declaration of
war, how did the United States wind up
sending troops to fight in Vietnam?
When North Vietnamese patrol boats
allegedly attacked American destroyers in
the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964,
Congress passed a resolution that gave
President Lyndon Johnson power to “take
all necessary measures” to protect
American forces. By the following spring,
Johnson was sending American soldiers to
Vietnam in ever-increasing numbers.
1) $50; $100
2) to help finance
government operations
3)
safety, ease,
tax advantages,
patriotism
1) as the most
important
2) use of government supplies,
equipment, and time
3) to collect information about
the alleged illegal fundraising
activities of the DNC
2) Possible fear of a pocket veto
1) The House voted to
override one veto,
but the bill stalled in
the Senate.
3) One possibility is by
making vetoed bills part of
other bills, which later
become law
Power Publishing Check recent news coverage
about the powers of Congress—the power to tax
and spend, to regulate interstate and foreign
commerce, to approve presidential appointments,
to conduct investigations, to practice legislative
oversight, and so on. As you read the chapter,
summarize what each set of powers involves. Then
find newspaper and newsmagazine articles that
deal with congressional actions. Summarize the
articles and indicate which type of power Congress
exercised in each case. Review the articles and
summaries and post them on a bulletin board under
appropriate headings.
The most bitter battle on treaty ratification in
American history took place in 1919 when, despite
the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, the
Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles to
end World War I.
Patent “Open and available to anyone’s study” is
the meaning of the common adjective patent. Its
legal use comes from the fact that the legal papers
giving someone the right to make and sell a new
invention for a set number of years once were
written on open sheets of parchment (called letters
patent), with the authorizing seal at the bottom.
Bill, Please!
The bill a president signs is not just any piece of paper.
The finalized bill, called “An Act of Congress,” is
reprinted for presentation to the president. In the past,
the paper was thick parchment. Today, it is made of
heavy, high-quality paper with gold writing and
bordered by a thick navy ribbon. The bill sits in an
impressive navy blue box, ready for signing.
The Legislative Veto Review what is said at the end
of Section 2 and in this section about the term
legislative veto and the way in which Congress used
that power before it was declared unconstitutional in
1983. Then informally debate this question: Does the
legislative veto violate the principle of separation of
powers, or is it an important part of the system of
checks and balances?
Local Courts You probably will never be involved
in a congressional investigation, but you should
know about aspects of such investigations that
might apply in court cases on the local level.
Research witness rights, in particular, finding out
how a court in your community would go about
issuing a subpoena or granting immunity, what the
penalty for perjury might be, and so on.
Economics The colonies had laws against
counterfeiters even before the Constitution provided
for the power to print money. Offenders could be
sentenced to death. Engraver James Mar, facing
execution by hanging for counterfeiting, was granted
clemency after the women of the surrounding
community presented the governor with a petition.
Robin Deykes
Organizations such as the International Deaf Pilots
Association joined Deykes in pressuring the FAA to
rethink its proposal regarding English fluency. The
FAA’s report reaffirmed the need for “a basic command
of the English language,” but it added a provision,
enacted in August 1997, “to permit individuals who
have a command of the English language, but who may
not be able to meet the proposed requirements due to
a medical condition, to have limitations placed on their
pilot certificates that would continue to permit them to
exercise the privileges of their certificate.”
Activity: Analyze the potential political changes that
could result from this rule’s challenge.
More About Minimum Wage Laws The first
minimum wage laws in the United States were
made by state governments and applied only to
women and minors. In 1923 the Supreme Court
declared such laws unconstitutional. The Court also
invalidated the federal government’s first attempt to
establish minimum wage scales for men and
women in 1933. Not until 1938, with the enactment
of the Fair Labor Standards Act, was a national
minimum wage fixed—25¢ per hour for workers in
interstate commerce. As the text points out, even
today there are many exceptions to the minimum
wage standards.
Jeannette Rankin
Jeannette Rankin (R-Montana), the first woman
elected to Congress, was a pacifist who once
commented, “You can no more win a war than you
can win an earthquake.” She voted against the
United States’s entry into World War I and was the
only member of Congress to vote against the
United States’s entry into World War II.
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