Although different in nature, congress and the President of the United States both hold positions of upmost power and unequivocally important decision-making for the American people. However, the argument always stands: who has more power? The power problem as it stands “...is the need to grant government enough power to effectively address the problems that people expect government to solve, while also limiting power so that it can be held accountable” (Katznelson, Kesselman, Draper, p.42). Far from perfect, the political system in place attempts to grant both Congress and The President exclusive and shared responsibilities to provide an equal spread of power. Upon founding of the United States government, not all three branches were to share the same amount of power.
The principle organ of the US state is to legislate, represent and scrutinise the other, safely separated, branches of the government. First of the three elements in which Congress’s primary role plays is in legislation. The very first article of the Constitution lays out how this is done. Bills initiated by both the President and members of Congress are almost certain to be substantially modified as they go through the legislative process, making it very difficult for the President or any political faction to force through their policy agenda. Congress has been somewhat effective in passing laws such as the PATRIOTIC Act under Bush and the Healthcare Reform Act under Obama both show’s that Congress can legislate when it needs be, especially with a majority in both houses.
But people still need to recognise we have an institutional responsibility to do oversight on the President” Garry Bass, Congress. This quote supports my view on the Congress being a watchdog. If the Congress is a lapdog, the President can have a free ride on running the country how he wishes and not represent the people’s view. However that is not the case as the President cannot do everything which pleases him. However, looking at the statistics such as Bill Clintons presidency, in the first 2 years which was a united government, Congress exercised limited oversight, and when needed to, asked softball questions, however , when Republicans took over Congress, things got much harder as they seek to hold the President to account, and after a while, impeach.
Erik Hansen The judicial branch... the ones who really sit on top In the United States we are supposed to have a government with three equal branches to it that share the same amount of power to be used to keep each other in balance. It is hard to tell if that is actually the case though. Most would think that the president, since they are always in public eye, holds the most power. Congress has is also often in the public eye, with cspan, and elections, but the Supreme Court judges are simply appointed to a life long position unless they do something outrages. There would need to be a lot of checks in order to balance this major power supply.
These agencies have strong connections with Congress as it is Congress that authorizes their existence and finds the funds to finance them. Congressional committees must also oversee their operation. This acts as check on presidential power and a president who fails to influence his office with his goals will realize surely this. Therefore, the president has come to rely more on the specialized staff that work for him in the
In order to limit the power of congress it is divided into an upper and lower house. As we see presently in our congress the Democrats control the Senate and the Republicans the house. This has two implications I’d like to point out, one negative and one positive. The negative being that it contributes to gridlock in Washington where not so much as a budget is able to be compromised on and passed. However, the positive side, neither party has a majority and are able to impose their will through legislation upon the
Signing statements by the president have received very little media coverage. They are extremely important because they define how the president interprets laws he signs. Bush uses these statements to gain more power and control by signing bills into law and altering them as he sees fit. According to “The Legal Significance of Presidential Signing Statements,” authored by Assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger, on November 3, 1993 since American President James Madison signing statements have been utilized in two different ways. The president would use the signing statement “ to explain to the public, and more particularly to interested constituencies, what the President understands to be the likely effects of the bill, and how it coheres or fails to cohere with the Administration’s views or
The electors from the states would than elect the country’s president from the leading citizens. In addition, the framers saw the president as the symbol of the whole nation. They did not see him as a decision maker. Although the president had some powers and roles, Congress was in charge of policymaking
Is Congress Fit for Purpose? Introduction As the top legislative branch in America, Congress is composed of two parts: the Senate, together with the House of Representatives, which is performing an essentially important role in the law making, so as to enhance the sound functioning of US government. The Congress of United States has totally 535 voters, being divided into 435 Representatives and 100 Senators, and all of the Representatives and Senators are coming from each state of United States. So, under that circumstance, the Congress, actually, exercise legislative power while representing the will of the people of America. When it comes the question that, whether Congress is fit for its purpose or not, the key point we should figure out is, what the limitation as well as role-fulfillment of the Congress is, thus to analyze and judge the
In our government, a system of separation of powers and checks and balances are used to maintain order among the three different branches of government. The purposes and responsibilities of the legislative and executive branches are laid out in Article I and II of the United States Constitution, respectively. To balance state's rights and the rights of all of the nation's citizens, the framers of the Constitution came up with the concept of an executive branch that represents the interests of the nation and a legislative branch that represents the interests of the states. The third branch of government, the judicial branch, is responsible for balancing these conflicting interests. The Judicial Branch, has power that is, arguably, unregulated; power to overturn decisions by both the Executive and Legislative Branches.