Guy Zuv's US Foreign Policy

Based on the way that the President’s office was created, the makeup of the Congress can present a challenge or an

Another very notable role of the President also outlined in Article II. Section 2. of the Constitution and reads, “He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court(http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html). It essentially gives the President power to make treaties with foreign nations however, two-thirds of Congress must be in agreement with the decision. Although the President, or the Executive Branch can be interpreted as the most authoritative arm of government, its powers are still limited and restricted by the process of checks and balances. Each branch of government has some governance over the other two divisions. For instance, just as it is outlined above, the President can nominate Ambassadors and Judges of the Supreme Court but the decision must be upheld by Congress. In other words, under the "Advice and Consent clause the appointed member must be sworn in by the Senate. Again, this is an example of how the system of checks and balances limits the powers of the President.

That’s right congress seems to have a grudge of sorts on the executive branch. This could be from a number of things, it could be that they see the president as some annoying co-worker that just deleted their last months project, every time the president vetos. We all know this must be frusterating be cause im sure we have all been in their place. And if congress breathing down his neck wasnt bad enough, one of the only checks that the executive branch has can be overridden. That means that the thing that is supposed to stope legislation from passing can be passed. Which isn’t tha tbad of a thing because if congress passes legislation which means there is aleady a majority. So when one man says no and then even more men say yes i think we can all see where the real preoblem

The main breaking point between the President and Congress was in the Vietnam war. This war sparked a debate on who has the right to declare war, and who has the right to only send advisory troops. Only Congress has the right to declare war, the President can only send advisory troops to other countries. This is a very controversial topic because many people think that the President can declare war, but they have to ask the Congress first. Another convincing reason on why Congress is more powerful that the President is the fact that Congress can make laws and the President has no say. Laws are the outline of America, and they are the only thing keeping crime from all streets in all states across America. Those are only two reasons why Congress is more important to America than the President. All of these powers are stated in Article 1 of the Constitution and the powers of the President are listed in Article 2 of the Constitution. Some people still disagree, though, they think that the President has more rights than

The relationship between the president and Congress has changed drastically in the past two hundred years. The framers of the constitution did not want an executive power in charge of the whole country in fear of it turning into a monarchy. They knew they needed a leader for America though. The framers did not want political parties. “Political parties established after Washington left the presidency” (Mandate). The relationship between Congress and the president changed in a very visible way. In the past, the president would meet to discuss issues with Congress, but that is not how it is today. Also the president would have to go through congress to pass a bill or an amendment, but presidents found a way around going through congress. The president can sign a bill without congress’s approval. For example, president Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln wanted to pass an amendment that would end slavery but Congress said no. Lincoln then did what the people wanted and signed the emancipation proclamation anyways to end slavery. Also known as the thirteenth amendment. Some presidents even put the people in power.

Congressional authorization is the ability to empower and allocate funds, which supports Congress with an effective tool for omission and authority of intelligence activities. Congress is expected to have more power than the President and the Supreme Court. Its powers are also known to be Constitutional as well as evolutionary (ushistory). After the Senate as well as the House of Representatives approves a bill or proposed law, it then becomes an actual law. These two houses also share other powers, that involve coin money, the power to declare war, establishing rules of naturalization as well as immigration, raise an army and a navy, regulate commerce, and set up the federal courts along with their jurisdictions (ushistory). Although Presidents can have authority to act without Congressional authorization when necessary for the nations security, it would be better if they did seek Congressional authorization before acting or making any important decision regarding the nations security, in order to preserve Constitutional checks and balances, as well as make the right decisions and protect the President politically.

American politics is often defined by a continuing power conflict between the executive and the legislative branches of the government. This struggle for political power between the two stronger branches of the three is inherent in the Constitution, itself. The concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances ensure that the branches of government will remain in conflict and provide a balance that keeps the entire government under control. As it was first established, the executive branch was much smaller and weaker than as we know it today. Consequently, the legislative branch was unquestionably dominant. Over the course of history, the executive branch grew in both size and power to the point where it occasionally overtook the

If we go back in time Congress was doing good job. According to the book “The Broken Branch How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track” By Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, earlys of 1820s, House and Senate were working together to process legislation. Most of 19th century, the Congress dominated policymaking maintain their privilege. I believe it in the late of 1950s the Congress was being controlled by independent people. By then there were not

Especially with a divided government, and even without, the president is challenged to gain the support of Congress (Heffernan, 2005:59). While the President is responsible for carrying out the law and can even issue executive orders ultimately Congress hold the purse strings. Without the budgetary support of Congress the President’s agenda will not be fulfilled. Treaties and all appointments from cabinet officials to Supreme Court justices have to be approved by Congress, specifically the Senate. “As a result, the White House is engaged in a constant process of persuasion” (Heffernan,

The president is the foreign policy leader for the United States with an important political, military and economic role in the international arena. If there is collision between the president and congress, can congress restrain the president in foreign policy making?

War is a horrible evil that is unfortunately sometimes necessary. Nobody likes war especially the American public. But who is really to blame? Is the president who entered our country in the war or the president who inherited the war to blame? Neither but the real question is how the presidents handled themselves in office. One thing that the American public doesn’t really look at in detail is how the president at the time executed his office before and during the war. How did the president approach the war? Did the president keep the same cabinet in the country’s time of crisis or did he change it? Did the president’s military strategies change or did they stay the same? Did the public support him? There have been some classic examples in history with presidents who “started” or entered a war and then having it carry over the successor’s term and even more cases of presidents changing their policies they were so set on before entering a war and during a war. There was the Vietnam War, which included Presidents Lyndon B. Jonson and Richard Nixon.

In recent years, congress has been incredibly adversarial to the president, providing that it is not controlled by members of his (the president) political party affiliation. The main source of this weakness is that congress and its members are defined by partisanship, they value tribalism, and are rewarded based on their loyalty to their party and antagonism to their opposition. This makes congress a breeding ground for viscous opposition where any room for compromise between parties is villainized, because of this the president can only govern efficiently when his party controls a significant percentage of both or either house. The major cause of this new political culture is highly contested, some say it is because political parties have come to gain too much power by way of their influence and ability to build campaign war chests. Others believe that political parties are too weak, citing that special interests and third party intervention has made members of either party less responsive to their leaders causing them to govern based on their fiscal supporters, which, would not allow compromise between two single groups. Regardless, it is very appropriate to cast the blame of a dysfunctional congress upon party politics. To illustrate this relationship between the executive and partisan congress we will look at the presidency of Barack Obama,

Prior to the War Powers Act, President Harry Truman, rather than seek Congressional declaration, used his constitutional power as commander in chief to commit troops to the Korean War. Congress had no say in whether this war would be fought. Along with this, the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon the power to “take all necessary measures … to prevent further aggression[iv].” This gave the presidents complete control over the war despite the Congresses eventual division, who could do nothing about it. These incidents caused Congress to decide that the Framers did not intend for the president to have this kind of war making power, so they passed the War Powers Act on November 7th, 1973, right after the Vietnam War.

“Congress has a portion of the war power because the members of Congress come from the several states and have close ties to all the people. The idea was that by splitting up the war power, the country would not go to war unless both constituencies – meaning the whole country – supported war.”("Understanding the Constitution of the United States"). Only way for a war to happen is if congress deems it reasonable, subordinating the executive branch.

Presidential power has increased immensely over recent years and little is being done in an attempt to restore the original intent of the Constitution. There are multiple factors that affect this, including the executive orders of presidents, the Constitution giving an unequal distribution of power between the executive and legislative branch, the failure to use checks and balances, and the ineffectiveness of Congress. With the lack of congressional involvement in legislative decisions, the president has the ability to take matters in their own hands.