Executive Branch and Congress

Constitutional Deliberations

No questions troubled the framers of the Constitution more than the powers to be given the executive branch and how it should be structured. How much authority and independence to give the national executive remained in dispute until the end of the Constitutional Convention.

[Page 216]The convention at first favored a single executive, chosen by Congress for a term of seven years, whose powers would be limited. Congress would appoint judges and ambassadors and would make treaties. This plan for legislative supremacy finally gave way to a more balanced plan, which called for a president to be chosen by electors for a four-year term without limit as to reelection. (The Twenty-second Amendment, adopted in 1951, set a two-term limit for the presidency.) The president was to make appointments and treaties, subject to Senate approval; act as commander in chief; and ensure that the laws were faithfully executed. The framers did not attempt to elaborate on how the system would actually work. The provisions on presidential power were brief and ambiguous.

President as Lawmaker

The president's role as lawmaker begins with the constitutional duty to “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.” To these bare bones, Congress has added further requirements. For example, the president is required to submit an annual budget message and an economic report.

Other legislative powers granted by the Constitution to the president include the power to veto bills; the power to make treaties, subject to Senate consent; and the rarely used power to convene one or both houses of Congress. The president's role as lawmaker has been further increased through the authority to issue rules and regulations, proclamations, and executive orders—or administrative legislation.

The president traditionally sets forth a legislative agenda in the annual State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. The president then sends legislative proposals to Congress in the form of draft bills.

What happens to these administration bills after they are introduced depends on a variety of factors, including who is in the White House, which party controls Congress, the times and mood of the country, and the issue itself.

The Constitution said little about how a president would go about persuading Congress to pass presidential proposals. Several tools are available to the chief executive.

Lobbying

One tool of persuasion is for the president to lobby Congress directly. Early presidents kept their lobbying discreet, either doing it themselves or entrusting it to a few helpers. In modern times, executive lobbying has become more open and more elaborate.