Lesson 2.4: Roles and Powers of the President
Enduring Understanding:
The presidency has been enhanced beyond its expressed constitutional powers.Learning Objectives:
Explain how the president can implement a policy agenda.Essential Knowledge:
Presidents use powers and perform functions of the office to accomplish a policy agenda.Formal and informal powers of the president include:
- Vetoes and pocket vetoes – formal powers that enable the president to check Congress
- Foreign policy – both formal (Commander-in-Chief and treaties) and informal (executive agreements) powers that influence relations with foreign nations
- Bargaining and persuasion – informal power that enables the president to secure congressional action
- Executive orders – implied from the president’s vested executive power, or from power delegated by Congress, executive orders are used by the president to manage the federal government
- Signing statements – informal power that informs Congress and the public of the president’s interpretation of laws passed by Congress and signed by the president
Debrief: CUA #2
Activity #1: Executive Branch Simulation
- First, we need to elect a President
- Then, the President will assign the following roles (asterisks must be filled)...
- Simulation One:
- Agriculture*
- Defense*
- Homeland Security*
- Transportation
- Health & Human Services*
- Justice*
- State*
- Director of National Intelligence
- EPA Administrator*
- White House Chief Of Staff*
- National Security Adviser
- U.N. Ambassador*
- FEMA Administrator*
- White House Press Secretary*
- White House Senior Advisor
- Simulation Two:
- Energy*
- Homeland Security*
- Interior
- Transportation*
- Health & Human Services*
- Housing & Urban Development • Justice
- State
- EPA Administrator*
- White House Senior Adviser
- White House Chief Of Staff*
- U.N. Ambassador
- FEMA Administrator*
- White House Press Secretary*
But first we have to research our roles: Role Sources
Then, answer the following questions in your notebook...
- What is the name of your department?
- When was your department founded?
- Who is the current secretary, or leader, of your department?
- What agencies or organizations operate under this department?
- What is the annual budget for your department?
- What is one failure and one success that your department has experienced in its history?
Activity #4: Nifty Fifty Vocab
War Powers ActSigning Statement
Bully Pulpit
Executive Order
