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Presidents and Their Interactions with Congress Note to students: The best preparation for taking the reading quiz is to pay close attention to the key terms as you read. Each question in the question banks is directly linked to these key terms and phrases.

Chapter Focus Question: What are the various methods presidents have used to influence or control Congress?

Section Focus Question: What is a veto and how has it been used effectively by the president?Key Terms:Difficulty of overriding a presidential veto

Number of vetoes of the presidents Article I and Congress Presidential vetos of Andrew Jackson Supermajority to override a veto James Madison's view of the presidential veto Cooperation with Congress Presidential power in the legislative process

While presidents have found potent unilateral powers to influence policy, the Constitution is not designed so that presidents will typically act unilaterally to make major policy changes. Instead, it requires a system of consultation and broad agreement between Congress and the president for most major policy changes. Therefore, a significant part of the president’s work in changing public policy involves interaction with Congress.

Article I of the Constitution defines the powers of Congress and their limits. One of those limits is the qualified right of the president to veto legislation, specified in Article I, Section 7. This is an example of checks and balances in the Constitution. It requires either that Congress obtain the agreement of the president, or of a very large majority in both houses of Congress (a supermajority), in order to pass a law.

Presidents are usually among the most important, if not the most important, actors in the passage of new laws by Congress. There are several reasons for this. First, supermajorities are usually hard for Congress to secure, because members of Congress often disagree with each other about the best course of action for the nation. It is usually easier to obtain the approval of the president to pass a law. That alone makes the president an important player in legislation.

Checks and Balances of the Three Branches of Government

Presidents have not always been willing to use the veto simply because they thought a bill contained bad policy or was harmful to the president politically. Early presidents believed that the proper use of the veto was to prevent the passage of legislation they considered unconstitutional. President James Madison, in office 1809-17, illustrates this pattern. Congress passed a bill allocating funds for “internal improvements,” or the construction of roads, bridges, canals, etc., within existing US states to aid mobility, commerce, and economic development. President Madison, like many early Democrats, believed that internal improvements were unconstitutional. For this reason, Madison vetoed the internal improvements bill. He stated in his veto message that he was using the veto power because of doubts about its constitutionality. Notably, Madison was one of the principal authors of the US Constitution, so his view of the purpose of the powers spelled out in that document carries special weight as to their constitutional intent.

Section Focus Question: How did Andrew Jackson expand the use of the presidential veto?Key Terms:Threat of veto

Threat of veto as the "second face of power" Presidential veto to block legislation Overriding the vetos of President Andrew Johnson Fewer vetos when Congress and president are of the same party Average number of presidential vetos in a year

As with several facets of presidential power, the veto power was put to new and more robust use by President Andrew Jackson. Jackson made no qualms about vetoing bills simply because he disagreed with them politically. That is close to the modern usage of the veto power. Nowadays, it is common for presidents to veto about 10-20 bills per session of Congress (about a two-year period). Political scientist Charles Cameron has shown that

vetoes are more frequent when larger majorities of Congress are held by a party opposing the president’s. For example, in the first four years of the George W. Bush presidency (2001-04), the president and majorities in both houses of Congress were Republicans. The president vetoed one bill. On the other hand, in the almost three years of the Gerald Ford presidency (1974-76), the president vetoed almost 50 bills.

American Presidential Vetoes and Overridden Vetoes, 1789-2015

Veto power is an instrument that can be potent even though it is not used. Congress may take the possibility of a veto into account when crafting legislation. By changing the contents of a bill to be palatable to the president, Congress may avoid a veto in the first place. Political scientists refer to this as the “second face of power” (the “first face” is when a power is effective because it is actually used, for example in case a president causes changes in a bill by actually vetoing it). Part of this effect can be seen through “veto threats” — messages that the president sends to Congress, indicating he intends to veto a particular bill unless Congress changes it. When the president and Congress are controlled by different parties, the president issues veto threats often. And Congress does sometimes respond. For example, in 2015, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed a financial reform bill that would give large banks more time to make investments that Democrats consider speculative and risky. President Obama threatened to veto the bill, and House supporters of the bill removed the controversial provision.

Newspaper Headlines of Veto Threats between President and Congress

Section Focus Question: What is the president’s legislative program, and why has it been effective?Key Terms:The president's legislative program

Lyndon B. Johnson and Medicaid Office of Management and Budget The Great Society Power to persuade Executive information resources "The Blueprint for Change" Success of presidential legislative programs

A second reason for the president’s outsize influence on legislation passed by Congress is the president’s legislative program. This is a series of proposals or requests for Congress to enact new laws or amend existing ones. Ever since President George Washington proposed bills for financing the Revolutionary War debt, presidents have always submitted recommendations for new legislation to Congress. The key feature of the president’s legislative program in modern terms is that it is comprehensive. It is not just a proposal on this or that issue; it is a proposal on what Congress should do on almost every issue that it might take up for legislation. The modern version of the president’s legislative program has been standard since the administration of President Harry Truman.

Some of the most important constructive policy-making acts in recent history have come from the president’s legislative program. For example, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is more commonly known as “Obamacare” because it began as one of the signature proposals of President Obama. The Great Society programs, including Medicaid, began mostly as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s legislative program. Political scientists

have found that presidents typically achieve some success (if not total victory) on the most important parts of their legislative programs.

Lyndon B. Johnson, State of the Union Address, 1965

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Why is this so? After all, the president’s legislative program is just a series of requests or proposals. Congress does not have to abide by them. Of course, lurking here again is the political scientist Richard Neustadt’s famous dictum that presidential power is the power to persuade. Beyond the relatively amorphous process of persuasion, there are several reasons Congress might choose to support the president’s program.

First, presidents often have a unique vantage point on public opinion. They are the only politicians in the US elected by a nationwide constituency. Presidential elections often reflect larger national tides in public opinion. Thus, the policy goals of the president convey some information to members of Congress about the kinds of policy enactments that will be politically successful.

President’s Constituency vs. Legislative Constituencies

Second, modern presidents have formidable information sources in the executive branch for use in crafting sound policy. Presidents often construct the legislative program by canvassing executive agencies for proposals. Because of their close connection to policy implementation, these agencies are staffed with professionals who often know a great deal about the policy areas within their purview. Moreover, the Office of Management and Budget works directly for the president — not through a cabinet department — and provides extensive policy analysis capability for use in crafting proposals.

Third, it is sensible for Congress to consider the president’s wishes if it wants to pass legislation. This relates to both the president’s veto power and also unilateral presidential power. In the first case, if Congress wishes to secure the president’s agreement with

legislation, it is wise to consider the president’s goals in crafting it in the first place. In the second case, Congress must realize that simply declining to act on an item in the president’s agenda does not mean nothing will change on that issue. The president may take unilateral action if Congress won’t. To prevent this and ensure that its wishes are reflected in policy directly, Congress may pass a law.

The Blueprint for Change: Barack Obama’s Plan for America

Today presidents occupy a role in legislative policy making that was unforeseeable at the founding of the US. The president’s modern role in legislating was certainly not foreseen by the Framers of the Constitution. The two key facets of this role in legislative policy making are the use of presidential vetoes to achieve policy goals and the president’s legislative program. Because of the modern use of these tools by presidents, they play a role in shaping legislation that is bigger than that of most members of Congress.