Government

The U. S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., housing the House of Representatives and the Senate.

U. S. Government

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LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES:

http://www.firstgov.gov http://www.loc.gov

Go here:
http://firstgov.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
..to find the phone numbers, fax numbers, mailing addresses  and email addresses of the elected officials for your state.   You'll find the information you need to contact your US Senators, Representatives, Legislators, Governors, and even the President - then address your concerns to them.

Go here:
http://firstgov.gov/Agencies/State_and_Territories.shtml
..to find your state's web site where you can locate the contact information for your attorney general and express your concerns to him or her.

Feel like doing more? E-mail, write, fax or phone here:
National Association of Consumer Advocates
1730 Rhode Island NW, Ste 710
Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: (202) 452-1989 voice
Fax: (202) 452-0099
Email: info@naca.net

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Presidential Succession - The House speaker immediately follows the president and vice president in the order of succession. If the president and vice president are removed from office for any reason, the speaker moves up.

The House speaker is succeeded by the Senate's president pro tempore, and then the Cabinet secretaries.

The Cabinet secretaries would be appointed according to the order in which their departments had been established.

There are 15 Cabinet departments: State; the Treasury; Defense; Justice; Interior; Agriculture; Commerce; Labor; Health and Human Services; Housing and Urban Development; Transportation; Energy; Education; Veterans Affairs; and Homeland Security.

Eligibility for Congress - To be eligible to run for the House, the candidate must be a U.S. citizen who is at least 25 years old, a citizen for at least seven years and a legal resident of the state in which he is running.

A Senate candidate must be at least 30 years old, a citizen for at least nine years and a legal resident of the state in which he is running.

There are five basic types of local government:

Counties, municipalities, townships, school districts and special district governments.

Where would the U.S. capital move in case of an accident?
The second national city is Port Angeles, Washington, designated by President Abraham Lincoln. That's where they would move the capital if something happened to Washington, D.C.

Postal Services
The first post office was established in 1639 at the home of Richard Fairbanks in Boston, Massachusetts. The first building created to serve as a post office was built in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1683.

What was used prior to stamps?
The person receiving a letter paid the delivery costs. Since rates at the time were very high, many people refused to accept a letter. Thus, the post office often suffered the cost of both delivery and return of the letter.

The U.S. Gold Bullion Depository at Fort Know, Kentucky has housed items other than gold including:
-Declaration of Independence
-Lincoln's Gettysburg address
-Articles of Confederation
-Magna Carta
-Crown, sword, and cape of St. Stephen, King of Hungary

PAGE CONTENTS:

White House Trivia

Overview of United States Government and Politics

Power to Make War

Your Government at Work

The History of Big Government

Income Tax
The Joy of Paying Taxes

Budget Battles

The Federal Reserve System
The Secret Service

The Executive Branch

Presidential Powers

Executive Privilege

Legislative Branch

Congress by the Numbers

What Congress Can and Cannot Do

The Judicial Branch

The Federal Courts

Starting the Supreme Court

The U. S. Attorney General

White House Trivia

Throughout its history, the White House has been known as the "President's Palace," the "President's House," and the "Executive Mansion." President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901.

When workmen in 1902 tore down walls in the White House, they found the names of workmen who had repaired the White House in 1814.

How big is the White House?
There are 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, and 6 levels in the Residence to accommodate the people who live in, work in, and visit the White House. There are also 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 8 staircases, and 3 elevators. The White House requires 570 gallons of paint to cover its outside surface.

Has it always been called that?

At various times in history, the White House has been known as the "President's Palace," the "President's House," and the "Executive Mansion." President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901.

Has it changed much since 1800?

Quite a bit - It survived a fire at the hands of the British in 1814 (during the war of 1812) and another fire in the West Wing in 1929, while Herbert Hoover was President. Throughout much of Harry S. Truman’s presidency, the interior of the house, with the exception of the third floor, was completely gutted and renovated while the Trumans lived at Blair House, right across Pennsylvania Avenue. The exterior stone walls are, however, those first put in place when the White House was constructed two centuries ago.

What can you do there besides work?

For recreation, the White House has a variety of facilities available to its residents, including a tennis court, jogging track, swimming pool, movie theater, and bowling lane. Of course, these parts aren't open to the general public, but other parts are - the White House is the only private residence of a head of state that is open to the public, free of charge.

Have there been changes to the President's house?
Changes to the appearance of the White House in Washington D.C., have occurred over the years. For instance, President William Taft converted the White House stables into a garage for four cars in 1909. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, an avid golfer, had a putting green installed on the White House lawn. He also banished squirrels from the grounds because they were ruining the green. President Richard Nixon disliked the press, so it was odd that he ordered the filling in of the White House's swimming pool, thus giving reporters more room when covering White House events. Soon after Nixon resigned in disgrace in 1974, the new President, Gerald Ford, had another pool dug on the White House lawn.

Overview of United States Government and Politics

The government of the United States is based on a written constitution, the shortest in the world in fact. This constitution consists of a Preamble, seven Articles, and 27 Amendments. From this document, the entire federal government was created. It is a living document whose interpretation has changed over time. The amendment process is such that while not easily amended, US citizens are able to make necessary changes over time.

Three Branches of Govenment

The Constitution created three separate branches of government. Each branch has its own powers and areas of influence. At the same time, the Constitution created a system of checks and balances that ensured no one branch would reign supreme.

The three branches are:

Legislative Branch - This branch consists of the Congress which is responsible for making the federal laws. Congress consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Executive Branch - The Executive power lies with the President of the United States who is given the job of executing, enforcing, and administering the laws and government. The Bureaucracy is part of the Executive Branch.

Judicial Branch - The judicial power of the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and the federal courts. Their job is to interpret and apply US laws through cases brought before them. Another important power of the Supreme Court is that of Judicial Review whereby they can rule laws unconstitutional.

The Constitution is built on six basic principles. These are deeply ingrained in the mindset and landscape of US Government.

Popular Sovereignty - This principle states that the source of governmental power lies with the people. This belief stems from the idea that government should be for the benefit of its citizens. If the government is not protecting the people, it should be dissolved.

Limited Government - Since the people give government its power, government itself is limited to the power given to it by them. In other words, the US government does not derive its power from itself. It must follow its own laws and it can only act using powers given to it by the people.

Separation of Powers - As stated previously, the US Government is divided into three branches so that no one branch has all the power. Each branch has its own purpose: to make the laws, execute the laws, and interpret the laws.

Checks and Balances - In order to further protect the citizens, the constitution set up a system of checks and balances. Basically, each branch of government has a certain number of checks it can use to ensure the other branches do not become too powerful. For example, the president can veto legislation, the Supreme Court can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, and the Senate must approve treaties and presidential appointments.

Judicial Review - This is a power that allows the Supreme Court to decide whether acts and laws are unconstitutional. This was established with Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

Federalism - One of the most complicated foundations of the US is the principle of federalism. This is the idea that the central government does not control all the power in the nation. States also have powers reserved to them. This division of powers does overlap and sometimes leads to problems such as what happened with the response to Hurricane Katrina between the state and federal governments.

While the Constitution sets up the system of government, the actual way in which the offices of Congress and the Presidency are filled are based upon the American political system. Many countries have numerous political parties (groups of people who join together to try and win political office and thereby control the government) but the US exists under a two-party system. The two major parties in America are the Democratic and Republican parties. They act as coalitions and attempt to win elections. We currently have a two-party system because of not only historical precedent and tradition but also the electoral system itself.

The fact that America has a two-party system does not mean that there is no role for third parties in the American landscape. In fact, they have often swayed elections even if their candidates have in most cases not won. There are four major types of third parties:

Ideological Parties, e.g. Socialist Party

Single-issue parties, e.g. Right to Life Party

Economic Protest Parties, e.g. Greenback Party

Splinter Parties, e.g. Bull Moose Party

Elections occur in the United States at all levels including local, state, and federal. There are numerous differences from locality to locality and state to state. Even when determining the presidency, there is some variation with how the electoral college is determined from state to state. While voter turnout is barely over 50% during Presidential election years and much lower than that during midterm elections, elections can be hugely important as seen by Top 10 Significant Presidential Elections In American History.

Power to Make War

As with many other key governing powers, the U.S. Constitution divides war-making powers between the executive and legislative branches. Why? Basically, the Constitution's framers didn't want any one person--even a president--to have the power to take the nation to war. Yet they did want a single commander in chief to lead the fight once started. So, how does America's founding document divvy up war powers? Here's how.

The Congress' Powers

Article 1, section 8, of the Constitution spells out six key war-making powers for Congress:

War Power #1
The power "to declare war." In an early draft of the Constitution, the framers actually gave Congress the power to "make war." But later, they decided that "making war" sounded too close to being commander in chief. Still, it's key that, constitutionally, only Congress can "declare war." It's also key that the United States hasn't officially declared war since World War II.

War Powers #2 and #3
The power "to raise and support armies" and the power "to provide and maintain a navy." The president may be commander in chief, but Congress carries the military's purse.

War Power #4
The power "to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces." The military has a separate set of laws, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, overseen by Congress.

War Power #5
The power "to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." Before Congress raised an army, command over state militias was crucial. Now, the state militias are the National Guard, and Congress has delegated the power to call it up to the president.

War Power #6
The power "to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States."

The President's Powers

The Constitution enumerates fewer war-making powers for the president. In fact, unless you count treaty-making, there's only one. But it packs tremendous punch:

Whopping War Power
Article 2, section 2, of the Constitution says that "the president shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States."

In Alexander Hamilton's words, the president has "the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as [the nation's] first general and admiral." And, according to James Madison, that includes "the power to repel sudden attacks" without waiting for Congress's approval, much less an official declaration of war.

Hardly anyone disputes that the president has extensive powers to defend the nation as commander in chief. But just where those powers end--and Congress's power to "declare war," "raise and support armies," and govern the troops begins--has been a matter of debate for decades. Don't expect that debate to be resolved anytime soon.

--Steve Sampson

Your Government at Work

In 1986 the National Park Service bought a half acre of land in southwest Washington, DC, for $230,000. In 1988 someone discovered that the Park Service already owned the land..they bought it in 1914.

When $122 million was allocated for an addition to the Dirksen Office Building in Washington, DC, it went to give the senators a THIRD gymnasium.

According to a 1989 report by the State Department Watch, a private watchdog organization, the Department of State issued eighteen thousand travel expense checks without getting corroborating evidence for the expenses. One check for $9,000 was issued to 'Ludwig van Beethoven' whose Social Security number was listed as 123-45-6789.

$84,000 was approved by Congress for a project to discover why people fall in love.
[They should have asked Frankie Lymon - "Why Do Fools Fool In Love?".]

During the 1980s Department of Defense efficiency experts saved between $27 million and $136 million each year! However, the efficiency experts cost between $150 million and $300 million each year.

The History of Big Government

When we often hear the term big government used, it refers to the term applied to government programs which are aimed at providing help for one group or another. In contrast, it is rarely applied to government programs which are aimed at helping big business. Throughout the history of the United States, we have had big government, but the term is never applied to this type of government aid.

During the very first Congress, big government came to the aid of bond-holders by establishing the first national bank. The government made sure that the rich were protected, which they did by taxing poor farmers. When these farmers rebelled against this taxation, troops were sent to uphold the law. This became known as the Whisky Rebellion.

This was the beginning of a long series of events in American history which ties the very wealthy to big government. In the decades before and after the civil war, large sums of money were needed by the railroad companies to build their operation. In Wisconsin, the railroads were given one million acres of free land after conveniently offering $900,000 worth of stocks and bonds to the state legislatures. During the decade, other states, along with the federal government, followed the generous example of Wisconsin. All in all, 25 million acres of land were given away to various railroad interests with the Union Pacific leading the way by receiving 12 million in loans and grants. That is big government.

One of the great defenders of big government has been the Supreme Court. When the New York legislature tried to pass a law limiting workers to a six day/ten-hour-a-day work week, the court declared the law unconstitutional. When the state governments tried to end child labor, the courts again ruled in favor of business. No one from the ruling class objected to the courts intervening in their behalf.

One of the biggest examples of big government lies in the history of the military industrial complex. President Eisen- hower saw this as a real threat, and in his last days in office he tried to warn Americans about this growing hazard, but to no avail. They have raped the treasury ever since. Now the lords of government are about to press ahead with a anti-missile system that simply does not work. Even the military, who are often more honest than our politicians, don't want it.

About the only time you hear the term big government is when it is either used to attack social programs or for acquiring funding for the arts and education. I ask you a simple question; Why is the building of a missile defense that won't work but will serve to line the pockets of the military- industrial complex not explained as big government? Tell me the last time you heard the news media refer to corporate give away as an example of big government? When the federal government gave the broadcasting industry 50 billion dollars of new television channels in 1993, did you hear one columnist decry this as an example of a big government give away? I don't think so. You see they believe in big government but not for you.

Sources: Declarations of Independence, Howard Zinn

In 1914, the first year that the Federal Income tax was imposed, only one percent of the U.S. population was required to pay the new tax. Per capita, the average tax was .41 cents per person.

Income Tax

Every April, millions of Americans find themselves united in one pursuit: complaining about federal income tax. Sadly, this rare national harmony unravels when taxpayers argue over who's to blame for the government's grip on income.

Some accuse Congress. Others point the finger at big corporations. Still others rage against the IRS. In an effort to preserve a more perfect union, KnowledgeNews offers a scapegoat that should appeal to all Americans: Napoleon.

Money for War

Yes, the Little Corporal is indirectly responsible for "subtract line 56 from line 46." In 1799, the British government levied a personal income tax of 10 percent to raise money to finance the war against Napoleon, who was coming off a winning streak and seemed to be a direct threat to Great Britain.

British law and government policies greatly influenced 19th-century American leaders, who observed that citizens found income tax more palatable if the money went for war. (American lawmakers overlooked the fact that the income tax was so hated in Great Britain that, when it was repealed in 1816, taxpayers demanded that all records be destroyed. The top tax official publicly carried out the order to burn the records--while secretly retaining copies.)

So, when the Union needed money to fight the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed the Tax Act of 1862. On annual income between $600 and $10,000, you paid a 3 percent tax. Above $10,000, you paid a 5 percent tax. In just two years, however, the tax rate for income over $10,000 had jumped to 10 percent. Lincoln himself seems to have had some difficulty with the paperwork. He overpaid $1,250 in 1864.

The 16th Amendment

The government phased out income tax after the war, raising revenue via excise taxes and import duties instead. But in 1894, the taxman struck again, when provisions in the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act created the first peacetime income tax. Because the tax fell on the rich, those with less wealth generally applauded it. One Arkansan, for instance, explained to a Supreme Court justice that he and his neighbors favored the income tax--because no one in their entire state made more than the $4,000 exempted by the law.

Opponents soon challenged the very heart of the law: that the rate of taxation should increase as income rises. By 1895, a lawsuit had made its way to the Supreme Court. After hearing the tax characterized as "communistic," the Court ruled, five justices to four, that parts of the income tax law were unconstitutional.

Yet the idea that the wealthy should pay proportionately more tax than the poor had continued appeal for that era's progressive politicians, including Republican President Teddy Roosevelt. In 1909, just after his last term, Congress began an end run around the Supreme Court by submitting a constitutional amendment to the states. By 1913, the states had ratified the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. President Woodrow Wilson signed a new tax law that year.

At first, income tax accounted for less than 5 percent of federal revenues. By 1940, it accounted for 20 percent. By 1970, 70 percent. Today, 43 percent of federal revenues come from income taxes, personal and corporate. Social security, Medicare, unemployment taxes, and other retirement taxes account for 32 percent. Excise, customs, estate, gift, and other taxes bring in 7 percent. Uncle Sam borrows the rest.

Colleen Kelly
April 13, 2006

The Joy of Paying Taxes
Many taxpayers don't even try to understand how to file taxes - more than 50 percent of us use professional tax help. This percentage is on the rise -- it was 40 percent in 1980.

Even Congress doesn't understand the tax laws. According to a Money Magazine Survey, sixty percent of the members of the Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee don't do their own taxes!

Don't expect the pros to be completely foolproof, though. A few years ago, Money Magazine sent the same tax information for the same hypothetical family to 50 different preparers. It got 50 different answers. And none of them was right. Comforting, right?

For most of our history, we didn't have an income tax. The Supreme Court said that the tax was unconstitutional. When the income tax amendmentwas passed in 1913, its supporters claimed that only the rich would pay the tax.

During the first World War, tax rates were pushed up to 77 percent. They stayed there until the late 1920s. The same thing happened after World War II. Wartime tax rates were as high as 94 percent, and incredibly the top rate stayed above 90 percent for 20 years after the war.

Presidents Kennedy and Reagan gave us significant tax relief, but after reaching a post-war low of 28 percent, the top tax rate, thanks to Bush and Clinton, is now back to 40 percent. Today's bottom tax rate -- 15 percent -- is more than double the rate paid by the rich in 1913.

Today, the median income family -- mom, dad, two children -- pays more than $5,000 in income taxes, or more than 14 percent of its income. When you include Social Security, Medicare, sales and other taxes, about 40 cents of every dollar goes to the government.

When the income tax first took effect it had 170 pages of laws and regulations. Today, the tax code has 17,000 pages, along with hundreds of thousands of pages of court decisions. The 1986 tax act was aimed at simplification. It ended up amending 2,000 sections of the code and creating more than 100 new forms.

The IRS has 114,000 employees. That's equal to the population of Peoria, Illinois. It is twice as big as the CIA and five times the size of the FBI. IRS employment has increased 20 percent over the past 10 years. The rest of the government shrank by 10 percent over that same period.

(Source Material from Ed Rubenstein, the economic consultant for National Review since 1988.)

Budget Battles

The president's budget is really a proposal. Ultimately, Congress writes the checks that pay the government's bills (though the president still has to sign those into laws). And that can make for some nasty political fights--between the White House and Congress, Democrats and Republicans, and even individual Senators and Representatives.

Watching it all unfold on CNN and C-SPAN might make you yearn for simpler times, when fewer than a hundred men ran the U.S. government and the "media" consisted of a few dozen newspapers. Ah, but a quick look at the budgeting process as it worked 200 years ago proves that it was never so simple. Even decisions that look brilliant today had their critics at the time--and the press was particularly harsh.

Long before he was elected president, Thomas Jefferson was interested in learning more about the land west of the Mississippi River. So, in 1803, he arranged for his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead an expedition into the west. He deliberately low-balled the cost, assuring members of Congress that $2,500 "would cover the undertaking."

After securing the appropriation, Jefferson sent Lewis and William Clark off on a journey of more than 8,000 miles. Lawmakers who saw the moody Lewis as a poor choice muttered that friendship had clearly clouded Jefferson's judgment. The muttering got louder when the bills came back. The total cost of the journey was later determined to be $38,722.35.

The Library of Congress is one of the world's great libraries, with more than 30 million books on 530 miles of shelves. But 200 years ago, it was a pork-barrel expense that taxpayers saw as benefiting only Congress itself.

The debate began in 1790 when legislators proposed spending $1,000 to buy reference works, such as law books and maps. The public outcry was shrill. "The late motion respecting the 'Library' for Congress is truly novel," squawked the Independent Chronicle. "Could it be supposed that a measure so distant from anything which can effect the general purposes of government, could be introduced at this important period?" Lawmakers didn't dare raise the issue again--until they moved the capital to Washington.

That meant moving away from the Library Company of Philadelphia, which had generously provided borrowing privileges to founder-types since 1774. So, in 1800, Congress set aside $5,000 to purchase books and set up a one-room library in the capitol. When lawmakers took up the issue in 1802, they bickered for so long about whether to allot $500 or $1,000 annually that one representative snapped that he believed "the House expended as much in deliberating the sum" as they had considered spending in the first place.

It's hard to imagine a better deal than the Louisiana Purchase. The deal doubled the nation's size, adding 820,000 square miles for the bargain price of about three cents an acre. Who could complain?

The Federalists in Congress did. They believed that European powers could never hold all that territory and that the United States ought to just grab it. "It belongs of right to the United States to regulate the future destiny of North America. The country is ours," said one Federalist newspaper just before Napoleon offered to sell the land in 1803.

Other critics believed that so much land would overshadow existing states and throw things out of balance. "We are to give money of which we have too little for land of which we already have too much," complained the Columbian Centinel, horrified at the $15 million price tag. Seems like a good use of $15 million now, but that's how budget battles go.

Colleen Kelly

The Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System is America's central bank. Created by Congress in 1913, it consists of a Board of Governors in Washington, DC, 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks in big cities from Boston to San Francisco, and 25 branches in other big cities.

The Board of Governors gives the Fed its marching orders. But the individual Reserve Banks maintain significant control over their day-to-day operations, including:

Holding the cash reserves of other banks and loaning money to them

Putting new currency into circulation and taking old currency out (every dollar is a "Federal Reserve Note")

Providing checking accounts for the U.S. Treasury and acting as the U.S. government's "fiscal agent"

Collecting and processing millions of checks each day

Essentially, the Fed provides banking services to America's banks and to Uncle Sam. That's the nitty-gritty part of its job. On the more glamorous side, it also develops and implements the nation's monetary policy--and in the process influences interest rates.

The media often suggest that the Fed "sets" interest rates--as if Fed chairman Ben Bernanke just says "let the rate be 4.75 percent" and the nation's banks make it so. But that's not how it works. Banks determine interest rates based on all sorts of factors, from recipients' credit histories, to the current money supply, to how low their competitors are willing to go.

The Fed has no control over many of these factors, but it can influence the money supply--in three ways. First, it loans money directly to banks, though only on a limited scale. Second, it occasionally changes how much money banks must keep on reserve. Third, and most important, the Fed uses what it calls "open market operations" to move money into and out of the banking system.

To get an idea how the Fed's open market operations work, imagine you're the manager of KnowledgeNews National Bank (it's OK, we trust you). Your job is to make as much money as you can for the bank, and one of the ways you do that is by making loans, on which the bank earns interest.

The Fed requires KNB (and all banks) to keep a certain percentage of customer deposits in reserve at all times. As KNB's manager, you use deposits to make loans. But you must also maintain the required reserves--and you never know how much money customers will deposit or withdraw each day. When you're short on reserves at the end of the day, you must find a way to cover the difference.

Luckily, you know where to go. Other bank managers have extra money on hand, and they want to loan it out to earn interest. It's a perfect match. All you have to do is agree on an interest rate. If lots of banks have money to loan and not many are shopping for it, supply and demand dictates that rates will go down. On the other hand, if lots of banks want to borrow money and not many have it, rates will go up.

Recognizing this, the Fed influences interest rates by buying and selling securities on the open market. If it wants rates to go up, it starts selling lots of securities. The buyers of those securities pay the Fed millions, even billions, of dollars. That money comes right out of the buyers' bank accounts, reducing the amount of reserves in the banking system. Money gets "tight," and the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans--the "federal funds rate"--goes up.

The same supply-and-demand rules apply in reverse. When the Fed buys securities, it pays millions, even billions, of dollars into the sellers' bank accounts, increasing the amount of reserves in the banking system. With more money out there to loan, the federal funds rate goes down.

Over time, changes in the federal funds rate lead to changes in short-term interest rates, followed by changes in long-term interest rates. When the Fed nudges those rates down, it's hoping for some good old-fashioned economic stimulation. When it nudges rates up, it's hoping to fight inflation.

--Steve Sampson

The Secret Service

The Secret Service Division was created on July 5, 1865 in Washington, D.C., to suppress counterfeit currency. Chief William P. Wood was sworn in by Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch.

In 1867, Secret Service responsibilities were broadened to include "detecting persons perpetrating frauds against the government." This appropriation resulted in investigations into the Ku Klux Klan, non-conforming distillers, smugglers, mail robbers, land frauds, and a number of other infractions against the federal laws.

In 1883, The Secret Service was officially acknowledged as a distinct organization within the Treasury Department. In 1951, Congress enacted legislation that permanently authorized Secret Service protection of the president, his immediate family, the president-elect, and the vice resident, if he wishes.

In 1968, as a result of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, Congress authorized protection of major presidential and vice presidential candidates and nominees. Congress also authorized protection of widows of presidents until death, or remarriage, and their children until age 16.

In 2007, protection began for presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama in May, the earliest initiation of Secret Service protection for any candidate in history. Presidential candidate New York Senator Hillary Clinton already received protection before she entered the race due to her status as former first lady.

Copyright 2009 by NextEra Media. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward this, in its entirety, to others.

Executive Branch

Related link: U. S. Presidents

Mention the executive branch, and most people think of the White House.

That's natural, but it's just one building. The executive branch is vastly larger than the president and his staff, which includes fewer than 2,000 people.

The executive branch also includes the U.S. military, plus all of the major government departments, from Agriculture to Veterans Affairs.

There is one person, the President of the United States, in whom the U.S. Constitution invests executive power. Back in 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention contended contentiously over who should head the executive branch. Some, worried that a single president would be too kingly, wanted a plural executive. Other countries do divvy up executive power--having, say, both a president and a prime minister.

There are 15 executive branch departments. Each department head is a member of the president's cabinet. The 15 departments are Health and Human Services, Defense, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Treasury, Education, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security, State, Justice, Energy, Interior and Commerce.

6 officials are given "cabinet rank" even though they're not department heads. They are the vice president, White House chief of staff, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, director of the Office of Management and Budget, U.S. "drug czar," and U.S. trade representative. Presidents don't have to accord cabinet rank to anyone--everyone at a cabinet meeting is there by invitation.

The number of executive branch employees, including active-duty military personnel, makes the executive branch the biggest branch of the U.S. government, by far.

Presidential Powers

By Steve Sampson

Presidential power has evolved plenty since the country's start, when, under the Articles of Confederation, there was no chief executive. Today, presidents have powers and privileges not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. In fact, the Constitution gives the president fewer than a dozen key jobs. Know what they are?

Article II says that the nation's "executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." It specifically enumerates these six powers:

Being "commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States." Suspicious of standing armies, the framers made sure that the military had a civilian head. To further check and balance, they gave Congress the power "to declare war," "raise and support armies," "provide and maintain a navy," and "make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces." Of course, that hasn't stopped presidents from sending troops into battle without congressional declarations of war.
The right to "require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices." Compared to commanding the troops, "requiring opinions" may sound like handing out homework. But it's part and parcel of the president's role as boss of the federal bureaucracy. The executive branch is by far the biggest branch of government, employing some 4 million people (including active-duty military personnel).
The "power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." Presidential pardons are final. Neither Congress nor the courts can review them. In the federal government, the president is the forgiver in chief.
The "power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur." In practice, presidents and their executive branch officers negotiate and sign treaties without much senatorial "advice," but those treaties aren't binding on the United States unless the Senate ratifies them. Presidents sometimes avoid ratification problems by signing "executive agreements" with foreign governments rather than treaties per se.
The power to "nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, . . . appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court," and "other officers of the United States." This has come to mean that the president submits some 2,000 civilian appointments, and more than 30,000 military ones, for Senate confirmation every year. The Senate routinely confirms nearly all of these.
The "power to fill up vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session." When the Senate isn't in session, the president can appoint people to important jobs even without its advice and consent. Such "recess appointments" are often controversial and generally don't make the Senate happy. It has always guarded its constitutional right to provide "advice and consent" on important appointments.

Along with those six enumerated powers, Article II of the U.S. Constitution enumerates three key presidential responsibilities. According to the framers, the president must:

"From time to time give to the Congress information on the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The president is not charged with formally proposing legislation. That's Congress's job. But, from recommending measures based on "the state of the union" to signing bills into law, the president is supposed to play a key role in the legislative process.
"Receive ambassadors and other public ministers." This means lots of state dinners and photo ops--black tie often required. What's more important, though, is that it means the president is the nation's head diplomatic honcho. He is the head of state.
"Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." This one is crucial. It charges the president with the fundamental mission of the executive branch--to execute the laws. Along with being commander in chief, this may be the broadest, most expansive presidential responsibility or power listed in the Constitution.

The president is also charged with commissioning "all the officers of the United States" (commissioning comes after they've already been approved by the Senate) and is empowered to convene special sessions of Congress "on extraordinary occasions." But that's mashed potatoes compared to executing the laws and commanding the troops.

--Steve Sampson

Executive Privilege

by Steve Sampson

The phrase "executive privilege" doesn't appear in the U.S. Constitution. It wasn't commonly used until the 1950s, when President Eisenhower's attorney general, William Rogers, used it to fend off congressional commie-hunter Joseph McCarthy. Yet the idea behind the phrase goes all the way back to George Washington--and to foundational arguments about the "separation of powers" in American government.

Today, we'll look back at how presidents Washington and Jefferson each staked claims to executive privilege. Tomorrow, we'll return to more recent times, when President Eisenhower faced down Joseph McCarthy, and President Nixon got caught on tape.

Back in the 1790s, tension between the newborn United States and Great Britain had escalated to the point that many leaders feared a return to war. So, in 1794, President Washington sent John Jay--first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, co-author of The Federalist Papers, and all-around American patriot--on a mission to England. There, Jay negotiated a treaty, now called the Jay Treaty, that more or less resolved the key disputes.

That was the good news. The bad news was that Jay's treaty was highly unpopular on the home front--especially with the Jeffersonians, who portrayed it (and Jay) as a sellout to England. Despite Washington's support, crowds burned Jay in effigy and threw stones at treaty entreaters like Alexander Hamilton.

Eventually, the House of Representatives sent a request to President Washington for documents pertaining to the Jay Treaty negotiations. Setting precedent, Washington effectively told the House to take a hike. Reasoning that senators had a constitutional role to play in the ratification of treaties, Washington agreed to share the documents with them, but not with representatives in the House. Simply put, it was none of their constitutional business.

Thomas Jefferson followed Washington's lead during Aaron Burr's treason trial in 1807. Burr had been Jefferson's vice president from 1801 to 1805, but by 1807 he had fallen far from any kind of grace. After killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804, Burr had plotted with James Wilkinson to invade Mexico and launch a western empire all their own. Wilkinson ratted Burr out to Jefferson, and soon the former VP was on trial for treason.

During his trial, Burr asked the court to compel Jefferson to turn over private letters concerning Burr, one of which Burr claimed would exonerate him. Jefferson said that producing the documents might jeopardize public safety. And anyway, it wouldn't be right to disclose "a mixture of rumors, conjecture, and suspicions." Sound familiar? Those are pretty much the two main arguments for executive privilege today: the need to keep the nation secure, and the need to keep executive-branch officials speaking freely and frankly to each other, without worrying that what they say is "on the record."

Nevertheless, Chief Justice John Marshall (the founding father of judicial review in the United States) ruled that Burr's Sixth Amendment rights--particularly the right to compel witnesses to appear at his trial--trumped Jefferson's claim of privilege. What's more, Marshall ruled, the Supreme Court should say whether revealing such documents imperiled public safety, not the president himself.

In the end, Jefferson produced the documents, but he made a point of doing so "voluntarily"--that is, he turned the letters over without admitting that the Court had the authority Marshall claimed for it. Incidentally, Burr was exonerated: nothing treasonous to the United States about launching an ill-advised invasion of Mexico, even if you are the ex-vice president.

President Eisenhower is hardly famous for activist policymaking, but when it comes to executive privilege, he played a crucial creative role. Previous administrations had generally assumed at least some form of executive-branch privilege. But the Eisenhower administration took this largely tacit prerogative and turned it into an explicit policy position. They called it "executive privilege," and they used it first and foremost to fight Senator Joseph McCarthy.

McCarthy and Eisenhower were both Republicans, but there was no love lost between them. Ike once reportedly told his aides that he would not "get into the gutter with this guy." Yet in 1954, he did. McCarthy had set out to expose communists in the U.S. Army, and Eisenhower--the old general--thought that went too far. So, his staff got down-and-dirty by revealing embarrassing information about McCarthy's efforts to obtain preferential treatment from the Army for an aide.

McCarthy struck back, demanding to see documents pertaining to meetings between the Eisenhower administration and Army officials. Eisenhower's response was unequivocal: "It is not in the public interest," he said, for the administration to disclose "any . . . conversations or communications, or any documents" concerning the ongoing business of the executive branch. To a group of Republican lawmakers, he put the point even more bluntly: "Any man who testifies as to the advice he gave me won't be working for me that night."

McCarthy never mounted a legal challenge against Eisenhower's claim--possibly because, by the end of 1954, the Senate was censuring him for unbecoming conduct. The Eisenhower administration, however, continued to insist upon its "executive privilege." They denied congressional requests more than 40 times between 1955 and 1960, setting a record for executive-privilege claims that stands today.

If Eisenhower expanded executive privilege, his former vice president, Richard Nixon, nearly discredited it. As the Watergate scandal unfolded, President Nixon repeatedly employed executive privilege as a means to stonewall the Senate investigation. First, he claimed executive privilege to prevent aides from testifying. Later, he tried to use it to withhold tapes of White House conversations that would ultimately prove his undoing.

When Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski demanded that Nixon turn those tapes over in 1974, the case went to the Supreme Court, and the Court made its most definitive statement on executive privilege ever. In a unanimous 8-0 decision (with Nixon-nominee William Rehnquist abstaining), the Court ruled against the president, but explicitly recognized the validity of the executive-privilege claim.

"The president's need for complete candor and objectivity from advisors calls for great deference from the courts," wrote Chief Justice Warren Burger. Indeed, "the valid need for protection of communications between high government officials and those who advise and assist them in the performance of their manifold duties . . . is too plain to require further discussion." Nevertheless, "neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality of high level communications, . . . can sustain an absolute, unqualified presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances."

In this case, the Court ruled that the specific interests of criminal justice and due process simply outweighed the president's generalized claim to privilege. Nixon was forced to turn the tapes over. He resigned a few weeks later.

Steve Sampson
Updated June 16, 2006

Legislative Branch

Congress By The Numbers

The United States Congress consists of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each has some special powers and duties. Bills for raising revenue, for example, must originate in the House, while only the Senate gets to advise and consent on presidential appointments. Still, the chambers are considered coequal. Here's how the two houses, "both alike in dignity," break down numerically.

The House, By the Numbers

435 – Total number of representatives. There are also four non-voting delegates--from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands--plus a resident commissioner from Puerto Rico.

53 – Number of representatives from California, the state with the most. Each state's representation is proportional to its population. Texas has the next most seats (32), followed by New York (29) and Florida (25). Seven states have only one representative each: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

690,000 – Approximate number of people each representative represents. The actual number varies, in part because every state has at least one representative. Montana has one for its 936,000 people. Wyoming has one for its 510,000.

20 – Number of "standing" committees--those permanently authorized under House rules. Committees generally oversee the law in specific areas, from agriculture to science. But some range widely. The Ways and Means Committee, for example, has jurisdiction over revenue-raising measures, including taxes. And the Appropriations Committee minds federal discretionary spending (with its Senate counterpart).

The Senate, By the Numbers

100 – Number of senators. There are two from each state, regardless of the state's population. That means California's two senators represent 36 million people while Wyoming's represent half a million.

16 – Number of standing committees. Most of the Senate's committees correspond roughly to those in the House. The Senate Finance Committee, for example, covers nearly the same terrain as the House Ways and Means Committee.

34 – Average number of personal staff members employed by each senator. A typical representative employs 14.

--Steve Sampson

What Congress CAN and CANNOT do

What part is Congress supposed to play in steering the ship of state?

Prior to 1789, when the first government under the U.S. Constitution took office, the United States had no executive branch and no federal judiciary. But even before George Washington became "Mr. President" and the Supreme Court became supreme, the United States had a Congress--or, rather, a series of Continental Congresses.

So it's not surprising that the Constitution's framers figured Congress would dominate the new government. James Madison even worried that "the legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex." Maybe that's why he and the other framers spent so much time enumerating Congress's powers--and the limits of them.

Article I of the Constitution says that "all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States." In other words, Congress gets to make all the federal laws (though it still has to get the president to sign them, or pass them over his veto with a two-thirds majority).

But that's not the whole story. Article I, section 8, enumerates 18 specific powers for Congress. These 18 powers give Congress its constitutional teeth, but they also curb "the sphere of its activity"--because every law Congress makes has to relate back to one. They are:

The power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States." Simply put, Congress has the power to tax and spend.
The power "to borrow money on the credit of the United States." How much we should borrow has been an issue from the start.
The power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes." This "interstate commerce clause" has been taken to imply wide powers. Among other things, it's been used to bust trusts, regulate workers' hours and wages, and forbid racial discrimination in public places.
The power "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies." Congress gets to say who's a citizen (subject to the 14th Amendment) and who's broke.
The power "to coin money," "regulate the value thereof," and "fix the standard of weights and measures." In addition to spending money, Congress gets to make it. It also gets to say whether you're 6 feet tall or 1.8 meters.
The power "to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States." Don't mess with Uncle Sam's money.
The power "to establish post offices and post roads." Because neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night should keep those couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
The power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Congress can protect intellectual property through copyrights and patents--though it's only supposed to do so in the interest of "progress."
The power "to constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court." These include the other federal courts.
The power "to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations." Congress has the power to punish pirates and other breakers of international law.
The power "to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water." Constitutionally, only Congress can "declare war," but it hasn't done so since World War II. Letters of marque and reprisal authorized private ships, called "privateers," to attack vessels from enemy nations.
The power "to raise and support armies." Even with this power, Congress was at first wary of standing armies, preferring to rely on state militias instead. Only later did it move toward army regulars.
The power "to provide and maintain a navy." The navy had been disbanded after the Revolution and was not reestablished until 1798.
The power "to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces." The military has a separate set of laws, overseen by Congress.
The power "to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." Before Congress raised a standing army, command over state militias was crucial. It still is, though the state militias are now the National Guard.
The power "to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States."
The power "to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district . . . as may . . . become the seat of the government of the United States." Washington, DC, didn't exist when the Constitution was drafted, but the framers gave Congress the power to run the place. It still does.
The power "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof."

That last one is key. Known as the "necessary and proper" or "elastic" clause, it opens up a wide range of implied powers and legislative possibilities. Americans have been arguing about how to interpret it ever since. (Alexander Hamilton said "loosely." Thomas Jefferson said "strictly.") One citizen's "necessary and proper" is another's "impetuous vortex."

Article I also explicitly curbs Congress's powers. We'll explore the terms of those limits--which don't include term limits--next.

Steve Sampson
September 13, 2006

The Constitution empowers Congress to make all the laws of the land--at least at the federal level. But it also establishes limits on what kinds of laws Congress can make. Some limits show up in the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment, for example, begins, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." But eight no-nos show up right in Article I. Here they are:

"The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight." Simply put, Congress couldn't ban the importation of slaves until 1808. Detestable as it was, this provision was key to getting the Constitution ratified. Slaveholders feared a more powerful federal government would interfere with their "right" to treat people as property.
"The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." The "Great Writ" of habeas corpus protects against arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. America's founders saw it as so fundamental to liberty they didn't wait for the Bill of Rights to add it to the Constitution.
"No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed." A bill of attainder is a legislative act that seizes your property, or otherwise punishes you, without judicial process. The English crown used to use such bills against its enemies. An ex post facto law is one that makes something you did legally illegal after you've done it, or that increases the penalty for a crime after the fact.
"No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." This suggests that U.S. income tax is unconstitutional, as it's a "direct" tax that isn't divvied up "in proportion to the census." In fact, that's just what the Supreme Court ruled in 1895. Alas, fellow taxpayers, the Constitution has since been amended. The 16th Amendment gives Congress the power "to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
"No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state." Congress can tax your income, but it still can't tax a state's exports.
"No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another." Congress can't play favorites among the ports of different states. Through this clause and others, the Constitution effectively established a "free trade zone" within U.S. borders. Before the Constitution was ratified, states often imposed duties on each other.
"No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time." Congress controls the nation's checkbook. If the government wants to spend money, Congress has to pass a law to appropriate it. But Congress can't hide the checkbook from public view.
"No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state." Congress can't make anyone king (not even Elvis). And if you work for the U.S. government, you can't take gifts from foreign countries without Congress's consent (not even the president, who accepts gifts only in trust on behalf of the American people).

Steve Sampson
September 14, 2006

Judicial Branch