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In the news

In the news. Confrontation over Iraq war spending. New wrinkle is the veto of the $100 billion domestic spending bill. NY Times/CBS poll on NH and Iowa.

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In the news

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  1. In the news • Confrontation over Iraq war spending. New wrinkle is the veto of the $100 billion domestic spending bill. • NY Times/CBS poll on NH and Iowa. • Iowa: 27% Romney,21% Huckabee,15% Giuliani, but support for all three is soft (2/3 of Romney supporters said they may shift). Clinton 25%, Edwards 23%, Obama 22%, Richardson 12%. • NH: Clinton 37%, Obama 22%, Edwards 9%. Romney 34%, Giuliani and McCain both at 16%.

  2. Congress Context Member goals – reelection and policy The party system Polarized parties (Dickinson) – difficulties of presidential leadership of Congress Purging of the moderates of both parties. Redistricting. Party leadership in Congress, esp. the House -- Gingrich revolution and the current leadership. Iraq confrontation a good example.

  3. Congress, cont. Short term factors that influence presidential success Party control of Congress: unified v. divided govt. Size of the president’s party in the House and Senate. Tough to push through policy with narrow margins. Public opinion (Neustadt) Honeymoon – doesn’t seem to last long. Nature of the campaign – a mandate? Coattails?

  4. Sources of Conflict with Congress Different constituencies: local for Congress, national for the president. Different time horizons: much longer for Congress. Average tenure for a member of Congress is about 11 years. Much longer for leaders. Institutional structure (hierarchical vs. decentralized) Information and expertise: used to be much more one-sided (in the President’s favor, but Congress has addressed this imbalance in recent decades). Instruments of conflict: the veto and veto threats.

  5. Sources of cooperation Party loyalty -- congruence of interests rather than presidential influence. How would you measure influence? What type of data would you need? Coattails – members who the president helps get elected will be more loyal to him. Bipartisanship – try to get support from other party. Legislative liaison – explicit efforts at outreach. Midterm elections and the President Surge and decline and “withdrawn coattails” Ideological/partisan balancing

  6. Strategies for dealing with Congress Triangulation with the House and Senate. Both Clinton and Bush did this: play off the more extreme House against the more moderate Senate. Types of coalitions: four groups from left to right. partisan (1+2 v. 3+4). Leads to confrontation and a veto strategy when president’s party does not control Congress. Ideological or issue-based (1+3 v. 2+4) Not many issues like this. Abortion, torture, a few others. Bipartisan (1 v. 2+3+4 or 1+2+3 v. 4). Consensus (nearly unanimous support).

  7. Sharing information with Congress: executive privilege • Constitution is silent on question of whether president can keep information secret from Congress and the public • Specifically allows Congress to keep its records secret, requiring publication “excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy” • Supreme court: “in the area of basic national defense, the frequent need for absolute secrecy is, of course, self evident.” • However, U.S. v. Nixon (1974) put limits on the claims of executive privilege. Current controversy over the U.S. attorneys may help sort this out.

  8. Important recent development: Signing Statements • Presidential signing statements are pronouncements issued by the president when he signs a law that, in addition to providing general commentary, identify provisions of the legislation with which the president has concerns and (1) provide the president's interpretation of the language of the law, (2) announce constitutional limits on the implementation of some of its provisions, or (3) indicate directions to executive branch officials as to how to administer the new law in an acceptable manner. • Practice has been common since the 1980s. Differences in counting; Bush issued between 150 and 750 signing statements, depending on how they are counted. Key difference is that a higher proportion of Bush’s statements raise constitutional questions. • Constitutionality of this practice is unclear: the Court will have to define its limits.

  9. Frequency of signing statements Number Percent Constitutional • Reagan 276 26% • GHW Bush 214 68% • Clinton 391 27% • GW Bush 150-750 86% Source: 2006 CRS report and Boston Globe data.

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