Calling the Shots

The President, Executive Orders, and Public Policy

Daniel P. Gitterman

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780815729037
• Topic: Politique et relations internationales
• Subtopic: Gouvernement américain

Modern presidents are CEOs with broad powers over the federal government.

The United States Constitution lays out three hypothetically equal branches of government—the executive, the legislative, and the judicial—but over the years, the president, as head of the executive branch, has emerged as the usually dominant political and administrative force at the federal level. In fact, Daniel Gitterman tells us, the president is, effectively, the CEO of an enormous federal bureaucracy.

Using the unique legal authority delegated by thousands of laws, the ability to issue executive orders, and the capacity to shape how federal agencies write and enforce rules, the president calls the shots as to how the government is run on a daily basis. Modern presidents have, for example, used the power of the purchaser to require federal contractors to pay a minimum wage and to prohibit contracting with companies and contractors that knowingly employ unauthorized alien workers.

Presidents and their staffs use specific tools, including executive orders and memoranda to agency heads, as instruments of control and influence over the government and the private sector. For more than a century, they have used these tools without violating the separation of powers. Calling the Shots demonstrates how each of these executive powers is a powerful weapon of coercion and redistribution in the president's political and policymaking arsenal.

Index

Abortion, 126, 132

Accidents. See Health and safety

Accountability, 40, 42

Advisory Panel on Ethics and Conflict of Interest in Government, 108

Affirmative action, 33, 34, 77–78, 81, 83–84, 85, 141

Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010

Afghanistan war, 29, 49, 70, 98, 124

African Americans, 31–32, 73–79, 87. See also Civil rights; Racial discrimination; Segregation

Age discrimination, 77, 78, 88–89, 90–91, 100, 102, 104, 133, 142

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 90–91, 142

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1986, 91

Agent Orange (defoliant), 123

Aging population, 18, 120–21. See also Elderly people

AIDS, 53, 66, 67

Air National Guard, 84

Air traffic controllers strike, 60

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 134

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 85, 91, 99; Title I and Title V, 142

Anti-discrimination measures: AIDS epidemic and, 67; bipartisan tradition and, 102; gender identity and, 50, 94, 102, 103, 133, 142, 144; health-care programs and, 128, 132–33, 144; presidential policies and, 35, 73, 74, 75, 102, 136, 141–42; sexual orientation and, 102–03, 132, 135–36; spousal benefits and, 100–02, 104, 127. See also Affirmative action; Civil Rights Act of 1964; Equal employment opportunity

Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Act of 1997, 31

Antitrust, 23, 29

Appointments. See Political appointees

Armed forces. See Military personnel

Army National Guard, 84

Article I (U.S. Constitution), 32

Article II (U.S. Constitution), 7, 24, 137

Asian Americans, 29

Automobile industry, 45, 62

Automobile safety, 53, 66, 95–96

Baby boomers (1946–64), 18, 120–21

Birth defects, 123

Bisexuals. See Sexual orientation

Blue-collar workers, 59, 63

Blue Cross, 120

Boeing, 11

Bridgestone/Firestone, 26

Bureaucracy. See Federal bureaucracy

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 76

Bureau of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• One: The President, Executive Orders and Memos, and Public Policy
• Two: The President and the Power of the Purchaser
• Three: Barack Obama and the Power of the Purchaser
• Four: The President and the Power of the Employer
• Five: The President and the Power of the Equal Opportunity Employer
• Six: Barack Obama and the Power of the Employer-in-Chief
• Seven: The President and the Power of the Ethical Employer
• Eight: The President and the Power of the Payer
• Nine: Impact of the President’s Executive Powers on Politics and Policy
• Appendixes
• Notes
• References
• Index