The Problem Of Uninformed Voters

During discussions with people here in my community, when you ask them who has control over taxing, spending and oversight during the last eight years they will tell you "Bush and the Republicans."

These people are over 55 years old and don't know how our government works on even the most basic level. We know from some of the exit polling that took place after the last election a high percentage of the people who voted in the election couldn't tell the interviewer what duties Rep. Nancy Pelosi or Sen. Harry Reid are performing. However, all of them voted and were proud of their selections.

This lack of knowledge is astounding in this day and age. I learned about the government in secondary school civics classes in the early 1950s. We can get all the information we need about the governmental functions from the Internet, libraries and the many books written about these functions. You cannot, however, get this information from the written media or from the broadcast media. They provide mostly biased information from either writers with an agenda or pundits and strategists with agendas. The following are some facts about the president and the Executive Branch of our government.

The Executive Branch is made up of the president, vice president, cabinet departments and other independent agencies:

•President - Leader of our country and commander in chief of our military.

•Vice president - president of the Senate and becomes president if the president is unable to serve.

•Cabinet departments - heads advise president on policy issues and helps execute the policies.

•Independent agencies - Help execute policy and/or provide special services.

The presidential powers assigned by the Constitution are:

•Commander in Chief of the Military.

•Make treaties, but "must" have two-thirds consent from the Senate. That is 66 out of our 100 senators.

•Receives ambassadors and other dignitaries from foreign countries.

•Appoints ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, federal judges and any other officials provided for by Congress.

•Gives an annual State of the Union address to Congress.

•Recommends legislation to Congress. Note: "Recommend" not make legislation. Only Congress can make legislation and pass laws.

•Convenes Congress on extraordinary occasions.

•Adjourns Congress in case of disagreement about adjournment.

•Takes care that the laws are faithfully executed.

•Filsl administration vacancies during Congressional recesses.

•Grants reprieves and pardons for offences against the U.S.

The president's legislative powers are limited to recommendations. He cannot make legislation. That power is given only to the Congress. When legislation is sent to the president he has only three options available to him. He may sign the bill into law or veto the bill or he may do nothing. In the first case it becomes the law of the land. If it is not disputed, it will remain the law until it is changed by the Congress. If it is disputed it may end up in the court system and may eventually end up in the Supreme Court. They may rule that it is a good law and is Constitutional or may rule it is not, in which case it will not become law. If the president veto's the bill, it returns to the Congress unsigned. The Congress may override and must be pass the bill again with two-thirds of the votes in the House and Senate to make the bill into law. The president may also do nothing and allow the bill to remain unsigned. Two things then may happen. If the Congress is still in session after 10 days, the bill becomes law. If the Congress adjourns during the 10 days following the bills submission to the president it dies. This is known as a pocket veto and cannot be overridden by the Congress. When the president vetoes a bill it is for the entire bill. He does not have the power to veto line items in the bill.

The president submits a budget, which are his "goals" for spending in the next fiscal year. Once it is submitted his budget duties are done. The Congress now, through the Ways and Means Committee, and other committees and their sub-committees comes up with the spending bills for the following fiscal year. The Congress decides where the money will be spent and in what amounts. The only control the president has is to ask them to hold to limits in spending or to shift their spending to other priorities. They can agree and shift spending or ignore the suggestions and present their appropriations bill for his signature. If they have included a poison pill in the bill, in the form of a line item that cannot be vetoed, the president may be forced to sign the bill against his better judgment. If the bill is vetoed the override rules apply.

Candidates running for office often tell you if you elect them they will do various things like taxing people having higher incomes or change the laws concerning Social Security or increasing education spending. The president cannot do any of those things. Only the Congress can tax and spend. Are the candidates lying to you? If he tells you he can do those things, then yes, he is lying to you. If he tells you he will ask Congress to do those things, then no, he is not lying to you. There is a big difference between those two ways of saying what he will do.

I used information from the following Web site in writing this piece. http://bensguide.gpo.gov.