Powers of the President and Public Policies Essay

Powers of the President and Public Policies - Essay Example These powers are exercised at the federal level. The main instrument of discharging these powers is the executive order. Executive orders are issued by the President to provide rules and regulations for the federal agencies along with key matters of national interest. The President also has extensive legislative powers. Firstly, the Constitution of the United States is highly rigid and secondly, the US Congress is often subject to the rulings of the President’s own party. Actually, the general situation in the Congress is that the President’s political party holds the majority of the seats. But even if in such circumstances the President fails to exercise his influence and/or control, he/she may resort to the mechanism of Presidential veto. This veto mechanism helps the President to block Congressional Bills if he/she wishes to do so. However, the President should explain the reason behind such actions. (The Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency 2009) Another major power of the President that has a nation wide influence with regard to both federal and state level affairs is the Presidents appointment powers. By the virtue of appointment powers, the President can appoint a wide range of government officials, federal courts’ judges, Supreme Court’s judgers, civil servants, chiefs of federal agencies, etc. In this way, the President can bring persons who agree with his/her policy preferences to powerful positions so that they can implement the President’s public policies in a more effective way. (Walker 2012) An important pejorative power of the President is his/her constitutional ability to convene a special session of Congress. These sessions are meant to debate and decide on major national and/or international issues of contention. This power of the President can be thought of as a power that lies in the borderline of both