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The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions
This report frames potential policy questions concerning the U.S. Secret Service's (USSS's) mission and organization through an examination of the USSS history and its statutory authorities, mission, and present activities within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions
This report frames potential policy questions concerning the U.S. Secret Service's (USSS's) mission and organization through an examination of the USSS history and its statutory authorities, mission, and present activities within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions
This report frames potential policy questions concerning the U.S. Secret Service's (USSS's) mission and organization through an examination of the USSS history and its statutory authorities, mission, and present activities within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions
This report frames potential policy questions concerning the U.S. Secret Service's (USSS's) mission and organization through an examination of the USSS history and its statutory authorities, mission, and present activities within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions
This report frames potential policy questions concerning the U.S. Secret Service's (USSS's) mission and organization through an examination of the USSS history and its statutory authorities, mission, and present activities within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Can the President Compel Domestic Enforcement of an International Tribunal’s Judgment? Overview of Supreme Court Decision in Medellín v. Texas
No Description Available.
Former Presidents: Pensions, Office Allowances, and Other Federal Benefits
This report describes the benefits Presidents receive upon leaving office, details the history of the Former Presidents Act (FPA), and analyzes some legislative options for the 110th Congress related to former Presidents.
Direct Assaults Against Presidents, Presidents-Elect, and Candidates
No Description Available.
The First Year: Assessments of Cooperation Between Newly Elected Presidents and Congress
No Description Available.
The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions
This report frames potential policy questions concerning the U.S. Secret Service's (USSS) mission and organization through an examination of the USSS history and its statutory authorities, mission, and present activities within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Speed of Presidential and Senate Actions on Supreme Court Nominations, 1900-2005
This report provides information on the amount of time taken to act on all Supreme Court nominations occurring between 1900 and the present. It focuses on the actual amounts of time that Presidents and the Senate have taken to act (as opposed to the elapsed time between official points in the process).
An Overview of the Impeachment Process
The Constitution sets forth the general principles which control the procedural aspects of impeachment, vesting the power to impeach in the House of Representatives, while imbuing the Senate with the power to try impeachments. Both the Senate and the House have designed procedures to implement these general principles in dealing with a wide range of impeachment issues. This report provides a brief overview of the impeachment process, reflecting the roles of both the House and the Senate during the course of an impeachment inquiry and trial.
President of the United States: Compensation
This report discusses the President’s compensation and the three most recent increases to the salary enacted in 1949 (81st Congress), 1969 (91st Congress), and 1999 (106th Congress).
Presidential Transitions: Background and Federal Support
This report discusses the Presidential Transition Act, which authorizes funding for the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide suitable office space, staff compensation and other services associated with the transition process.
Presidential Vetoes, 1789-Present: A Summary Overview
This report discusses the veto power vested in the President by Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution. It provides a general overview and a table of presidential vetoes from 1789-2004, listing the coincident Congresses, regular vetoes, pocket vetoes, total vetoes, and vetoes overridden for each president.
President Clinton's Vetoes
This report provides a table outlining the bills vetoed by President William Jefferson Clinton's two terms in office. It includes an overview and the bill number, date, title, and override attempts for each veto.
Presidential Directives: Background and Overview
This report provides an overview of the different kinds of directives that have been utilized primarily by twentieth century Presidents. It presents background on their historical development, accounting, use, and effect.
Senate Executive Business and the Executive Calendar
The Senate has responsibilities under both Article I (outlining legislative prerogatives) and Article II of the Constitution. As a result, the upper body handles legislative and executive business differently. This report discusses the Senate’s lawmaking responsibilities under Article I; executive business, which consists of treaties and nominations.
Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions
This report supplies brief answers to some frequently asked questions regarding recess appointments. When the Senate is in recess, the President may make a temporary appointment, called a recess appointment, to any such position without Senate approval (Article II, Section 2, Clause 3).
The President's State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications
This report discusses the State of the Union address, which is a communication between the President and Congress in which the chief executive reports on the current conditions of the United States and provides policy proposals for the upcoming legislative year.
The President’s Reorganization Authority: Review and Analysis
This report addresses three specific issues: (1) the historical basis and use of the President’s reorganization authority; (2) the factors contributing to the lapse of the President’s reorganization authority in 1984,1 and (3) thoughts on the future of reorganization in the executive branch.
Presidential Directives: Background and Overview
This report provides an overview of the different kinds of directives that have primarily been utilized by twentieth-century Presidents. It includes background on the historical development, accounting, use, and effect of such directives.
Presidential Transitions: Issues Involving Outgoing and Incoming Administrations
This report discusses the issues involving transfer of power from one administration to the other. The smooth and orderly transfer of power can be a notable feature of presidential transitions, and a testament to the legitimacy and durability of the electoral and democratic processes.
Presidential Claims of Executive Privilege: History, Law, Practice and Recent Developments
This report discusses the background of claims of executive privilege, a right to preserve the confidentiality of information and documents in the face of legislative demands, ending with a look into how President George W. Bush has used them.
Social Security: Report of the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security
This report describes the Commission’s three reform plans. The first plan would make no other changes to the program. The second plan would slow the growth of Social Security through one major provision that would index initial benefits to prices rather than wages. The third plan would slow future program growth through a variety of measures.
Counting Electoral Votes: An Overview of Procedures at the Joint Session, Including Objections by Members of Congress
This report describes the steps which precede the joint session and the procedures set in the Constitution and statute by which the House and Senate jointly certify the results of the electoral vote. It also discusses the procedures set in law governing challenges to the validity of an electoral vote, and makes reference to the procedures followed during the joint session in 2005 by which the election of George W. Bush was certified.
President Clinton’s Vetoes
This report provides a table outlining the bills vetoed by President William Jefferson Clinton's two terms in office. It includes an overview and the bill number, date, title, and override attempts for each veto.
Federal Recess Judges
This report discusses the recess clause and takes a look at the history of recess appointments. Under Article II of the Constitution, the President is empowered "to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session." Presidents have used the recess appointment power on more than 300 occasions to place judges on the district, appellate, and U.S. Supreme Court level. This practice slowed after the 1950s, but recent recess appointments to federal appellate courts (the Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits) have revived a number of constitutional issues.
VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program
This report discusses VH-71 presidential helicopter, which has experienced noteworthy cost increases and schedule delays, which have generated controversy and scrutiny. The VH-71 is intended to replace the President's current operational fleet of helicopters, consisting of 11 VH-3D Sea Kings and 8 VH-60N Night Hawks.
VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
This report discusses the VH-71 program, which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
VH-71/VXX Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
This report discusses the VH-71 program, which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
This report discusses the VH-71 program, which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
VH-71/VXX Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
This report discusses the VH-71 program, which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
This report discusses the VH-71 program which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
VH-71/VXX Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
This report discusses the VH-71 program that is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
Executive Branch Reorganization and Management Initiatives: A Brief Overview
This report provides a brief overview of recent executive branch reorganization actions and related management initiatives. It reviews the relevant plans and preparations of President-elect Barack Obama as the new Administration transitions to assuming management of the executive branch. Briefly examined, as well, are the organization and management efforts of the most recent regimes.
Presidential Records: Issues for the 111th Congress
This report analyzes President Barack Obama's first executive order (E.O. 13489), which rescinded E.O. 13233, and discusses its departure from the policies of the previous administration. Additionally, this report examines H.R. 35 and its possible legislative effects on the presidential records policies of the Obama Administration.
Recess Appointments Made by President George W. Bush, January 20, 2001- October 31, 2008
This report identifies recess appointments made by President George W. Bush from the time he took office on January 20, 2001, through October 31, 2008. Basic descriptive statistics regarding these appointments are also provided.
Executive Branch Reorganization and Management Initiatives: A Brief Overview
This report provides a brief overview of recent executive branch reorganization actions and related management initiatives. It reviews the relevant plans and preparations of President-elect Barack Obama as the new Administration transitions to assuming management of the executive branch. Briefly examined, as well, are the organization and management efforts of the most recent regimes.
National Emergency Powers
This report the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651) that eliminated or modified some statutory grants of emergency authority, required the President to declare formally the existence of a national emergency and to specify what statutory authority, activated by the declaration, would be used, and provided Congress a means to countermand the President's declaration and the activated authority being sought.
National Emergency Powers
This report the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651) that eliminated or modified some statutory grants of emergency authority, required the President to declare formally the existence of a national emergency and to specify what statutory authority, activated by the declaration, would be used, and provided Congress a means to countermand the President's declaration and the activated authority being sought.
Presidential Succession: Perspectives, Contemporary Analysis, and 110th Congress Proposed Legislation
This report provides analytical perspective on presidential succession questions in U.S. history, identifies and assesses contemporary succession issues, and identifies and analyzes relevant legislation offered in the 110th Congress.
An Overview of the Presidential Pardoning Power
This report provides an overview of the scope of the President's pardoning power, the legal effects of a pardon, and the procedures that have traditionally been adhered to in the consideration of requests for pardons.
Item Veto and Expanded Impoundment Proposals
This report provides a brief history of impoundment and discusses the debate surrounding the line item veto, particularly in relation to federal spending and the budget process.
Congressional Overrides of Presidential Vetoes
This report discusses Congress' power to override presidential vetoes. The President's veto authority is among his most significant tools in legislative dealings with Congress. It is effective not only in preventing the passage of legislation undesirable to the President, but also as a threat, sometimes forcing Congress to modify legislation before it is presented to the President.
The Presidential Veto and Congressional Procedure
This report provides a brief overview of procedures involved in vetoing a bill and the ways Congress can respond to a presidential veto. Presidential vetoes are a rejection of legislation approved by majorities in both houses of Congress. Vetoes and congressional efforts to override them are often the reason for, or a reflection of, conflict between Congress and the President. The threat of a presidential veto can prompt the modification of bills moving through the legislative process. Tabular data are provided on the number of presidential vetoes exercised by each President from George Washington to William Clinton.
Shutdown of the Federal Government: Causes, Effects, and Process
This report provides a brief overview of the causes and effects of federal government shutdowns. This report provides a brief overview of the causes and effects of federal government shutdowns. When federal agencies and programs lack appropriated funding, they must cease operations, except in emergency situations. The failure of the President and Congress to reach agreement on funding measures has caused government shutdowns. It is necessary either to enact temporary funding legislation at the close of the fiscal year or to shut down the activities that are not funded at that time.
Agency Justification of the President’s Budget
This report details the process by which the president must confirm their budget through Congress. Moreover, this report focuses specifically on the justifications for spending requests.
The Mid-Session Review of the President's Budget: Timing Issues
This report provides information on the timing of submission of the mid-session review for FY1980-FY2009, a 30-year period that covers all or part of the administrations of five Presidents, applying to the last two years of the Carter Administration, and the full terms of the Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush Administrations.
Evolution of the Senate's Role in the Nomination and Confirmation Process: A Brief History
This report discusses the process of Advice and Consent in the Senate. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the President "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other Public Ministers and Counsels, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all Other Officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law…."
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