Congress is the bicameral legislature of the US, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, DC. The composition and powers of congress are laid out in Article I of the Constitution. The Senate has 100 members, two from each state, while the House has 435 members, apportioned among states proportionate to their population (Karlan 1934). The primary function of congress is to pass laws: a bill must first be introduced in one chamber and then passed by a majority vote before being sent to the other chamber for further consideration. Apart from the congress, there is also the president; there are three main roles of the Presidency of the United States. These roles are to provide leadership for the nation, carry out the laws of the land, and serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Some US presidents carried appointments, made decisions on their terms of service, and declared attacks without the house of congress’s approval. The presidency of the United States has accumulated more power over time, but the US Congress still remains a powerful institution.
The two branches of government have battled for power since the country’s inception, with the presidency slowly gaining ground over congress. However, there have been several landmark moments that shifted power away from congress and towards the executive branch. For example, in 1803, the United States bought Louisiana from France (Cogliano 34). The purchase was made by President Thomas Jefferson without approval from congress, which sparked a debate about the president’s powers versus those of congress. This debate continued throughout American history and reached its peak in 1974 with Nixon’s impeachment hearings. President Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana from France without congressional consent because he wanted to increase the size of the United States for strategic reasons. At the time, America was expanding westward, and Jefferson believed that it was crucial to control as much territory as possible. Buying Louisiana from France was a shrewd move and helped make America a global superpower.
Additionally, George Washington refused to run for a third term, establishing a two-term precedent rule. George Washington was a man of principle and refused to run for a third term because he felt it would set a bad precedent (Genovese 36). He did not want people to think that they could be president for life. He wanted the president’s office to be seen as an honorable position and be held for a limited time. Washington was similarly concerned about the political stability of the country. George did not want the country to fracture into two opposing factions, each with its candidate for president; he thought that allowing himself to remain in office would increase the chances of this happening. George Washington served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797. The US Congress was formulated in the 1780s when each state sent delegates to Philadelphia to write the Articles of Confederation (Maggs 403). When Washington refused to run for the third time, the congress was already in place, and they did not object to George’s refusal or put him under question concerning his quitting decision.
Another reason why the US presidency has accumulated more power than congress is that the President can veto Congressional legislation. The President can veto Congressional legislation and has done so numerous times throughout history. An example occurred in 2006 when George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have increased the minimum wage. The bill vetoed by George Bush proposed an increase in the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over two years (DiMaggio 68). Bush argued that the proposed increase would hurt businesses and cost jobs, although economic research suggests that a modest increase in the minimum wage does not have a significant impact on employment levels (DiMaggio 68). Likewise, he claimed that the bill was too expensive, but it is worth noting that the total cost of the bill was only about $2 billion – a small fraction of federal spending (Miller 26). Ultimately, Bush’s veto was based more on politics than economics; he wanted to appease his conservative base and avoid angering business interests.
Moreover, George Bush was not the only president that vetoed congressional legislation. In 1996, President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have eliminated welfare as an entitlement program. Clinton did so because he felt that it would have been too hard on the poor and would have increased poverty levels (Falk 8). He also believed that it was vital to provide a safety net for the less fortunate members of society, and he thought that welfare was an effective way to do it. Critics of President Clinton’s decision argued that welfare was not an effective way to reduce poverty, and they claimed that it actually encouraged dependency and unemployment (Falk 4). They equally held that welfare was very expensive to taxpayers, and they believed that it would be better spent on other programs such as education or job training.
Additionally, the President can appoint federal judges and Supreme Court justices without Senate confirmation. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson appointed Henry Stanbery to be Attorney General (Braver 2782). The Senate refused to confirm him, so Johnson instead appointed him as a federal judge. In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt appointed Hugo Black to the Supreme Court (Baude 328). The Senate refused to confirm him; therefore, Roosevelt instead appointed him as a US Senator. After serving in the Senate for a year, Black was then confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Supreme Court.
Lastly, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and can order military actions without Congressional approval. President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003 without Congressional approval (Klopotan 92). This became known as the “War Powers Act” because it invoked a clause in the act. The act allowed the President to order military action for up to sixty days without Congressional approval if there was an imminent threat to national security. Similarly, in 2011, President Barack Obama ordered airstrikes against Libya without Congressional approval (Klopotan 91). The justification for this military action was that it was necessary to protect civilians from harm by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Lastly, in 2017, President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack that had killed civilians earlier in the week (Blomdahl 544). All these instances prove that the US presidency has gained more powers throughout time as compared to the US congress.
In conclusion, the US presidency is more powerful than the US congress. The president can veto Congressional legislation and appoint federal judges. Different US presidents (George Bush, Bill Clinton, Andrew Johnson, and Franklin Roosevelt) vetoed the congressional legislation in 2006, 1996, 1866, and 1933 respectively. George Washington also proved to be powerful when he refused to run for the third time as the president since congress was already in existence. Congress could not formulate some law to force him to run again; instead, congress used the served terms (two) by Washington to set the two-term limit. There were also instances when Washington, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump ordered military attacks with congress’s consent.
Works Cited
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