From: scasburn@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Steven M Casburn)
Subject: Congressional power?
Keywords: Congress, legislative, executive, power, Constitution
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 00:50:20 GMT

     (This is a response to a four-day-old post; I was hoping someone else woud
respond, but. . .)

Dennis at U. of Alabama-Huntsville (wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov)
writes:

>Congress is the only constitutional body with the power to tax. Read the
>document sometime. It might help you to understand why Congress is the main
>problem in this country.  Also take a Poly sci 101 class to find out why,
>constitutionally and hence structrually why Congress has the most power of
>the three branches of government.

     I like disagreeing with insufferably patronizing people, and Dennis has
obliged me here.
     It is true that Congress alone has the power to tax, just as it alone has
the power to go to war. This does *not*, however, mean that the executive
branch is powerless in the face of this, as Dennis seems to imply by putting
all the blame on Congress.
     If the Congress passes a bill to raise taxes, the President can veto it.
(Yes, the Congress can overturn that veto, but that has not happened during the
Bush presidency.) Also, the President can push Congress to pass a tax bill of
his own, as Bush did with the 1990 Budget Agreement (I'd imagine some
conservatives are still untwisting their arms :-) ) And if the President wants 
to go to war, he can ignore the War Powers Act and do as he pleases, as the 
Gulf War showed.
     It is true, as Dennis says, that if you take a basic poli sci course you
might come away with the impression that the legislative is more powerful than
the executive. This is true on paper, just as NASA cost estimates are true on
paper. However, the real world is very different from the paper world.
     In the real world, the legislative branch is not unified. If it were,
Dennis would be absolutely right. But Congress is comprised of 435
Representatives and 100 Senators, each with their own personal, secret, and/or
district-oriented goals in mind. For Congress to do anything, its leaders must
cobble together a majority coalition in each chamber. When you consider that
more than 40% of the members in each chamber are under the indirect control or
strong influence of the executive branch, you see that it can be hard for
Congress to take actions which go against those of the President.
     The executive branch, on the other hand, is a unit with a single leader:
the President. Any disputes between executive branch staffers can be resolved
by the President, though some (i.e. Carter) have let them fester.
     This leadership difference more than negates the paper gap between the
powers of the legislative and executive branches. If you want to find reasons
for our current state of gridlock, you will, it is true, find many on Capitol
Hill. But you will find just as many on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue.

                                    Steve
]
-- 
    Steve Casburn (scasburn@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
    *The* Ohio State University
    When I was growing up, Cal and Kansas were competitive programs. They
      still are. But it's not quite the same... :-)
Xref: sparky alt.politics.clinton:7609 talk.politics.misc:48369 alt.rush-limbaugh:6092 alt.politics.bush:7021 alt.politics.elections:14529