Essay On Bypassing Congress

474 Words2 Pages

In my opinion I do not feel that it is justification for bypassing Congress. Just because he is the President should not mean because he doesn’t like the way things are going he can just bypass them all. I kind of feel like that is a huge reason why things in our country are they way that they are. The president doesn’t care about what anyone else has to say only what he thinks is right. Unlike many other politicians or interest groups, the president does not have to work hard to receive media coverage. Whether it is the annual State of the Union address, release of the president’s budget proposal, a major speech, a press conference, a photo shoot with a foreign leader, or the release of a report, the president’s message is continually publicized. …show more content…

The president, either directly or through intermediaries, can carefully let members of Congress know which policies are favored. Using combinations of promises of favors and threats to members’ interests, the president may be able to influence the outcome of policy debates in Congress even without going public. Whether presidents are successful in placing policy issues on the national agenda and having them resolved in accordance with their preferences depends in part on how much “political capital” a president has available. Political capital is defined as the strength of the president’s popularity and of his party, in Congress and in other contexts. Members of Congress are more likely to support a popular president who has the ability to mobilize the public’s support, improve members’ standing by association with the president and the president’s party, and raise money for their campaigns. Even the most popular president cannot always dictate what issues are on the national agenda, however. If Congress passes legislation the president dislikes, he has the power to veto it, thereby rejecting the