The President’s Four Inherent Powers, Essay Example

The president’s four inherent powers include:

• the power to go to war without congressional authorization
• the power to engage in foreign surveillance
• the power to detain enemy combatants without access to a lawyer or to hearings
• the power to engage in coercive interrogation of enemies, even torture, when necessary

It appears that these powers have expanded over time, as the current administration and ones in the recent past have made use of all four of these inherent powers. Furthermore, the “the power to engage in foreign surveillance” has expanded to include local surveillance with regards to the NSA’s monitoring of American citizens.

Executive Order 13685 appears to be an expansion of power by the president because he is preventing United States citizens from being able to do business in the Crimea region of Ukraine. This is restricting business and is not included as one of the president’s powers, but can be seen as an extension of “the power to go to war without congressional authorization”, as relations with the area are currently tense. For a similar reason, Executive Order 13660 was enacted, which blocks trading between the United States and the Ukraine. This is an extension of presidential power for the same reason as Executive Order 13685.

Two executive orders that fall within this intent include Executive Order 13658, which establishes minimum wage for contractors and Executive Order 13659, which streamlines the export/import process for America’s businesses. These are related to international affairs and ensuring civil liberties for the American people in a manner that is supported by the Constitution. However, while beneficial, these activities are never marked as allowed as a part of the inherent powers and are therefore examples of an overreach of an expansion of powers.

The House legislates by scheduling which bills will be voted on before debating them and voting whether to pass them. Bill H.R.2 is also known as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. The bill was referred to several different committees before being voted on and was finally sent to the Senate last week. This demonstrates the lengthy process the House goes through before deciding to pass a bill to the Senate.

The Senate receives approved bills from the House to vote on. H.R.4870 is also known as the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2015. This bill was set to increase the funds that the military would receive. The bill became public law in 2014, indicating that it successfully went through the House and Senate. Many amendments were made to this bill to ensure that it would pass.

The House Committee on Agriculture and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry were selected.

The Senate committee is discussing agricultural trade with Cuba, and the relationship between the EPA and the water in the U.S. The House committee is discussing the Farm Bill, water cleanliness, and crop insurance.

The hearing was more straightforward than expected. I am not familiar with agriculture, but the terms used were ones I can understand. The witnesses seemed to be mostly experts in the field, including farmers and representatives from industries that sell agricultural products. While some Congressional members asked informed and intelligent questions, others seemed to not be aware of the issues that were being discussed. There was more political rhetoric than expected, and discussions were on basic descriptions of terms and less about the issue at hand. This has changed my opinion with Congress and I do not believe the individuals selected for these committees are well-educated in their specialty areas.