OCR Text |
Show Constitution: Powers of the President Part HI By DR. M. KARLYNN HINMAN Powers of the President Part HI The President's powers concerning legislation are important to the functioning of the nation. Article II Section 3 requires the President to give Congress information about the state of the Union and to recommend legislation he deems expedient. The President may convene either or both houses of Congress on "extraordinary occasions." If the two houses disagree about the time for adjournment, the President may adjourn them. The President's annual State of the Union address is the embodiment of the constitutional requirement that he report to the Congress. The address is thus a Constitutional event as well as a major political opportunity for the President to state what he deems the successes and needs of his program. The power to recommend has developed into a major executive responsibility and prerogative. The President, by his executive officers and cabinet heads, now provides whole programs and initiatives, including annual budget requests. His programs have become the foundation of the legislative process. The needs of a growing nation, whether faced with war or enjoying the blessings of peace, have made the President the nation's chief economist and, in some ways, the chief legislator, although he cannot vote for any of the bills he recommends and must wait for a member of Congress to introduce the bills which would, if passed, enact the President's programs. v The President's power to convene Congress in special sessions ses-sions insures that the legislature will be available in emergencies. emergen-cies. His power to adjourn the Houses if they cannot agree to adjourn provides a constitutional solution to a possible but unlikely problem. One of the President's most significant powers is the veto, conferred and described in Article I, which deals primarily with Congress, rather than Article II, which is devoted primarily to the creation and power of the executive. Before a bill adopted by Congress can become law, it must ordinarily be signed by the President. If the President opposes it, he may veto and return it to the chamber in which the bill was initiated, together with his objections. That chamber, either the Senate or the House, must then reconsider the bill and the President's objections. If two-thirds two-thirds of the members voting approve the bill, then it goes to the other chamber. If the second approves by a two-thirds vote, the bill becomes law, and the President's veto is overridden. The President has ten days after Congress enacts a bill in which to veto it. If he neither signs nor vetoes during that time, the bill becomes law unless the Congress has adjourned during that ten-day period. If it has adjourned during those ten days and the President signs the bill, it becomes law. If he does not sign it, then the bill does not become law. The President's decision not to sign a bill during the ten days when Congress has adjourned is called the pocket veto he has kept the bill in his pocket and has silently let the bill pass into oblivion. The veto is one of the most spectacular examples of the Constitution's system of checks and balances. It is a newsworthy news-worthy event when Congress has enacted, but the President disapproves so strongly that he vetoes. Congressional power has been checked by the President, but that check is balanced by Congress when two-thirds of the members voting in each House override the veto. Copyrighted M. Karlyn Hinman |