Executive Branch I INTRODUCTION Executive Branch, the branch of the United States government devoted to administering and enforcing the country s laws. The country s laws are written by the legislative branch (Congress), approved by the president of the United States, and subject to interpretation by the judicial branch. The executive branch has 15 major departments and scores of separate agencies. Executive branch agencies, departments, and other entities are all bureaucracies large organizations composed of clerks, administrators, and other workers. Executive branch bureaucracies disperse funds, manage programs, provide services, and enforce regulations and laws. They also make rules that have the force of law behind them. Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States makes the president the head of the executive branch. In addition, laws give the president specific powers over a wide range of matters. II STRUCTURE
Washington and His Cabinet United States President George Washington, far left, sits with members of his Cabinet who were appointed in 1789 and 1790. The members are, left to right: Secretary of War Henry Knox, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Corbis There are 15 major departments in the executive branch. They employ about 1.6 million civilian employees. In order of establishment the departments are: Department of State (1789) Department of the Treasury (1789) Department of the Interior (1849) Department of Agriculture (1862) Department of Justice (1870) Department of Commerce (1913) Department of Labor (1913) Department of Defense (1947) Department of Housing and Urban Development (1965)
Department of Transportation (1967) Department of Energy (1977) Department of Health and Human Services (1979) Department of Education (1980) Department of Veterans Affairs (1989) Department of Homeland Security (2003) The heads of these departments are members of the Cabinet, a body dating to George Washington s time. The Cabinet advises the president and supplies requested information. The Defense Department, with about 750,000 civilian employees and about 1.4 million military personnel, is the largest enterprise in the nation. It employs more people and buys more goods and services than any other business or organization, public or private. Treasury is another key department. Its Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collects taxes, and other divisions print money and mint coins, collect duties on goods imported from abroad, and regulate alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. George W. Bush and His Cabinet
George W. Bush, shown during his first term as president, meets with his Cabinet. Cabinet members advise the president and lead government agencies. President Bush is sitting between Secretary of State Colin Powell, left, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, right. Shawn Thew/AFP The Department of Health and Human Services is a vast department that deals with some of the most popular domestic programs. These include health-care financing through Medicare and Medicaid, and research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some executive departments include many important agencies. The Department of Homeland Security, for example, includes agencies such as the Coast Guard, the Customs Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Commerce Department includes entities such as the Bureau of the Census, the International Trade Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Patent and Trademark Office. There are many well-known executive offices outside traditional Cabinet departments. These quasiindependent entities include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Small Business Administration (SBA). Many regulatory agencies are designed to lie somewhere between the executive and legislative branch their members are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but they operate independently. These include the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Other entities resemble business enterprises. Some are corporations wholly owned by the government for example, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Others are corporations sponsored by the government but operating partly or wholly in the private sector for example, the United States Postal Service, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Federal National Mortgage Association, sometimes called Fannie Mae.
III GROWTH OF EXECUTIVE POWER THROUGH HISTORY In 1789 the first Congress created three departments: the Department of State (foreign affairs), the Department of the Treasury (financial affairs and currency), and the Department of War (military affairs). In addition, the attorney general of the United States handled legal business. The departments were small in size and had limited duties. Westward expansion of the country s growing population in the 19th century led to several new departments, notably agriculture and the interior. These departments distributed grants for such things as building railroads and settling western lands. They also supervised the building of such public works as roads and canals. Also during the 19th century, the Treasury Department protected local industries by collecting tariffs on goods imported from foreign nations. As the country industrialized during the late 19th century, the public pressured Congress to enact laws to protect workers and consumers. Congress created many new agencies, primarily to regulate private business. Congress produced the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 to regulate railroads, and the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 to regulate trusts huge businesses that dominated specific markets. Popular pressure for increased regulation of businesses increased in the early 20th century. This pressure led to laws such as the Pure Food and Drug Acts, and the 1906 Meat Inspection Act. Pressure for reform also led to creation of the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 to prevent unfair business practices. Worldwide depression in the 1930s brought new demands that government take a more activist role in regulating businesses, protecting workers, and ensuring national economic stability. As part of the reform agenda of President Franklin Roosevelt, known as the New Deal, government departments grew quickly, and Congress and the executive branch created many new independent regulatory agencies. A number of new agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency, were created in the 1960s and 1970s. These agencies were established to enforce laws and implement regulations in areas such as air and water pollution, vehicle
safety, workplace safety, prescription drugs, and bank lending practices. Few of the new regulations have been repealed, but recently critics have argued that the government should cut back on such regulations and eliminate the agencies that carry them out. IV EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY AROUND THE WORLD As in the United States, most countries rely upon large executive bureaucracies to carry out laws and enforce rules. However, the United States government is proportionately smaller than the governments of comparable nations for example, Britain, Canada, France, or Germany. There are several reasons for this. First, the United States has a tradition of limited government. From colonial times to the present, Americans have distrusted government, preferring to let private individuals, firms, and groups operate with a minimum of governmental interference. Second, U.S. citizens resist taxes even more fiercely than people in other nations. The 1773 Boston Tea Party, for example, was a protest against taxes levied by the British on a variety of products, including tea. More recently, President George H. W. Bush appealed to voters during the 1988 presidential campaign by promising No new taxes! As a result of this resistance to high taxes, Americans pay lower taxes than citizens of most other industrialized countries. Third, local and state governments perform many services valued by citizens, including policing services, fire safety, and even welfare programs. These entities have seen steady growth, in contrast to the federal government, which has had a shrinking workforce and little increase in spending. The executive branch in the United States is also unusual in its separation from the legislature and the judiciary. In many other countries these powers are closely integrated. In India, for example, executive agencies are supervised by cabinet ministers who are also members of the parliament (national legislature). See also Separation of Powers.
Contributed By: Roger H. Davidson