The President and Congress’ Role in Foreign Policy

Congress and the president play important roles in the foreign policy of the United States. The Constitution grants both branches of the government specific powers and also has areas where they need to work together. Both the legislative and executive branches have informal powers that each can use and exploit for political gain. Congress and president share the foreign policy role by the Principle of Codetermination.

The Constitution grants the president three powers as to foreign policy. First of all, the President is the Commander in Chief of all the armed forces. He is also the head of the national security establishment. This power gives him the right to direct the military as well as the intelligence community and to appoint all high level officials. The President can also issue executive orders that affect both. The President is the head of State and the Government so when he goes on trips overseas he speaks for the country. The President has the power to make treaties with other nations and bring it to the Senate for ratification. They may choose to or not to pass the treaty just as the President has the authority to veto any bill the Congress passes.

Along with the Constitutional powers the President has are the informal powers that automatically come with the position but varies between men. One source of power is the simple fact that he is the President of the United States, the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth. This alone comes with much prestige that he can speak to the world and be listened to. Being a domestically popular figure also helps enhance this. A President can tout his past experience when making policy that will also help further his power. During his tenure the political allies through the years will come into play and help raise support for particular policies. Being the President and having many allies gives you a larger bully-pulpit in which to speak your views. One of the most vital sources of power for the President is being able to speak your views as well as have other prominent officials echo your beliefs.

The Congress was also delegated many responsibilities and duties by the Founding Fathers in foreign policy. The first is a surprise to some people and that is the power to declare war. It is the legislative branch that actually declares war on another nation, not the President. The Congress also has the power of budget authority so all the President’s foreign policy expenditures have to be accounted for. Another way the Congress can exercise its foreign policy power is by using each of their legislative staffs to probe the Executive and its actions as well as using the information they find in oversight hearings on foreign policy from the President. The Senate body in particular has the right in the Constitution to ratify all treaties by the President as well as confirm or deny political and military appointments. By having this power they can influence the President’s decision on his pick. One power granted to the Congress that was not put into the Constitution is the War Powers Act of 1973. This law gave the Congress much more power in foreign policy by not allowing the President to keep troops in combat over 60 days without Congressional approval and gave the legislature the power to withdraw forces at any time.

The Congress has less informal powers than the executive but they do use them quite often, especially if the executive and legislature are controlled by different parties. Because there are so many legislatures they can go back to their representative districts and make a case for an issue. If many of them agree on an issue they have representative legitimacy that makes their policy choice well heard. If members in Congress believe the White House is acting out of its authority then it has the power to have public hearings about issues and use those hearings to their political gain. They may also use the floors of their chambers to speak on a variety of topics that many will watch on C-SPAN or the local news that evening.

The relationship the President has had with Congress has changed numerous times throughout our history. The type of relationship has ranged from compliance to resistance to rejection and independence all depending on the issues and actions of the day. The transitions can be explained by a number of reasons. The executive may have more leeway and power in foreign policy when things are going well and the Congress is concentrating more on domestic issues. With so many legislatures all worrying about their districts they sometimes do not have the countries best interest in mind and may not pay attention to the foreign matters.

The timing of incidents in our history has also led to a change in the relationship between President and Congress. History changing events like Pearl Harbor and 9-11 have given the President more power without oversight in the belief he will do what is in the country’s best interest quickly and decisively such as declaring war on Japan or passing the Patriot Act against suspected terrorists. When the President fails at a large scale action or intervention the Congress then will try to assume more power and control of foreign policy. This happened after Vietnam when the President was forced into actions by Congress. Ultimately, the attitude and relationship between the two branches of government will help pass or reject policy. When Bill Clinton was able to lobby Congress and gain support NAFTA was ratified by the Senate. On the other hand, when he ignored them they were easily swayed against the CTBT treaty and voted against it.