The president of the United States is the head of state, government and the commander in chief of the armed forces. The president has many powers that have been vested in him by the Constitution. The executive arm of the government is headed by the president. On the other hand, the congress is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and their main duty is to make laws. Among the functions of the president and the congress includes the making of the budget and influencing domestic policies. The discussion will analyze the significance of the president and the congress upon the national budget and the domestic policies.
The president plays the first role in the budgetary process by formulating and submitting a budget request to the Congress for the next fiscal year. In performing this role, the president is assisted by the Office of Management and Budget. Bruff (2014) asserted that the President must create a budget proposal that includes information that is intended to convince the Congress priorities and amount stipulated are justified. The President’s budget proposal contains estimated spending, borrowing levels and revenue that are supposed to cover the coming fiscal year beginning on October 1. Also covered in the President’s budget include funding for the cabinet level agencies and various programs currently in the president’s administration. Fisher (2015) pointed out that the proposal by the President is the starting point for the Congress to consider. In the end, after the congress approval, the president has a duty approve the appropriation bills hence making the budget to become law.
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The Congress also has a role to play in the budget process. The House and the Senate on receiving budget proposals from the president present them to the House and the Senate Committee on the Budget. The two committees write and vote concerning their budget resolutions. In addition, the Appropriations committees in both the Senate and the House have a duty to determine the accepted budget authority or the allowed capacity to spend for all the proposed projects. After that, the House and the Senate debate extensively and then vote on the appropriations bills from the 12 subcommittees from each house.
In carrying out responsibilities concerning the domestic policies, the President role can be classified into two: economy and law. The President has a role to ensure that the laws of the United States are effectively carried out. Federal regulating agencies such as trade commissions fall under the executive arm of the government as asserted by Edwards and Wayne (2013). It is also the mandate of the president to create new regulatory bodies such as the department of labor which controls and regulates minimum wage and other labor laws. Apart from the law, the President’s domestic policy roles are concerned with the economy. Such responsibilities include creating the national budget, proposing laws that either increases or decreases taxes or tariffs on imports and exports. These policies affect the lives of all the American people.
The role of the congress in domestic policy is vested on their on their power of lawmaking. The Congress has a primary role of passing rules that must be abided by all Americans. According to Davidson et al. (2013), the Congress influences a wide range of matters that domestically affect the citizen such as regulating television, passing the budget and weapon control. All policies that originate from the executive branch must pass through the congress to become law. Other powers of the Congress that affect the citizens domestically include the power to coin money, establish rules that affect immigration and naturalization and also to establish federal courts and their jurisdictions.
References
Bruff, H. H. (2014). The president and Congress: Separation of powers in the United States of America. Adel. L. Rev. , 35 , 205.
Davidson, R. H., Oleszek, W. J., Lee, F. E., & Schickler, E. (2013). Congress and its Members . Cq Press.
Edwards III, G. C., & Wayne, S. J. (2013). Presidential leadership: Politics and policy making . Cengage Learning.
Fisher, L. (2015). Presidential spending power . Princeton University Press.