What Determines The Makeup Of A President's Formal Cabinet?

Cabinet Departments

The cabinet is the collection of top-ranking advisors in the executive branch of government, particularly executive section secretaries.

Learning Objectives

Depict the constitutional origin of the Chiffonier and the shape of its growth Washington'southward presidency

Key Takeaways

Key Points

Cabinet members are appointed past the president and serve as the president's primary advisors.
Cabinet members carry out numerous domestic and strange diplomacy.
George Washington established the first cabinet by appointing four departmental leaders as his main advisors.

Key Terms

Cabinet: A governmental group composed of the well-nigh senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal authorities of the United States who are generally the heads of the federal executive departments.
executive section: An executive organ that serves at the disposal of the president and commonly acts every bit an advisory body to the presidency.
line of succession: An ordered sequence of named people who would succeed to a particular office upon the expiry, resignation, or removal of the current occupant.

The Cabinet of the United states of america consists of the highest-ranking appointed officers in the executive branch of the federal government: the secretaries of each of the 15 executive departments. These Cabinet members preside over bureaucratic operations and serve as advisors to the president. All secretaries are direct accountable to the president, and they exercise non take the power to enforce whatever policy recommendations exterior of their section.

The president nominates secretaries to their offices, and the Senate votes to ostend them. Secretaries are not discipline to elections or term limits, but near turnover when a new political party wins the presidency.

Structure of the Cabinet Departments

Each of the Chiffonier departments is organized with a similar hierarchical structure. At the meridian of each department is the secretary (in the Section of Justice, the highest office is chosen the "attorney general," but the function is parallel to that of the secretary of state, defense, etc.).

Beneath the secretary, each executive department has a deputy secretarial assistant. The deputy secretary advises and assists the secretarial assistant, and fills the Office of Secretary if it becomes vacant. The deputy secretary is nominated by the president, just as the secretarial assistant is.

Below the level of deputy secretary, departmental organization varies. Most departments have several nether secretaries, who preside over specific branches of the organization rather than being answerable for the operation of the entire department, as the secretary and deputy secretarial assistant are. Under secretaries are appointed by the president, just range in prestige depending on the size of the section they are employed in and the breadth of diplomacy they oversee.

Finally, each department has its ain staff. Departmental staffs are non appointed by the president, but instead are hired by internal supervisors (such as under secretaries). Staff qualifications and duties range widely by department. For example, national park service employees are considered staff of the Department of the Interior, merely some may work on policy in Washington, while others tend to conservation in Yellowstone. Likewise, war machine staff includes soldiers on agile duty who are not authoritative employees only are nonetheless under the purview of the Department of Defence force.

Taken as a group, the executive departments utilise over 4 million people and have an operating budget of over $2.3 trillion.

History of the Cabinet

The first president of the United states of america, George Washington, established the tradition of having a cabinet of advisors. The U.Due south. Constitution specifically calls for the cosmos of executive departments, but it just addresses the leaders of executive departments to specify that as unelected officials they must answer to the president and practice not take the power to enforce their recommendations. George Washington thus began the practice of having a formal cabinet of advisors when he appointed Secretary of Country Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.

The iii oldest executive departments are the Department of Country, the Department of War, and the Treasury, all of which were established in 1789. The Section of War has since been subsumed by the Section of Defense, and many other executive departments have been formed.

The Line of Succession

The secretaries are formally in the line of presidential succession, after the vice president, speaker of the house, and president pro tempore of the Senate. In other words, if the president, vice president, speaker, and president pro temopre were all incapacitated by death, resignation, or impeachment, the Cabinet members would arise to the Part of President in a predetermined order. The guild of the departments, and the roles of the secretaries of each section, is equally follows:

State: The Secretary of Country oversees international relations.
Treasury: The Secretary of the Treasury is concerned with financial and monetary issues.
Defense: The Secretary of Defense supervises national defense and the military.
Justice: The Attorney Full general is responsible for law enforcement.
Interior: The Secretary of the Interior oversees federal land and natural resource use.
Agronomics: The Secretary of Agriculture advises policy on food, farming, and agricultural merchandise.
Commerce: The Secretary of Commerce is concerned with economic growth.
Labor: The Secretary of Labor is responsible for occupational condom and workplace regulation.
Health and Human Services: The Secretary of Health and Man Services is charged with ensuring the health and well being of Americans.
Housing and Urban Evolution: The Secretary of Housing and Urban Evolution administers affordable housing and urban center planning.
Transportation: The Secretarial assistant of Transportation oversees transportation infrastructure and policies.
Energy: The Secretary of Energy is responsible for research into energy sources and the handling of nuclear cloth.
Didactics: The Secretary of Education oversees public schools.
Veterans Affairs: The Secretarial assistant of Veterans Affairs coordinates programs and benefits for veterans
Homeland Security: The Secretary of Homeland Security is responsible for domestic security measures

In improver to the secretaries of the established executive departments, there are some cabinet-level officers who are the heads of contained executive agencies. These agencies do not answer to the president directly and, therefore, there are no executive departments strictly speaking. Still, their heads are considered high ranking advisors to the president. These cabinet-level officers include the vice president, the chief of staff, the director of the Office of Management and Upkeep, the administrator of the Ecology Protection Agency, the trade representative, the ambassador to the Un, the chairman of the Quango of Economic Advisors, and the administrator of the Pocket-sized Business Administration.

Department of Justice Seal: The chaser general is the caput of the Department of Justice, and is a prominent chiffonier member.

Independent Agencies

Independent executive agencies operate as regulatory and service agencies to oversee federal government functions.

Learning Objectives

Differentiate betwixt executive agencies and executive departments

Key Takeaways

Key Points

Executive agencies operate equally services and/or regulatory agencies and are distinct because they exist independently from other executive departments.
In executive agencies, the president can finish people's positions only if there is proof of removal according to statutory provisions.
Most executive agencies need to accept bipartisan membership and presidents cannot simply remove and rehire for positions.

Key Terms

executive department: An executive organ that serves at the disposal of the president and usually acts as an advisory body to the presidency.
executive agency: A permanent or semi-permanent organisation in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and assistants of specific functions.
enabling human activity: A piece of legislation past which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it for authorization or legitimacy the power to have certain actions.

In the United States federal authorities, Congress and the President have the ability to delegate authority to contained executive agencies, sometimes called federal agencies or authoritative agencies. These agencies are distinct from executive departments because they have some caste of independence from the President. In executive departments, department heads are nominated by the President and confirmed by Congress, and tin be removed from their posts for political reasons. Department heads, who contain the Cabinet, therefore often turn over when a new president is elected. For example, the Secretary of State is a loftier status position that a high ranking diplomat in the leading political party usually fills. Unlike in executive departments, the leaders of agencies tin only be removed from role for corruption charges under statutory provisions. Even though the president appoints them, agency leadership is non-partisan, or independent from Presidential politics and election turn over.

The leaders of agencies frequently participate equally members of commissions, boards, or councils with internal structures resembling tripartite government. That is, a single agency may "legislate" past producing regulations; "adjudicate" by resolving disputes between parties; and "enforce" by penalizing regulation violations. To illustrate this point, consider ane contained agency — the Federal Communication Committee (FCC). The FCC oversees media in the United States. One notorious function of the FCC is to regulate decency on television. To deport out this part, the FCC sets regulations defining what television programming is decent and what is indecent; if a station is accused of violating these regulations, the complaint is brought to the FCC; if the FCC finds that the programming was a violation of regulations regarding decency, information technology may fine the station.

Other independent executive agencies include the CIA (Key Intelligence Agency), the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Assistants) and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The CIA helps assemble intelligence and provides national security assessments to policymakers in the United States. It acts equally the chief human intelligence provider for the federal government. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA, is a government agency responsible for the noncombatant space plan as well every bit aeronautics and aerospace research. The EPA was created for the purpose of protecting human being health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. EPA enforcement powers include fines, sanctions, and other measures.

The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly reference federal agencies. Instead, these agencies are generally justified by acts of Congress designed to manage delineated regime functions, such as the maintenance of infrastructure and regulation of commerce. Congress passes statutes called enabling acts that define the scope of agencies' authority. Once created, agencies are considered part of the executive branch of authorities and are partly regulated by government parties. All the same, executive agencies accept to remain nonpartisan.

Federal Communications Commission: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is i of many contained executive agencies.

Regulatory Commissions

Independent regulatory agencies create and enforce regulations to protect the public at large.

Learning Objectives

Use the work of the FDA as an instance to describe the action and mission of regulatory agencies more broadly

Primal Takeaways

Fundamental Points

Contained regulatory agencies are situated in the executive branch of the government but are not direct under the command of the President.
Regulatory agencies conduct investigations and audits to ensure that industries and organizations exercise not pose threats to public safety or well-being.
Regulatory agencies are intended to be transparent, such that they are answerable to public oversight and legal review.

Key Terms

regulatory bureau: A public authority or government agency responsible for exercising democratic authority over some area of human action in a regulatory or supervisory capacity.
Food and Drug Administration: An agency of the U.s.a. Department of Health and Homo Services, 1 of the U.s. federal executive departments, responsible for protecting and promoting public health.

A regulatory agency is a body in the U.Due south. government with the authority to exercise authority over some expanse of man activity in a supervisory capacity. An independent regulatory agency is separate from the other branches of the federal regime. These agencies are inside the purview of the executive branch of government, but are internally regulated rather than subject to the direct command of the President.

Food and Drug Administration Regulations: The FDA sets regulations governing which drugs can be distributed over the counter and which crave a prescription based on an expert evaluation of the drug's furnishings.

Regulatory agencies exist to supervise the authoritative functions of organizations for the do good of the public at large. To behave out this function, regulatory agencies are equanimous of experts in a specific policy surface area of administrative constabulary, such as tax or health codes. Agencies may comport out investigations or audits to determine if organizations are adhering to federal regulations.

To better understand how independent regulatory agencies function, allow us consider the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA'southward mission is to promote public wellness by regulating the product, distribution, and consumption of food and drugs. When a pharmaceutical company produces a new drug, the manufacturers must submit information technology to the FDA for blessing. The FDA employs experts in pharmaceuticals and drug safety, who evaluate the potential benefits and consequences of the drug. Following reports on the rubber of the drug, the FDA determines whether it tin exist distributed, to whom it can be distributed, and under what conditions it tin be safely consumed. The FDA thus uses internal expertise to regulate the pharmaceutical manufacture.

Regulatory agencies are authorized to produce and enforce regulations by Congress, and are discipline to Congressional and legal review as they carry out their functions. Congress may determine that regulatory agencies are obsolete, for example, and may therefore discontinue funding them. Similarly, Congress may cull to expand the authority of a regulatory agency in response to a perceived threat to public prophylactic. Additionally, regulatory agencies are designed to be transparent, such that their decisions and activities are able to be evaluated by the public and by legal review boards.

Government Corporations

Authorities corporations are revenue generating enterprises that are legally distinct from but operated by the federal authorities.

Learning Objectives

Differentiate between a regime-owned corporation, a government-sponsored enterprise, and organizations chartered past the government that provide public services

Key Takeaways

Key Points

In many cases, the regime owns a controlling share of a corporation's stock merely does not directly operate the corporation.
Government-sponsored enterprises are fiscal services corporations that the government backs in order to provide depression price loans for economical development.
Authorities-acquired corporations are those companies that come under government control as a consequence of unpaid debts or unfulfilled contracts, which are usually returned to private sector control after a fourth dimension.

Fundamental Terms

government-owned corporation: A legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an owner authorities; their legal status varies from beingness a part of government to being a private enterprise in which the government holds a majority of stock.
government-sponsored enterprise: A group of financial services corporations created by Congress that are structured and regulated by the US authorities to enhance the availability and reduce the cost of credit to targeted borrowing sectors.
regime corporation: a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an possessor government

A government-owned corporation, also known as a state -owned company, country enterprise, publicly owned corporation, or commercial regime agency, is a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of the government. In some cases, government-owned corporations are considered role of the government, and are directly controlled by it. In other instances, authorities-owned corporations are similar to individual enterprises except that the government is the bulk stockholder. Regime-owned agencies sometimes have public policy functions, simply unlike other executive agencies, are primarily intended to bring in revenue.

In the The states, there is a specific subset of government-owned corporations known as government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). GSEs are financial services corporations created past Congress to increase the availability of low price credit to particular borrowing sectors. The first GSE in the United States was the Farm Credit System in 1916, which made loans available for agricultural expansion and development. Currently, the largest segment of GSEs operates in the mortgage borrowing segment. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the twelve Federal Home Loan Banks operate as independent corporations and provide loans for mortgages and real estate development. However, the government possesses sufficient stock to claim 79.ix% ownership of the corporations, should it choose to do so.

In add-on to the financial sector GSEs, the U.S. government has chartered corporations that are legally singled-out from the regime (dissimilar federal agencies) but that provide public services. These chartered corporations sometimes receive money from the federal government, simply are largely responsible for generating their ain revenue. Corporations in this category include the Corporation for Public Dissemination, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The National Park Foundation, and many others.

Lastly, the authorities sometimes controls regime acquired corporations–corporations that were not chartered or created past the authorities, but which it comes to possess and operate. These corporations are unremarkably controlled past the authorities but temporarily, ofttimes as the upshot of regime seizure due to unpaid debts. For example, a runaway taxpayer'south property may exist repossessed past the government. Authorities caused corporations are generally sold at auction or returned to the original controller once debts are repaid.