Powers of the President during crisesSmith, J. Malcolm (John Malcolm)
History
Powers of the President during crises
Smith, J. Malcolm (John Malcolm)
Constitutional history -- United States; Executive power -- United States
During the period studied three veto resolutions died in
committee,[655] three (all favorably reported from committee) passed
the House of Representatives only to be rejected by the Senate,[656]
and four were adversely reported from committee and defeated in the
chamber in which they originated.[657] Only one veto resolution was
discharged from committee. It subsequently passed the House but failed
in the Senate.[658]
CONCLUSION
In an era in which governmental controls invade every sphere of human
activity, from economic to cultural and political, administrative
responsibility is essential to the maintenance of the democratic
system. Administration which is responsible is lacking in the elements
of bad faith, arbitrariness, or capriciousness. It constitutes a
reasoned effort, in good faith, to approximate the legislative intent.
Congress is one important source of oversight of administration. Its
effectiveness in performing this role is a function of (a) the adequacy
of its tools, and the skill, conscience, and sustained interest of the
members in wielding them, and (b) the standards it applies in measuring
the adequacy of administrative action.
Experience in this area indicates that Congress is more imaginative in
fashioning tools for checking and influencing the administration of
delegated powers than it is skillful and determined in employing them
to hold administrators to clearly defined standards of performance.
The national legislature has attempted to employ reporting devices and
the concurrent resolution to influence, enable or require executive
action, to terminate or suspend the conditions authorizing it, or
to restrict the application of programs to specified groups. Not
infrequently it has made the exercise of delegated powers contingent
upon prior congressional approval or disapproval.
With the exception of the last category, however, Congress has not
effectively wielded the tool it engineered. The veto resolution has
received ample use because the executive automatically initiates
congressional review when it invokes the delegated power which is
subject to veto. Where Congress must initiate review, the concurrent
resolution provisions tend to lie dormant, or congressional action
tends to be directed at vindicating sectional interests (revocation
of daylight saving time), or direct participation in the framing of
administrative decisions, case by case (deportation suspensions).
Perhaps the moral of the story is that we must free congressmen from
constituency loyalties and subject them to strict party discipline if
we wish to insure that available techniques for the legislative control
of administration are effectively employed to serve an interest which
is broad and public.
CHAPTER IX INTER-AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS
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