4 ms·

When Trump got elected, I remember hearing lots of stories about how it took him forever to fill his cabinet seats. https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/23/politics/tru

When Trump got elected, I remember hearing lots of stories about how it took him forever to fill his cabinet seats. https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/23/politics/trump-cabinet-vacancies-apprentice/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/23/politics/trump-cabinet-vacanc... https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/11/politics/temps-and-vacancies/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/11/politics/temps-and-vacancies/... https://time.com/4703304/why-president-trump-struggling-to-staff-government/ https://time.com/4703304/why-president-trump-struggling-to-s... The machine runs itself. I wonder how much ability any elected official has to move the machine in one direction or the other. Probably not much, at least in any meaningful way.

no_wizard 3y ago
Congress absolutely has a lot of power over things. Congress controls the budget and legislative direction for the country. With the passage of a law, it can shut down entire departments. With the inability to pass say, a budget, entire swaths of the government shut down. The President also has a fair amount of power, over seat appointments, usage of Executive Orders, and one we haven't seen since President Andrew Jackson, the ability to willfully ignore things that the President is suppose to do (President Jackson famously ignored the outcome of Worcester v. Georgia to the peril of the Cherokee). That said, thanks to the Pendleton Act (and subsequent reforms)[0] one thing the President can't due is wholly fire and hire rank and file members of the federal government based on political patronage. Thats why even with those empty cabinet positions the government didn't grind to a complete halt. What is unfortunately very common, is goals / mandates set by cabinet heads means alot of departments have lots and lots of frequent changes in what guidelines / department rules are and are suppose to be followed. That said however, core mandates of departments can't be wholly dismantled based on the presidency at any given moment, so even with changes in the heads of the departments by incoming administrations, there is still a relatively limited amount of things they can do that will affect the day to day. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_v._Georgia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_v._Georgia [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendleton_Civil_Service_Reform_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendleton_Civil_Service_Reform...
- datavirtue 3y ago
  Jackson gets a pass for The Bank War.
  - Vicinity9635 3y ago
    [dead]
Vicinity9635 3y ago
[dead]

no_wizard 3y ago

Congress absolutely has a lot of power over things. Congress controls the budget and legislative direction for the country. With the passage of a law, it can shut down entire departments. With the inability to pass say, a budget, entire swaths of the government shut down. The President also has a fair amount of power, over seat appointments, usage of Executive Orders, and one we haven't seen since President Andrew Jackson, the ability to willfully ignore things that the President is suppose to do (President Jackson famously ignored the outcome of Worcester v. Georgia to the peril of the Cherokee). That said, thanks to the Pendleton Act (and subsequent reforms)[0] one thing the President can't due is wholly fire and hire rank and file members of the federal government based on political patronage. Thats why even with those empty cabinet positions the government didn't grind to a complete halt. What is unfortunately very common, is goals / mandates set by cabinet heads means alot of departments have lots and lots of frequent changes in what guidelines / department rules are and are suppose to be followed. That said however, core mandates of departments can't be wholly dismantled based on the presidency at any given moment, so even with changes in the heads of the departments by incoming administrations, there is still a relatively limited amount of things they can do that will affect the day to day. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_v._Georgia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_v._Georgia [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendleton_Civil_Service_Reform_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendleton_Civil_Service_Reform...

datavirtue 3y ago
Jackson gets a pass for The Bank War.
- Vicinity9635 3y ago
  [dead]

Vicinity9635 3y ago

[dead]