AP Executive Branch

Which of the following is best supported by the line graph?

• The number of vetoes has generally increased since 1945, even though the number of bills passed by Congress has decreased.

• The number of vetoes has generally decreased since 1945, but so has the number of bills passed by Congress.

• The number of vetoes has generally decreased since 1945, but the number of bills passed by Congress has increased.

• The number of vetoes has generally increased since 1945, but so has the number of bills passed by Congress.

Which of the following is true based on the data in the line graph?

• The number of bills passed by Congress decreased under G. H. W. Bush.

• The number of bills passed by Congress gradually increased under Nixon.

• The number of presidential vetoes under Johnson decreased over time.

• The number of presidential vetoes under Eisenhower increased over time.

Which of the following trends is best supported by the information in the table?

• The number of treaties has increased over time.

• The number of treaties has decreased over time.

• The number of executive agreements has increased over time.

• The number of executive agreements has decreased over time.

4. Shortly after the 2008 election, President Obama appointed outspoken and controversial House member Rahm Emanuel to lead his White House as chief of staff. The selection drew criticism from Republican leaders, including House minority leader John Boehner, who remarked that the selection “is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center.” Which of the following explains how Congress could legitimately respond to the appointment?

• The Senate could refuse to confirm the appointment.
• The House of Representatives could filibuster the nomination.
• The Rules Committee could refuse to release the bill that made the appointment.
• Members of Congress could issue statements opposing the appointment but have no formal power to block it.

In November 2014, President Obama announced an expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program through an executive order. The policy would protect over 700,000 more children of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Republican members of Congress denounced the order as an abuse of executive power. Previously, members of the House of Representatives had voted to defund the program. This scenario best illustrates which of the following?

• A reluctant bureaucracy can hinder a president’s agenda.

• Public opinion can influence how Congress responds to a president.

• Iron triangles form between members of the president’s party and opponents in Congress.

• Presidents exert informal powers when their policy agenda conflicts with that of Congress.

A newly elected president faces a Senate controlled by the opposition party. Which of the following presidential appointments is the most likely to encounter difficulty with confirmation by the Senate?

• Secretary of Defense

• Supreme Court justice

• Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors

• Ambassador to Germany

Use the passage to answer the question below.

To be sure, the President’s control over foreign affairs had been growing since the Theodore Roosevelt administration [1901–1909]. . . . [President Roosevelt’s] acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone preceded Woodrow Wilson’s decision to enter World War I, which was a prelude to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s management of the run-up to the victorious American effort in World War II. In the 1950s, Harry S. Truman’s response to the Soviet threat included the decision to fight in Korea without a Congressional declaration of war, and Dwight Eisenhower used the Central Intelligence Agency and brinkmanship to contain Communism. Nineteenth-century presidents had had to contend with Congressional influences in foreign affairs, and particularly with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But by the early 1960s, the president had become the undisputed architect of U.S. foreign policy. One reason for this was the emergence of the United States as a great power with global obligations. Neither Wilson nor FDR could have imagined taking the country to war without a Congressional declaration, but the exigencies of the cold war in the 1950s heightened the country’s reliance on the president to defend its interests. Truman could enter the Korean conflict without having to seek Congressional approval simply by describing the deployment of U.S. troops as a police action taken in conjunction with the United Nations. Robert Dallek, “Power and the Presidency, From Kennedy to Obama,” Smithsonian magazine, January 2011

Which of the following explains why the author believes presidential power has expanded?

• Congress has passed legislation requesting that the president take on a stronger leadership role in foreign affairs.

• The media has influenced public opinion to support the president's unrestrained control of foreign policy.

• The United States has emerged as a global power, which has enhanced the power of the president in foreign affairs.

• The chief executive’s role as defender of freedom and democracy has promoted support for a more active presidency.

Use the passage to answer the question below.

To be sure, the President’s control over foreign affairs had been growing since the Theodore Roosevelt administration [1901–1909]. . . . [President Roosevelt’s] acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone preceded Woodrow Wilson’s decision to enter World War I, which was a prelude to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s management of the run-up to the victorious American effort in World War II. In the 1950s, Harry S. Truman’s response to the Soviet threat included the decision to fight in Korea without a Congressional declaration of war, and Dwight Eisenhower used the Central Intelligence Agency and brinkmanship to contain Communism. Nineteenth-century presidents had had to contend with Congressional influences in foreign affairs, and particularly with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But by the early 1960s, the president had become the undisputed architect of U.S. foreign policy. One reason for this was the emergence of the United States as a great power with global obligations. Neither Wilson nor FDR could have imagined taking the country to war without a Congressional declaration, but the exigencies of the cold war in the 1950s heightened the country’s reliance on the president to defend its interests. Truman could enter the Korean conflict without having to seek Congressional approval simply by describing the deployment of U.S. troops as a police action taken in conjunction with the United Nations. Robert Dallek, “Power and the Presidency, From Kennedy to Obama,” Smithsonian magazine, January 2011

Which of the following is a difference between the power of nineteenth-century presidents and that of the modern president according to the passage?

• Presidents in the nineteenth century had to contend with congressional committees, which had significant powers in foreign affairs.

• Modern presidents have acquired the power of the purse, which allows them to spend freely on foreign affairs.

• Modern presidents must win wars in order to keep members of Congress from criticizing their foreign policy.

• Presidents in the nineteenth century were more likely to support intervention in foreign affairs.

Use the passage to answer the question below.

To be sure, the President’s control over foreign affairs had been growing since the Theodore Roosevelt administration [1901–1909]. . . . [President Roosevelt’s] acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone preceded Woodrow Wilson’s decision to enter World War I, which was a prelude to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s management of the run-up to the victorious American effort in World War II. In the 1950s, Harry S. Truman’s response to the Soviet threat included the decision to fight in Korea without a Congressional declaration of war, and Dwight Eisenhower used the Central Intelligence Agency and brinkmanship to contain Communism. Nineteenth-century presidents had had to contend with Congressional influences in foreign affairs, and particularly with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But by the early 1960s, the president had become the undisputed architect of U.S. foreign policy. One reason for this was the emergence of the United States as a great power with global obligations. Neither Wilson nor FDR could have imagined taking the country to war without a Congressional declaration, but the exigencies of the cold war in the 1950s heightened the country’s reliance on the president to defend its interests. Truman could enter the Korean conflict without having to seek Congressional approval simply by describing the deployment of U.S. troops as a police action taken in conjunction with the United Nations. Robert Dallek, “Power and the Presidency, From Kennedy to Obama,” Smithsonian magazine, January 2011

Which of the following statements describes the author’s main argument in the passage?

• Congress must reassert its responsibility to declare war in order to ensure a balance of power.

• Presidential power in foreign policy has expanded since the beginning of the twentieth century.

• The Korean War was a turning point in presidential power.

• The acquisition of the Panama Canal gave the president undisputed power over foreign policy.

Which of the following is an action a president can take to rally public support for the administration's legislative agenda?

• Use the State of the Union Address to pressure Congress to pass a bill lowering income taxes.

• Hold private meetings with key members of Congress to promote a compromise on the budget.

• Forge an executive agreement with another country regulating the safety of consumer products.

• Sign a bill into law that would provide increased aid to college students.