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U.S. Government Information: Executive Branch/U.S. President

Executive Branch/U.S. President

 
"The power of the Executive Branch is vested in the President of the United States, who also acts as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The President is responsible for implementing and enforcing the laws written by Congress and, to that end, appoints the heads of the federal agencies including the Cabinet. The Vice President is also part of the Executive Branch, ready to assume the Presidency should the need arise." [Source: The White House, The Executive Branch]

 

Additional Useful Overviews:

What Is an Executive Order? - Describes and defines an executive order.  Links to sources of executive orders.  [Provider: American Bar Association]

Wex: Executive Power: An Overview - Wex is "LII's community-built, freely available legal dictionary and legal encyclopedia." [Provider: Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute]

Publicly Accessible Executive Branch News

YouTube: The White House - Includes link: Live.

Publicly Accessible Digital Starting Points to Find Executive Branch Material

Key Sources of Many Presidential Documents:

The White House - Describes the current Administration, its priorities and its record. Provides a Briefing Room of Presidential Actions, Press Briefings, Speeches and Remarks, and Statements and Releases.     

Executive Orders and additional presidential documents appear in the Federal Register (daily, 1936-present) [Publisher: Office of the Federal Register, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration]

"Reader Aid" to Find Executive Orders by President/Year: Executive Orders (1994-present) + Executive Orders Disposition Tables (Jan. 8, 1937-Jan. 19, 2017) [Provider: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration]

Public Papers of the Presidents (historical source) - Compiles a President's messages and papers. [Current publisher: Office of the Federal Register, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration]

Additional Useful Sources:

Budget of the United States Government - Includes: the President's budget message; data about the President's budget proposals for a specific fiscal year, and other budgetary publications. [Issuer of the U.S. government's budget: U.S. Office of Management and Budget] 

The Cabinet - Advises the President. Includes the Vice President and the leaders of 15 executive departments.

Council of Economic Advisors - Advises the President on U.S. economic policy, on the basis of "data, research, and evidence."

Economic Report of the President (annual) - Reviews U.S. economic progress. [Author: Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers]

Executive Office of the President - Performs tasks ranging from communicating the President’s message to the American people to promoting U.S. trade interests abroad.

U.S. Office of Management and Budget - Assists the President in fulfilling "policy, budget, management, and regulatory objectives."     

BLS Library's Subscription Databases

HeinOnline > in BLS Library's SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - (HEIN). [Publisher: W.S. Hein] (remote access requires BLS proxy server)

  • Executive Privilege - Provides primary and secondary sources regarding the use of executive privilege by U.S. presidents from the founding of the U.S. to the present. Also includes law review articles and books on executive privilege.
  • U.S. Presidential Impeachment Library - Offers a variety of documents pertaining to impeachment proceedings concerning four U.S. presidents: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, William Jefferson Clinton and Donald Trump. Documents in this collection provide a view of the "political climate" at the time of each impeachment proceeding, as well as a historical view of the proceeding. 
  • U.S. Presidential Library - Offers a wide array of sources (including messages/papers of the presidents, daily/weekly compilations of presidential documents, public papers of the presidents, documents regarding impeachment and Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations) that pertain to the U.S. presidency. 

Lexis+ tab: Federal (requires BLS username/password):

Westlaw Precision > tab: Federal materials (requires BLS username/password)