The President's Cabinet

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 408.

The Vice-President of the United States

The Vice-President is elected on the same ticket as that of the President and has the same four-year term of office. The Vice-President is often described as “a heart beat away from the Presidency” since, in the event of the death or incapacity of the President, the Vice-President assumes the office. In practice, however, a Vice-Presidential candidate is chosen (by the Presidential candidate) to “balance the ticket” in the Presidential election (that is, represent a different geographical or gender or ethnic constituency) and, for all practical purposes, the position only carries the power accorded to it by the President – which is usually very little (a major exception has been Dick Cheney under George W Bush). The official duties of the Vice-President are to sit as a member of the “Cabinet” and as a member of the National Security Council and to act as ex-officio President of the Senate.

The purpose of the Cabinet is to advise the President on matters relating to the duties of their respective offices. As the President's closest and most trusted advisors, members of the Cabinet attend weekly meetings with the President. The Constitution does not directly mention a “Cabinet”, but the Constitutional authority for a Cabinet is found in Article II, Section 2. The Constitution states that the President “may require the opinion, in writing of the principle officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices”. The Constitution does not say which or how many executive departments should be created.