Richard E. Neustadt's Theory Of Discretionary Authority Congress

For centuries, the relationship between Congress and the president have been complex if not complicated. The Constitution intended for there to be a balance between the two branches. However, there is only so much discretionary authority Congress allows the president to have at a given time. This paper will analyze the extent of discretionary authority Congress will grant to the president, the congressional delegation of power within the executive branch, and the difference between institutional theory of delegation based on interbranch conflict and Neustadt’s theory of presidential bargaining power.
In Richard E. Neustadt’s book, Presidential Power, he states that the Constitutional Convention of 1787 created a government of not separated powers, but separated institutions of sharing powers. “The parties are themselves composed of separated organizations sharing public authority” (Neustadt, 177).1 He goes on to write that the authority involves nominating powers, in which the president and congressmen depend on different set of voters. Neustadt makes the claim that they cannot erase their …show more content…
They make the argument that the executive branch policymaking is a substitute for legislative policymaking. “…the details of public policy can either be explicitly spelled out in the implementing statute, or they can be left to the executive branch to fill in” (Epstein and O’Halloran, 312).6 In this case, the president receive authority based on whether the executive agencies share the same policy with the legislators. The legislators will vote to confine executive discretion based on the differences in policy goals between the legislative and executive branches, in addition to how much authority the president has in his