The President's Czars: Undermining Congress and the Constitution

Book review: The President's Czars: Undermining Congress and the Constitution
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Introduction
Sollenberger and Rozell bring to the attention of the readers the aspects of the presidential powers in light of the constitution. They challenge some of the major decisions that have been made by past presidents to appoint officers in their executive offices who have subtle powers on matters related to certain policy areas. These appointees work independently, even though they are not confirmed by the Senate or their work overseen by Congress. The presidential Czars, is the name that is used to refer to these appointees. In most of the documented cases in the book, there are signs that most of the presidents turn to the czars for advice on the various issues that would otherwise have to go through Congress (pg. 49). As such, the presidential powers are seen to have very few limitations to what they can do and what they can authorize without having to answer to the channels set out in the constitution of the nation. The czars appointment not only violate the Appointment Clause, but it also undermines the constitutional provision that states that, the presidents do not have the power to unilaterally establish offices and appoint offices without the legislative mechanisms in place (pg. 158).
Thesis statement: The following is a review Sollenberger and Rozell’s work The President's Czars: Undermining Congress and the Constitution, on how Czars appointments are a violation of the constitution.
Summary
Sollenberger and Rozell bring out some of the most insightful ideas in the book with reference to government and public policies. In their book they deliberate on the so called czars, who are officers appointed by the president and offered unparalleled power to make judgment on policies especially in the times of emergencies. The theme in the book is thus focused on the fact that there are some irregularities in the way that the czars are appointed relative to the provisions in the constitution. These are persons that tend to override the elected and appointed state officials in their mandate and they are not scrutinized for their actions and decisions.
The main purpose of the book is largely to paint the picture of the violations that appointing czars brings to the executive with close reference to the constitutions. The authors enlighten the readers on the basic workings of the czar and how they undermine the other public offices, let alone their appointments in the first place. Czars have been around for quite some time and presidents use them in an effort to shield themselves from the scrutiny of the Congress. In most cases they are not confirmed by the Senate or Congress but their override the powers and the procedures laid out for the two houses. In the current government, there is an office that is run by Fienberg and has power to implement presidential orders such as the one that was given during the BP oil disaster. On the same matter, Feinberg was instructed by the president to oversee the process of compensating the victims of the oil spill worth billion dollars.
Ironically, the office is not regulated by Congress and so the order to do as the presidents wants is left in a state where accountability is close to impossible. In more than a few cases, there have been individuals who have been given broad roles such as those to be carried out by already existing officers who in this case are confirmed by Congress. The main idea of the authors is to bring out, the element of creating officers through the executive orders, in which case these officers are not answerable to Congress is unconstitutional and therefore violation as well as abuse of power, by circumventing the policy process.
Critique
One of the most noteworthy theme in the book is the fact, a good number of the American presidents including the siting President Obama, have circumvented the constitution on a number of occasions where they create czars to act on their behalf, while violating the constitution they vow to protect. In most of the cases, these are offices and positions that have been created during a crisis, where the executive wants to deal with the issue in a manner that Congress or the Senate will not intervene in the process (pg.109). This way, the czars created, may have risen from the cabinet, or persons that somehow replace the public secretaries and cabinet members, with executive protection from scrutiny from either of the houses; meaning that they are only answerable to the executive.
Ideally any one that has discretion over the public funds, should have been confirmed by the Senate, offer periodic testimonials to the Congress and table periodic reports as well to show what they have been doing with the money for proper assessment. In the cases of the czars, they do not have any of this as they are not answerable to the Congress, despite the fact that they have access to public funds (pg. 17).
The book offers some of the most detailed pieces of information regarding the topic on czars and the extent to which the constitution has been violated through the executive office. In the current administration alone, there are so many cases that have been mentioned on the same issue, with respect to non-Senate-confirmed persons handling public funds. Some of the cases that stand out in the current administration include that of Feinberg handling the funds on the BP oil spill (pg. 1).Nancy-Ann DeParle was given the power to oversee the president’s agenda on health reforms even though there is a Health and Human Services Secretary charged with the same(pg.16). This means that the position was duplicated, but most importantly that of Nancy was not answerable to the Congress and had not gone through the Senate confirmation process. During the General Motors and Chrysler bail out, the president appointed Ron Bloom to oversee the negotiations. One other czar in the current administration is Adolfo Carrion who was appointed by the president to oversee all the funds that were targeted to the urban areas to make sure that they were utilized within the higher impact programs (pg.17). Most of the czars were placed in positions of power and influence.
The book is quite persuasive in the fact that, it does not just offer the opinion of the authors; it backs it up with credible information. It is a book that filled with quite a number of examples throughout the his...