President Powers and Czars

The president, Barrack Obama has about a year in office before his two terms are over. During his time in office, Obama has signed quite a number of executive orders. An executive order is issued by the president in assisting the executive branch officers and agencies in order to enhance operations in their respective work stations within the federal government. The president has so far signed 221 executive orders, 15 of them coming this year, and the joint highest 39 in his first year in office in 2009 and 2012 (Archives.gov, 2015).

In January this year, the president issued what is referred to as the mother of all executive orders. In this one, he issued an executive order giving him authority to issue executive orders (Wire, 2015). The action was justified as necessary and sufficient at the time. The reasons cited were efficiency and fiscal reasons. The president minimized the significance and impact of his order by saying that while some would maintain that the Constitution mandates three branches of government, all his order does is reduce that number by one.

Czar is a politically informal term. Czars devote their expertise to the running and organization of departments in the government. In the United States, we have quite a number of them. In the Barack Obama administration, there is an all-time high of 38 czars, of which only three have been confirmed by the Senate (Beck, 2009). Some are still in office whereas others are not, leaving office after the end of their mandate.

Czars are appointed by the president, to help in running the agencies and government offices, and in times to replace elected officials (Beck, 2009). The table provided below shows the current czars and a few aspects related to their role.

Czar Title Office Title Office Holder Appointed Salary ($)
AIDS Czar Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy Colfax Grant 2012 102,000
Asian Carp Czar Asian Carp Director, Council on Environment Quality Goss John 2010 Unknown
Auto Czar Senior Advisor President’s Automotive Task Force Bloom Ron 2009 Unknown
Autoworker Czar Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers Montgomery Ed 2009 Unknown
Border czar Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, Special Representative for Border Affairs, Dept of Homeland Security Bersin Alan 2009 Unknown
Copyright czar Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Espinel Victoria 2009 Unknown
Gulf claims czar Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation Feinberg Kenneth 2009 Unknown
Cyber czar Director of the White House Office of Cyber security Schmidt Howard 2009 Unknown
Drug Czar Director, National Drug Control Policy Kerlikowske R. Gil 2009 Unknown
Ebola Czar Ebola Response Coordinator Klain Ron 2014 Unknown
Ethics Czar White House Counsel Bauer Robert 2010 Unknown
Great Lakes czar Senior Advisor to the EPA Administrator Davis Cameron 2009 Unknown
Guantanamo Base closure czar US Department of State Special Envoy Fried Daniel 2009 Unknown
Health Czar Director of the White House Office of Health Reform and Counselor to the President DeParle Nancy Ann 2009 158,500
Infotech Czar Chief Information Officer at the White House VanRoekel Steven 2011 Unknown
Iran czar Special Advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia Ross Dennis 2009 Unknown
Manufacturing czar Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy Bloom Ron 2009 Unknown
Middle East czar Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Mitchell George 2009 Unknown
Performance czar Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget Zients Jeffrey 2009 Unknown
Regulatory Czar Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Office of Management and Budget Sunstein Cass 2009 Unknown
Science Czar Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Holdren John 2009 Unknown
Technology Czar Associate Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Chopra Aneesh 2009 Unknown
War Czar Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan Lute Douglas 2007 172,200

 

Source: Beck, Glenn. ‘List Of Obama’S Czars’. Glenn Beck. N.p., 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

 

That is the list of the current office holders of the informal offices of the czars. They are very important to the running of the affairs of the federal government. They most are confidants of the president, and they give crucial information to him about some of the critical affairs in running the government. Some of them are even appointed by the executive orders of the president, making their way to office.

As indicated, most of their perks are unknown, but their responsibility in running the affairs of the federal government are incredible. Their participation cannot be underestimated and they mean a lot to the smooth running of government. Their position is informal, but they are held with great esteem in the executive circles at all times. Their continued existence in successive governments underlines their importance. Some of the Obama-appointed czars have already left office at the end of their mandate. That is how greatly important czars are in the United States federal.

 

 

Works Cited

Archives.gov,. ‘Barack Obama  Executive Orders Disposition Tables’. N.p., 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Beck, Glenn. ‘List Of Obama’S Czars’. Glenn Beck. N.p., 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Wire, S.D. ‘Obama Issues Executive Order Giving Him Authority To Issue Executive Orders’. The Huffington Post. N.p., 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

 
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