The Impact of Executive Messages to Congress: A New Measure of Presidential Power

How effective is the American President in shaping the final content of legislation? While the Presidents’ use of legislative powers like the veto has been studied extensively, this paper argues that executive messages to Congress are a subtler, less politically costly and yet powerful tool that remains understudied – especially in foreign policy where Presidents are expected to be most vocal. Delivered at certain intervention points along the legislative process, these communications convey the President’s position and offer specific language for desired changes. The aim of this paper is to provide the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of executive messages like Statements of Administration Policy (SAP) and the conditions for their success in altering the legislative output. It argues that Presidents use these communications as avenues for their efforts to align legislative content with their interests prior to bills reaching finalization. Hence, the central assumption is that Presidents intervene in the process of lawmaking despite the absence of a formal veto. Empirically, this paper covers all National Defense Authorization Acts, 1993-2018 – a law that must be passed annually, hence ensuring comparability over time. The findings offer a clear image of the current state of the checks-and-balances system in the U.S. and gauge the extent of presidential power in foreign policy lawmaking by comparing the bills’ content prior to and after presidential interventions by means of SAPs. President’s only seldom rely on the blunt instrument of vetoes to assert their position vis-à-vis Congress. Instead, the results suggest that the bulk of presidential influence on the content of foreign policy laws is actually exerted through these messages, which advances our understanding of the playing field of lawmaking and interbranch relations.