Portal:Government of the United States

Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology The federal government of the United States is the central United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. Through a system of separation of powers and the system of "checks and balances," each of these branches has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches, and has some of its own authority, in turn, regulated by the other branches. The policies of the federal government have a broad impact on both the domestic and foreign affairs of the United States. In addition, the powers of the federal government as a whole are limited by the Constitution, which, per the Tenth Amendment, reserves all power not directed to the National government, to the individual states, respectively, or "to the people". The seat of the federal government is in the federal district of Washington, D.C. More about the U.S. government... edit   Selected article File:Official portrait of Barack Obama.jpg The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States armed forces. Article II of the U.S. Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president and charges him with the execution of federal law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers, and concluding treaties with foreign powers, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Since the founding of the United States, the power of the president and the federal government have substantially grown and each modern president, despite possessing no formal legislative powers beyond signing or vetoing congressionally passed bills, is largely responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of his party and the foreign and domestic policy of the United States. The president is frequently described as the most powerful person in the world. The president is elected through the Electoral College to a four-year term. Since 1951, presidents have been limited to two terms by the Twenty-second Amendment. In all, 43 individuals have served 55 four-year terms. On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama became the forty-fourth and current President. Template:/box-header Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States. Photo credit: Alexander Gardner Obama Administration activity The USDA replaces the iconic food guide pyramid with MyPlate. The Justice Department indicts three major online gambling companies. The Defense Department proposes significant cuts in its budget for the next fiscal year. NY Times The EPA is planning to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. NY Times The White House is drafting rules for the indefinite detention of Guantanamo detainees. ProPublica In a trio of decisions, the Supreme Court rules that: Most key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) are Constitutional (National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius); Juvenile offenders in the United States may no longer be sentenced to life-without-parole (Miller v. Alabama); Parts of a controversial Arizona immigration law are unconstitutional (Arizona v. United States). Rodney King (pictured), a victim of police brutality that sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots, dies at age 47. At 11.1 billion miles from Earth, Voyager 1 reaches the edge of the sun's heliosphere, the boundary of the solar system. Financier Allen Stanford is sentenced to 110 years in prison for his Stanford Financial Group Ponzi scheme. The Library of Congress names Natasha Trethewey the new Poet Laureate. The New York Times reveals that the Stuxnet computer worm—whose suspected target was uranium enrichment in Iran—was created by the federal government and Israel. Legislation H.J.Res. 68 (related article) - The House declines to approve ongoing military action in Libya. H.R. 847 (article) - Congress provides compensation to 9/11 rescuers whose health was adversely affected. T. 111-5 - The Senate ratifies a New START arms-reduction and inspection treaty with Russia. H.R. 4853 (article) - Congress extends the Bush tax cuts for two years and reauthorizes unemployment benefits for one year. Supreme Court cases Golan v. Holder - Whether the government can take works out of the public domain by increasing their period of copyright protection. Lower courts Jared Lee Loughner is found incompetent to stand trial on charges related to the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Perry v. Schwarzenegger (9th Cir.) - Whether bans on gay marriage violate Equal Protection and substantive due process rights. Oral arguments Commonwealth of Virginia v. Sebelius (4th Cir.) and Florida et al v. HHS (11th Cir.) - Two district courts declare the individual mandate of the new health care reform law unconstitutional. The Obama Administration has appealed. United States Washington, D.C. 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