Talk:United States Cabinet

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I don't wish to change the page regarding the cabinate of the executive branch, but i do wish to point out a small mishap if i may. For the most part the page is very informative, but the American Battle Monument Commission isn't recognized. All I wish is for the page to be improved for educational value. If you do change the page to correctly include all cabinates I would be very pleased. Thank You David A. Grosso

Contents

[edit] Previously unsectioned comments

I've always found it odd that in many places in the US you have elections for the judiciary and yet cabinet positions are appointed by the President. Seems arse about face to me.

The Federal system does not have elected judges. One can say that when the President is re/elected, you re/elect the Cabinet as well.

--hoshie

I'd add that it was an explicit goal of the Founders to have a much stronger presidency than they saw in Parliamentary systems, which is why they rejected the "Cabinet as a committee of Parliament" model. (And I'd note that in Parliamentary systems, you don't vote for the Prime Minister or the Cabinet.)

--Tb 22:34 15 Jul 2003 (UTC)

At the time, the monarch still had considerable power and was the dominant executive. Weak presidents did not exist yet. --Jiang

In England, George III was certainly strong, but power had pretty much actually transitioned to Parliament. The Privy Council was well on its way to becoming the vestigial stump it is today, being replaced by the Cabinet, and the Prime Minister and Parliament were the architects of government policy, not the King. The King did exercise reserved powers and executive authority more than today. The debates at the constitutional convention do consider explicitly whether the cabinet officers (or even the President) should be elected by the legislature, and they rejected it for the reasons I gave. --Tb 23:10 15 Jul 2003 (UTC)

What is the actual order of succession to the Presidency for each Secretary? The departments should be listed in that order. I believe the Secretary of War, now Secretary of Defense, is first, followed by State and Treasury, followed by the order in which others were created (though I'm not sure how the splits are handled). –radiojon 00:37, 2003 Oct 4 (UTC)

See United States Presidential line of succession Jiang

Is the Chairman of the Fed a cabinet level position? I would think so seeing as how he helps to shape the US economy.--jsonitsac

Sort of, but not officially. The Chairman of the Fed has had varying levels of influence; In addition, because the Federal Reserve is semi-sort-of-privatized (It's officially owned by the member banks, not the Government), he doesn't fall into the official Cabinet. More curious, I think, is the absence of the Surgeon General, often a booming voice on health issues. (Whereas the Secretary of HHS is a politician, the Surgeon General is, in a way, the "Nation's Physician".) You'd think he'd be consulted on health policy.

--Penta 22:06, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

In answer to the comment above on the Surgeon General, that position is more one of a bully pulpit and its influence varies depending on the person holding the office. The SG has very little specific statutory authority, while the Secretary of HHS has budgetary and administrative authority over an entire department. There is an ongoing argument that there should be a Department of Health, headed by the SG, spun off from HHS (just as the Department of Education was). However, there seems to be little political support for this idea in Congress in either party at the moment. The SG is rarely considered a senior policy advisor to the President. I would also point out that the SG is not necessarily more or less political than any Cabinet secretary - again, this depends more on the individual appointee than the nature of the office itself. For more information see the Surgeon General article. --Xinoph 18:02, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)

FEMA is now part of the Department of Homeland Security, and the head of FEMA is now an Under Secretary (instead of a Director). I've made the appropriate changes to the article, but does anyone know if the FEMA Under Secretary is still a "Cabinet-level administration office"? - Walkiped 02:29, 5 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Thompson, Ridge

While their intent to resign has been widely reported, it has not been officially announced. Let's leave the asterisk to officially announced resignations and leave the speculation to commentators.--Xinoph 17:49, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Cabinet-level administration offices

When should we replace Director of Central Intelligence with the Director of National Intelligence? james_anatidae 06:14, Feb 19, 2005 (UTC)

I think we should wait until Negroponte has been confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office. - Walkiped 18:28, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Do we have a source on this list? The White House site (linked at the bottom of the article) has a much shorter list of non-member cabinet-level officers, but I don't want to change anything yet. Ddye 01:00, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

This page should omit every office that is not listed on the White House's official list of Cabinet Rank Members (http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/cabinet.html). Or at least it should note the difference between high-ranking officials that regularly attend Cabinet meetings and high-ranking officials who have been granted Cabinet Rank.

[edit] Table of the "Cabinet"

Thanks for a good article which explained a lot about the US cabinet to this Brit. However, I am still a bit confused by the "State" column in the table: these are federal appointees, and don't necessarily have any particular stete connection (if I have understood correctly). Physchim62 23:21, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

The "State" column simply refers to the official state of residence of the individual cabinet member.
— DLJessup (talk) 01:20, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

In accordance with the definition of state provided in this section, I have reverted the edits by User:Folksong in which he changed Carlos Gutierrez's state from Michigan to Florida, and Elaine Chao's state from Kentucky to New York. While Gutierrez was a Florida resident for several years after immigrating to the United States, he was a Michigan resident at the time of his appointment. In Chao's case, she immigrated to New York, but was a Kentucky resident, by virtue of her husband's service in the U.S. Senate from that state at the time of her appointment. --TommyBoy 05:46, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I have also used this reason in order to change Jim Nicholson's state from Iowa to Colorado. --TommyBoy 05:53, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Hello. I am sorting the table in alpha order by name of office. Does it look okay to you? Thanks for a nice article. I was surprised when searching that google.com gives this page first (not a .gov page) for "United States Cabinet". -Susanlesch 11:04, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

No, it does not. The Cabinet is usually listed in rank order (the order that the cabinet member would succeed to the Presidency), and that is the order shown here. — CJewell (talk to me) 02:42, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
  • If the order that is shown here is right, then 1) great I learned something, and 2) yes it looks okay. -Susanlesch 04:35, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Secretary of Defense on the table

I understand that the Secretary of Defense was given a place on the table related to the date on which the modern department was founded, but according to every other ordering, including the presidential order of succession and the US order of precedence, that office is given the position of the war department which it replaced (after treasury and before the attorney-general), and I've edited it accordingly. Ddye 13:40, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Condoleezza Rice

Whoever is changing Condoleezza Rice's state is wrong. She is not considered from California, she is considered from Alabama. Even though she taught at Stanford, she resides in Alabama, not California.

[edit] Removal of states column

Took it out from the two tables, didn't add any value to this article. If you want to know where a particular cabinet member was from, click on their article and read it. — MrDolomite | Talk 20:17, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cabinet member change, Nov 8 2006

I've reverted Slastankya's change to Secretary of Defense -- no date has been given for the effectivity of Rumsfeld's resignation; Gates has only just been nominated, and has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. SeanWillard 20:13, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

I've noticed that, at the bottom list of "current" cabinet members, Gates's name is present, but not Rumsfeld's. The switch hasn't taken place yet... Alphabetagamma 00:33, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
Good catch. I'ved edited the current cabinet template accordingly. - Walkiped (T | C) 00:57, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
Thanks. Alphabetagamma 05:17, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Role of the Cabinet members

The article mentions "The United States Cabinet (usually simplified as "the Cabinet") is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States"

1. Is the "executive branch" refers to the "Executive Office of the President"?

It also mentions: Starting with President Franklin Roosevelt, the trend has been for Presidents to act through the Executive Office of the President or the National Security Council rather than through the Cabinet. This has created a situation in which non-Cabinet officials such as the White House Chief of Staff, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Advisor have power as large or larger than some Cabinet officials.

2. So what is (if there is) the differences between the role as a Cabinet member and an Executive Officer of the President? Are they only possess the executive functions; and are they in a different rank of official status?

Many thanks for your help.

scarlett_tong 14:27, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Statement on British Cabinet incorrect

The statement that:

"This constitutional separation between the executive and the legislative branches is distinct from the British parliamentary cabinet system, where a cabinet appointee as a rule must first be a member of the legislature, and continues in both positions."

Is incorrect. The Prime Minister can choose anyone he wants to be in cabinet. It is only by custom that they normally sit in the legislature. David Lloyd George had a newspaper editor in his cabinet and later Harold Wilson appointed Patrick Gordon Walker as Foreign Secretary despite him not holding a seat.

I have therefore deleted the above line. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.133.211.58 (talk) 15:33, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

You are, of course, quite correct. I hope that the current edit is acceptable. Unschool (talk) 20:44, 23 May 2008 (UTC)