CHAPTER 3 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT The “Castle” ruins at Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Photo courtesy of Missouri State Archives 80 OFFICIAL MANUAL Members, President Obama’s Cabinet Joseph R. Biden, Vice President www.whitehouse.gov/vicepresident John Kerry, Secretary of State United States www.state.gov Jack Lew, Secretary, Department of the Treasury Government www.treasury.gov Ashton Carter, Secretary, Department of Defense www.defense.gov Executive Branch Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General, Department Barack H. Obama, President of the United States of Justice The White House www.usdoj.gov 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500 Sally Jewell, Secretary, Department of the Interior Telephone: (202) 456-1414 www.doi.gov www.whitehouse.gov Thomas J. Vilsack, Secretary, Department of Agriculture The president and the vice president of the www.usda.gov United States are elected every four years by a Penny Pritzker, Secretary, Department of majority of votes cast in the Electoral College. Commerce These votes are cast by delegates from each state www.commerce.gov who traditionally vote in accordance with the Thomas E. Perez, Secretary, Department of Labor majority of the state’s voters. States have as many www.dol.gov electoral college votes as they have congressio- Sylvia Matthews Burwell, Secretary, Department nal delegates. Missouri has 10 electoral college of Health and Human Services votes—one for each of the eight U.S. Congress www.hhs.gov districts and two for the state’s two seats in the Julián Castro, Secretary, Department of Housing U.S. Senate. and Urban Development www.hud.gov The president is the chief executive of the Anthony Foxx, Secretary, Department of United States, with powers to command the Transportation armed forces, control foreign policy, grant re- www.dot.gov prieves and pardons, make certain appointments, Ernest Moniz, Secretary, Department of Energy execute all laws passed by Congress and present www.energy.gov the administration’s budget. The president earns Arne Duncan, Secretary, Department of Education $400,000 annually, with an allowance for ex- www.ed.gov penses. Robert McDonald, Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs The vice president is selected by members of www.va.gov each national political committee and runs on Jeh Johnson, Secretary, Department of the same ticket for the same term as the presi- Homeland Security dent. The vice president assumes the presidency www.dhs.gov if the president dies or resigns from the office, is incapacitated to the extent that he or she cannot In addition to secretaries of the cabinet, the exercise presidential duties for an extended pe- president maintains a White House staff of advis- riod or is impeached. The vice president presides ers who serve at his pleasure. over the functions of the U.S. Senate and acts as emissary of the president. The vice president President Obama’s Executive Officers earns $231,900 annually. of Cabinet Rank The tradition of the Cabinet dates back to the Denis McDonough, White House Chief of Staff beginnings of the presidency itself. Established in www.whitehouse.gov Article II, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution, the Gina McCarthy, Administrator, Environmental Cabinet’s role is to advise the president on any Protection Agency subject he or she may require relating to the du- www.epa.gov ties of each member’s respective office. It is made Shaun L. S. Donovan, Director, Office of Manage- up of 15 cabinet members (or secretaries) who ment and Budget have the responsibility to operate each depart- www.whitehouse.gov/omb ment. Secretaries are appointed by the president Michael Froman, Ambassador, United States and serve at his or her pleasure. Cabinet secretar- Trade Representative ies earn $199,700 annually. www.ustr.gov UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 81 Samantha Power, Ambassador, United States ceive $246,800 annually while the chief justice, Mission to the United Nations who leads the court, earns $258,100. www.usun.state.gov The Supreme Court concerns itself with na- Jason Furman, Chair, Council of Economic tional issues or matters concerning the consti- Advisers tutionality of certain laws or findings. Decisions www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea of the court are binding and overrule any other Maria Contreras-Sweet, Administrator, Small court decision. Business Administration www.sba.gov Members, United States Supreme Legislative Branch Court www.house.gov / www.senate.gov 1 First St. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20543 Telephone: (202) 479-3000 The U.S. Constitution provides for two legisla- www.supremecourt.gov tive houses, known as the Congress. The Senate is composed of 100 members; two senators are John G. Roberts Jr., chief justice; elected from each state. The House of Represen- Antonin Scalia, associate justice; tatives is composed of 435 members; the num- Anthony M. Kennedy, associate justice; ber of representatives is determined based on the Clarence Thomas, associate justice; population of each state. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice; Stephen G. Breyer, associate justice; Senators must be at least 30 years of age and Samuel A. Alito Jr., associate justice; must be residents of the United States for at least Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice; nine years. They also must reside in the state they Elena Kagan, associate justice. are elected to represent. Senators serve terms of six years, with one-third of Senate members elected every two years. Senators earn $174,000 Other Federal Courts annually, plus expenses. Immediately below the Supreme Court are Representatives must be at least 25 years of the U.S. Courts of Appeals and the U.S. District age and must have been residents of the United Courts. The Courts of Appeals operate in 11 re- States for at least seven years. They also must re- gions and the District of Columbia. Missouri is side in the state they represent. Representatives served by the Eighth Circuit. Appeals Court judg- serve two-year terms and earn $174,000 annu- es earn $213,300 annually. ally, plus expenses. There are 94 U.S. District Court districts with Congress is in session for two years, begin- federal jurisdiction. Two of these are located in ning on January 3 of each year unless another Missouri: the Eastern Missouri District and the date is specified. The presiding officer of the Sen- Western Missouri District. Eastern District courts ate is the vice president of the United States. The are located in St. Louis, Hannibal and Cape Senate also elects a president pro tem of the Sen- Girardeau, and the Western District courts are in Kansas City, St. Joseph, Springfield, Jefferson ate to serve in the absence of the vice president. City and Joplin. Federal charges stemming from The president pro tem also represents the party in both civil and criminal suits generally begin in power and earns $193,400. The presiding officer U.S. District Court. Judges in these courts earn of the House is called the speaker. The speaker $201,100 annually. traditionally represents the party in majority and earns $223,500. For information on other agencies or pro- grams of the U.S. government operating in Mis- souri, contact the Federal Information Center, Judicial Branch Rm. 2616 Federal Building, 1520 Market St., St. The U.S. Supreme Court heads the nation’s ju- Louis 63103, phone (toll free) (800) 333-4636 dicial branch of government. The Supreme Court ((800) FED-INFO). is composed of nine justices, appointed for life. Supreme Court justices may only be removed by *All salary information provided by the Congres- impeachment and trial by Congress. Justices re- sional Research Service. UNITED STATES PRESIDENT 83 Barack H. Obama United States President Elected November 4, 2008 Term expires January 2017 Barack H. Obama is the 44th President of the the Harvard Law Review. Upon graduation, he United States. returned to Chicago to help lead a voter regis- His story is the American story — values tration drive, teach constitutional law at the Uni- from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing versity of Chicago and remain active in his com- in a strong family, hard work and education as munity. the means of getting ahead, and the conviction President Obama’s years of public service are that a life so blessed should be lived in service based around his unwavering belief in the ability to others. to unite people around a politics of purpose. In With a father from Kenya and a mother from the Illinois State Senate, he passed the first major Kansas, President Obama was born in Hawaii on ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working August 4, 1961. He was raised with help from his families, and expanded health care for children grandfather, who served in Patton’s army, and his and their parents. As a United States Senator, he grandmother, who worked her way up from the reached across the aisle to pass groundbreaking secretarial pool to middle management at a bank. lobbying reform, lock up the world’s most dan- gerous weapons and bring transparency to gov- After working his way through college with ernment by putting federal spending online. the help of scholarships and student loans, President Obama moved to Chicago, where he He was elected the 44th president of the Unit- worked with a group of churches to help rebuild ed States on November 4, 2008, and sworn in on communities devastated by the closure of local January 20, 2009. He and his wife Michelle are steel plants. the proud parents of two daughters, Malia, 17, and Sasha, 14. He went on to attend law school, where he became the first African-American president of UNITED STATES VICE PRESIDENT 85 Joseph R. Biden Jr. United States Vice President Elected November 4, 2008 Term expires January 2017 Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., was born Novem- Now, as the 47th vice president of the United ber 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pa., the first of four States, Joe Biden has continued his leadership on siblings.