How the executive branch works

The president and vice president

The president is elected to a four-year term and may be elected no more than twice (Twenty-second Amendment). The president commands the armed forces; may grant reprieves and pardons for federal offenses, except in cases of impeachment; makes treaties with the consent of two-thirds of the senators present; and appoints ambassadors, judges and other officers with the Senate's consent (Article II, Section 2). The president signs or vetoes the bills Congress passes (Article I, Section 7) and must “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Article II, Section 3).

Executive orders are the president's directions to the executive branch. The Constitution does not mention them: each must rest on the president's own constitutional powers or on authority Congress has given by law, and courts can set aside one that rests on neither (Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 1952).

The vice president becomes president if the office falls vacant (Twenty-fifth Amendment), and presides over the Senate, breaking ties there. After the vice president, the line of succession runs to the Speaker of the House, the Senate's president pro tempore, and then the cabinet secretaries in the order the statute lists them, roughly the order in which their offices were first created (3 U.S.C. 19).

Who holds these offices now

See it on this site: The President and Vice President

Sources: U.S. Constitution, Article I; U.S. Constitution, Article II; U.S. Constitution, Twenty-second Amendment; U.S. Constitution, Twenty-fifth Amendment; 3 U.S.C. 19 (presidential succession); Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952)

The Executive Office of the President

The president's own staff and advisers make up the Executive Office of the President. Among them:

White House chief of staff

Runs the president's staff and schedule, and is often a principal negotiator with Congress.

Office of Management and Budget

Prepares the budget the president sends Congress, oversees how agencies manage and spend, and through its Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs reviews significant regulations before they are issued. Its director is confirmed by the Senate (31 U.S.C. 502).

National Security Council

The president's forum for defense, intelligence and foreign policy, run by the national security advisor.

White House Counsel

Advises the president and the White House on legal questions, including nominations, pardons and requests from congressional investigators.

Sources: Executive Order 8248 (1939), establishing the Executive Office of the President; 31 U.S.C. 502 (Office of Management and Budget); 50 U.S.C. 3021 (National Security Council)

The executive departments

There are 15 executive departments (5 U.S.C. 101). Each is headed by a secretary, except Justice, which is headed by the attorney general; all are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. With the vice president they make up the cabinet, to which presidents also add other officials. They are listed here in the order of presidential succession.

Changes since 2025

Executive Order 14347 of September 5, 2025 lets the Department of Defense and its secretary use “Department of War” and “Secretary of War” as secondary titles, in correspondence, public communications, ceremonies and documents other than statutes. The department's name in law is still the Department of Defense (10 U.S.C. 111). On July 22, 2026 the House passed a defense authorization bill that would rename it; on July 14 the Senate had declined, 50-46, to take up its own version, and the rename has not become law.

The Department of Education still exists in law (20 U.S.C. 3411), and Congress has not passed a bill to abolish it. Since 2025 it has handed the day-to-day running of many of its programs to other departments under interagency agreements. Among them: career, technical and adult education, and from November 2025 Title I and other school and college grant programs, to Labor; Indian education to Interior; student loans to Treasury (March 2026); and, from June 2026, special education to Health and Human Services and civil rights enforcement to Justice.

Who heads each department now

See it on this site: Who heads each department · Changes in the Cabinet since the term began

Sources: 5 U.S.C. 101 (the executive departments); 3 U.S.C. 19 (presidential succession); 10 U.S.C. 111 (the Department of Defense); Executive Order 14347, 90 FR 43893 (Sept. 10, 2025); U.S. Senate floor log, July 14, 2026; Congressional Research Service, Insight IN12704; 20 U.S.C. 3411 (Department of Education); U.S. Department of Education: six new agency partnerships (Nov. 18, 2025); U.S. Department of Education: Education–Treasury interagency agreement; U.S. Department of Education: additional partnerships (June 16, 2026)

Independent agencies, commissions and corporations

Independent agencies

Agencies outside the 15 departments, each led by a single administrator who serves at the president's pleasure: the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and the Central Intelligence Agency, for example.

Regulatory commissions

Boards of several members serving staggered terms, often with a limit on how many may belong to one party: the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Reserve Board, for example.

Government corporations

Enterprises the government owns or created: the U.S. Postal Service, an independent establishment of the executive branch governed by a Board of Governors, and Amtrak, which by law is not a federal agency.

Can the president remove a commissioner?

Congress has written into some agencies' laws that their members may be removed only “for cause”: for the Federal Trade Commission, for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office” (15 U.S.C. 41). In Trump v. Slaughter, decided on June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court held 6-3 that the FTC's protection violates the separation of powers, and overruled whatever remained of Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935), the case that had upheld it. The Court said it was not deciding the Federal Reserve's case, or that of judges on courts outside Article III (such as the Tax Court).

The Federal Reserve's governors may also be removed only for cause (12 U.S.C. 242). The same day, in Trump v. Cook, the Court refused 5-4 to let the president remove a governor while her lawsuit continues, and said that the governors' protection is consistent with the Constitution; that case has not been finally decided. A year earlier, in Trump v. Wilcox (May 22, 2025), the Court had let the president remove members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board while their cases went on, describing the Federal Reserve, in the Court's words, as a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity”.

Sources: 15 U.S.C. 41 (Federal Trade Commission); 12 U.S.C. 242 (Federal Reserve Board); 39 U.S.C. 201 (Postal Service); 49 U.S.C. 24301 (Amtrak); Trump v. Slaughter, 609 U.S. 422 (2026); Trump v. Cook, 609 U.S. 528 (2026); Trump v. Wilcox, No. 24A966 (order of May 22, 2025)

Commenting on rules and asking for records

Agencies write rules under the laws Congress passes. Under the Administrative Procedure Act an agency generally publishes notice of a proposed rule in the Federal Register and gives anyone interested the chance to send in written data, views or arguments, which it must consider; a final rule is generally published at least 30 days before it takes effect (5 U.S.C. 553). There are exceptions, among them military and foreign affairs, interpretive rules and policy statements, and cases where the agency finds notice impracticable, unnecessary or contrary to the public interest. Anyone may also petition an agency to issue, change or repeal a rule. Each notice says how to comment, and many proposed rules can be found and commented on at Regulations.gov.

The Freedom of Information Act lets any person ask a federal agency for its records, which it must release unless one of the Act's exemptions applies, such as classified information or personal privacy (5 U.S.C. 552). It covers the executive branch, not Congress or the federal courts (5 U.S.C. 551). Each agency answers its own requests; FOIA.gov says where to send one. Every state has public-records and open-meetings laws of its own (local governments).

Sources: 5 U.S.C. 553 (rulemaking); Regulations.gov, the federal government's rulemaking portal; 5 U.S.C. 552 (Freedom of Information Act); 5 U.S.C. 551 (agency defined); FOIA.gov: Frequently asked questions