Title: Executive Branch – System
Headings: Executive Branch
Executive Branch
Inside Executive Branch

Content: The primary responsibility of the Vice President of the United States is to be ready at a moment’s notice to assume the Presidency in case of the President’s death, resignation, or temporary incapacitation, or if the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet judge that the President is no longer able to discharge the duties of the presidency. The Vice President also serves as the President of the United States Senate, where he or she casts the deciding vote in the case of a tie. Except in the case of tiebreaking votes, the Vice President rarely actually presides over the Senate. The Executive Office of the President (EOP) created in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt provides support to the President to govern effectively. The EOP consists of the immediate staff to the President, along with entities such as the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the United States Trade Representative. The EOP has responsibility for tasks ranging from communicating the President’s message to the American people to promoting trade interests abroad. The current EOP employs around 1800 people. The Cabinet is an advisory body consisting of the heads of the 15 executive departments. These departments and agencies have missions and responsibilities as widely divergent as those of the Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency, the Social Security Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission. All the members of the Cabinet take the title Secretary, excepting the head of the Justice Department, who is designated as Attorney General.