An executive order in a modern English presidential discourse

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Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

AN EXECUTIVE ORDER IN A MODERN ENGLISH PRESIDENTIAL DISCOURSE

Yesypenko N.G. Doctor of Philological Sciences,

Professor, Head of the Department of English

Annotation

president trump political discourse

Key words: political discourse, discourse analysis, presidential discourse, text structure, pragmatic function, executive order.

The major objectives of this study are to investigate and analyze Donald Trump's forty-four executive orders signed in 2019 from the point of structure and functions of institutional documents in American political discourse, in which we can grasp the effective and dominant principles of directives of the president of the United States which are issued in the exercise of president's powers in the executive branch of the government. The most comprehensive categorization of presidential documents was found in the archive of the Jacob Burns Law Library since each type of documents is distinguished as a separate unit: executive agreements, messages to Congress, statements of administration policy, executive orders, proclamations, state of the Union Address, determinations, reorganization plans, directives, speeches, signing statements, letters, presidential commission reports and memoranda. Critical Discourse Analysis frameworks based on a structural and pragmatic approaches are used to depict a rigid structure of executive orders and their purpose to provide guidelines for different agencies of the executive branch of the US government, on the one hand, and to interpret various policies aimed at a larger audience. The results represent that there are obligatory sections in the executive orders (date of their issue, title, introduction, sections with their purpose and policy, main body sections, general provisions section, the president's signature, indication “The White House”, one more reference to the date of their issue and a billing code), though minor variations are possible to indicate responsible authorities, ways of establishment or functions of newly-formed commissions, termination and revocation of previously-issued executive orders. Executive orders have distinct functions. They are generally aimed at guiding the government and agencies of the USA. The study shows, they do not affect the interests of private individuals. Although executive orders are addressed to the federal government, they can regulate a wide range of debatable issues of public interest, such as the implementation of international treaties, public procurement, access to the state information, issues of war and peace, sanctions for trade with individual countries or the constitutional foundations of an American society.

Анотація

ПРЕЗИДЕНТСЬКИЙ УКАЗ У СУЧАСНОМУ АНГЛОМОВНОМУ ПОЛІТИЧНОМУ ДИСКУРСІ

Єсипенко Н. Г. доктор філологічних наук, професор, завідувач кафедри англійської мови

Чернівецький національний університет імені Юрія Федьковича

Ключові слова: політичний дискурс, дискурс-аналіз, президентський дискурс, архітектоніка тексту, прагматична функція, виконавче розпорядження.

Основними цілями цього дослідження є аналіз сорока чотирьох виконавчих розпоряджень Дональда Трампа, підписаних у 2019 р., з погляду структури та функцій інституційних документів в американському політичному дискурсі, в яких ми можемо визначити ефективні та домінуючі принципи директив президента США, які видаються під час здійснення повноважень президента у виконавчій владі уряду. Найбільш вичерпна категоризація президентських документів була знайдена в архіві юридичної бібліотеки Джейкоба Бернса, оскільки кожен тип документів виділяється як окрема одиниця: виконавчі угоди, повідомлення для Конгресу, заяви про адміністративну політику, розпорядження, прокламації, звернення, постанови, плани реорганізації, директиви, промови, підписання заяв, листів, звітів президентських комісій і меморандумів. Принципи дискурс- аналізу та структурний і прагматичний підходи до вивчення політичних текстів використовуються для відображення архітектоніки виконавчих розпоряджень та їхнього прагматичного спрямування для надання вказівок різним відомствам виконавчої гілки влади США, з одного боку, та інтерпретації різних політик для ширшої аудиторії. Результати дослідження свідчать про те, що в розпорядженнях виконавчих органів є обов'язкові розділи (дата їх виходу, назва, вступ, розділи з метою та політикою, розділи основного тексту, розділ загальних положень, підпис президента, вказівка «Білий дім», ще одне посилання на дату та код), хоча можливі незначні варіації, які вказують на відповідальні органи, способи створення або функції новостворених комісій, припинення та скасування раніше виданих розпоряджень. Виконавчі розпорядження виконують різні функції. Зазвичай вони спрямовані на керівництво урядом та агенціями США. Дослідження показує, що вони не зачіпають інтересів приватних осіб. Хоча виконавчі розпорядження адресовані федеральному уряду, вони можуть регулювати широкий спектр дискусійних питань, що становлять суспільний інтерес, такі як імплементація міжнародних договорів, державні закупівлі, доступ до державної інформації, питання війни та миру, санкції для торгівлі з окремими країнами або конституційні основи американського суспільства.

The main text

It stands to reason that a crucial role of the social institute of the president in the public life of the United States points to the importance of the study of presidential discourse. Nowadays, it is relevant to study different types of discourse within the contemporary cognitive-discursive paradigm of linguistic research in terms of their genre representation. Presidential discourse has a set of characteristics similar to the ones inherent in political discourse and described in a number of scientific works (O. Atman, F. Batsevych, Yu. Denysuik, N. Kondratenko, F. Austermuhl, J. Thornborrow). To study presidential discourse a number of heterogeneous methods and instruments of analysis are applied: critical and rhetorical tools, socio-psychological models [7]. Presidential discourse is also looked from the cultural context perspective or strategies in the presidents' speeches are traced as bound up with presidents' overall political purposes [16]. Lexical manifestations of ideology in presidential campaign speeches are analysed through CDA's Van Dijk thematic theory, revealing, for instance, Trump's ideology in his utterances in order to gain power as U.S President to control policy, law and society behavior [22]. Scientists also agree that presidential discourse is based on a whole range of different presidential documents [1; 3; 5; 14].

The objectives of studying modern English presidential discourse lie in differentiating presidential documents functioning in the USA with the focus on executive orders issued by the American President. Forty-four executive orders signed by Donald Trump and issued in 2019 serve as the object of the given research. The data were collected from the Federal Register of the USA. In order to look into the structural peculiarities of executive orders, it is necessary to define types presidential documents.

According to the list of presidential papers of the George Washington University Law School and Jacob Burns Law Library, there are the following types of the documents issued by the president of the USA: executive agreements - agreements between the USA and the governments of other countries; executive orders - orders that relate to the executive branch of the government of the USA or the organization of the executive agencies; determinations - pronouncements that state the determination of any official policy or position of the executive branch of the government of the USA; directives - instructions on the national or foreign security policy of the executive branch of the government of the USA; letters - presidential correspondence containing instructions on a wide range of issues; memoranda - commands issued to control the actions of various departments and agencies of the executive branch of the government of the USA; messages - written documentation of the president aimed at the United States Congress; notices - memos used to prolong the duration of the executive orders made formerly; proclamations - statements that relate to the public policy of the USA; reorganization plans - schemes that serve as a means of the reorganization of the structure and authorities of the federal agencies; signing statements - written declarations adopted after signing ofthe bills into laws; speeches - oral statements of the president addressed to the nation of the USA; statements of Administration Policy - proclamations that describe the position of the president of the USA on a particular legislation; aimed at the Congress ofthe USA; state of the Union Address - an important message of the president to the Congress which is delivered by the president of the USA once a year; contains a report of the current state of affairs of the USA [17].

The National Archive of the USA categorizes presidential documents into executive orders, proclamations and administrative orders [21].

The Federal Register of the USA gives prominence to a more detailed way of classifying all presidential documents into executive orders, proclamations and other presidential documents, including determinations, messages, memoranda, letters, and notices [20]. This classification is somewhat similar to the one made by the Wellesley College. However, it emphasizes that all the above-mentioned documents belong the presidential directives [13].

The archive of the Jacob Burns Law Library contains the most comprehensive categorization of presidential documents since each type of documents is distinguished as a separate unit: executive agreements, messages to Congress, statements of administration policy, executive orders, proclamations, state of the Union Address, determinations, reorganization plans, directives, speeches, signing statements, letters, presidential commission reports and memoranda [20].

Executive orders are based on the constitutional authorities of the head of the state or statute laws, they have the force of laws. Executive orders are generally aimed at guiding the government and agencies of the USA. As a rule, they do not affect the interests of private individuals. Although executive orders are addressed to the federal government, they can regulate a wide range of debatable issues of public interest, such as the implementation of international treaties, public procurement, access to the state information, issues of war and peace, sanctions for trade with individual countries or the constitutional foundations of an American society.

Nolo's plain-English law dictionary provides the following definition of an executive order, “a declaration by the president or a governor which has the force of law, usually based on existing statutory powers, and requiring no action by the Congress or state legislature” [15, p. 162].

According to Mayer, executive orders are defined as directives of the president of the United States which are issued in the exercise of his powers in the executive branch of the government [18, p. 445-466]. Thus, the general directions of the domestic and foreign policies of the state are determined by means of executive orders. Besides, this type of presidential documents establishes the structure of the activities of executive bodies of the USA. However, executive orders are limited by the Constitution of the USA and statute laws. Shane and Bruff make an assertion that executive orders are an indispensable attribute of presidential power since they are realized through the actions of the head of the state [8].

In general, there are two types of executive orders. The first one is a more common one since it encompasses guidelines for different agencies of the executive branch of the government on how to exercise their plenary powers. The second type deals primarily with the interpretation of various policies aimed at a larger audience. On the other hand, executive orders can be divided according to the type of policy, namely orders relating to the domestic or foreign policies [12].

All of the executive orders are commonly published in the Federal Register of the United States after their issue by the White House. According to the Government Publishing Office, the Federal Register is defined as “the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents” [11]. Executive orders can also be complied under Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations which is “the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government” [9]. Additionally, it is possible to find executive orders in the Compilations of Presidential Documents issued by Office of the Federal Register, Records Administration and National Archives.

According to the Federal Register of the USA, Donald Trump issued forty four executive orders in 2019, including executive orders from 13857 through 13901 [10]. Structural characteristics of the executive orders under analysis enabled us to draw conclusions about the level of nomenclature in this type of presidential discourse.

The research shows that each page of any executive order is numbered in the upper right or left corner in accordance with the pages of the Federal Register. There is also a sign “Authenticated U. S. Government Information GPO” in the opposite upper corner. This abbreviation stands for the Government Publishing Office which is a digital resource of all governmental documents. Each executive order has a heading which consists of the indication that it belongs to presidential documents, a volume, a number, an exact day and a date of the issue of the Federal Register. For example, executive order 13877 can be found in volume 84, number 124 of the Federal Register issued on Thursday, June 27, 2019.

The obligatory feature distinguished in the executive orders is that each executive order includes the date of its issue and its title which summarizes the main topic of the executive order. All notional parts of speech in the title are capitalized, for example, executive order 13890 headed “Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nation's Seniors” was issued on October 3, 2019. Executive orders also have an indication “Title 3 - The President” which shows that they can be found in the annual Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations. It is located in the left corner, near the date of issue and title.

The structure of the executive orders is marked by several distinctive parts. Each executive order has the “introduction”. It consists of the following phrase which is typical for 75 percent of analyzed executive orders “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows”. Some executive orders, making 25 percent of the analyzed ones, also indicate the aim in their opening sentence, for example, executive order 13895: “...and in order to establish an advisory council on science and technology.”; executive order 13891: “.and to better ensure continued American economic prosperity and national security.”. The `main body' of executive orders consists of different sections and their subsections. They can relate to the purpose of orders, policy descriptions, definitions connected with a particular topic, objectives or guidelines on how to implement some specific actions mentioned at the beginning of orders. 65 percent of executive orders under study have the first section revealing the purpose. It runs “Section Purpose”. This section deals primarily with reasons for issuing a particular order. It may also provide a summary of the previously taken actions, implemented policies or a whole range of events which led to carrying out of a certain order. For example, executive order 13893 alludes to the year 2005, “In May 2005, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) implemented a budget-neutrality requirement on executive branch administrative actions affecting mandatory spending”. Additionally, this section can refer to those executive orders which were issued earlier. For example, executive order 13877 makes a mention of executive order 13813 of October 12, 2017. On the other hand, it may present a few supporting arguments for the execution of the order based on a study or any type of investigation: “One study, cited by the Council of Economic Advisers in its 2019 Annual Report, examined a sample of the highest-spending categories of medical cases requiring inpatient and outpatient care (executive order 13877)”. One more possible variant for this section is the description of some statistics: “Approximately 37 million Americans have chronic kidney disease and more than 726,000 have ERSD (executive order 13879)”. The first section can also offer a number of benefits and advantages which can be brought by publishing a specific executive order: “This order will promote greater access to critical information regarding the prices and outcomes of postsecondary education. (executive order 13864)”.

The second section typically relates to the ways of implementation of a government policy formulated within executive orders. It also appoints departments and agencies which are responsible for fulfilling the requirements specified in the order. The United States (40% of executive orders), the Federal Government (20%) and the executive branch (20%) are generally mentioned in this section. There are executive orders (15%), which do not have the section with policy description at all.

There are executive orders (25%) that include the section called “Definitions” after the section with the policy indication. For example, “Guidance document” means an agency statement of general applicability, intended to have future effect on the behaviour of regulated parties. (executive order 13892)”.

The next sections in the `main body' deal primarily with the instructions of the president of the USA on how to implement each of the steps mentioned in the policy description section. They also have the indications to deadlines of the execution of orders and departments in charge of their meeting. Those sections can also be divided into subparagraphs. For example, executive order 13877 has the following sections: “Informing Patients About Actual Prices”, “Establishing a Health Quality Roadmap”, “Increasing Access to Data to Make Healthcare Information More Transparent and Useful to Patients”, “Empowering Patients by Enhancing Control Over Their Healthcare Resources” and “Addressing Surprise Medical Billing”. The title of each new section is capitalized. Each subparagraph includes a cliched phrase: “Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall propose... (executive order 13877); “Within 365 days of the date of this order, the Task Force shall develop.” (executive order 13861).

Finally, each executive order has the section called “General Provisions”. It is the final section of executive orders which establishes the formal legal framework for their application:

General Provisions.

a) Nothing in this order shall be construed o impair or otherwise affect:

1) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

2) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person (executive order 13864).

Eventually, each executive order is signed by the president below the section “General Provisions” in the right corner. There is also an indication “The White House” and the date of issue of the Federal Register in the left corner below the president's signature. The date in the heading and in the end of executive orders usually match. Executive orders found in the Federal Register may also have a time and date stamp of their publication.

The last structure element is a `billing code'. There are two types of billing codes, for example “3295-F9-P” and “3295-F0-P”.

In conclusion, executive orders are presidential documents which have a rigid structure. They consist of “Authenticated U. S. Government Information GPO” sign, page number, indication that they belong to presidential documents, volume, number, day and date of the issue of the Federal Register, indication “Title 3 - The President”, date of their issue, title, introduction, sections with their purpose and policy, a number of main body sections which relate to the recommendations on the ways of implementation of their policy, general provisions section, the president's signature, indication “The White House”, one more reference to the date of their issue and a billing code. This structure can also have some minor variations, including additional sections with comprehensive definitions, responsible authorities, ways of establishment or functions of newly-formed commissions, termination and revocation of previously-issued executive orders.

The further study of presidential discourse will focus on lexical and syntactical levels of executive orders; the pragmatic aspect of this types of documents will be studied too.

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23. Thornborrow, J. (2002) Power Talk: Language and Interaction in Institutional Discourse. London: Longman. 146 p.

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