The president's power to set the debate concerning public policy in congress is called a(n) a. executive mandate b. legislative initiative c. presidential prerogative d. executive privilege e. executive order

C. a legislative initiative.

Only Congress itself can introduce legislation for consideration and voting into law.  However, much of the legislation that worked on by Congress done at the request of the Executive Branch.  If you think of the sorts of things a president outlines in his annual State of the Union message, he often will set priorities and then task Congress to take up those priorities.