Discussion Responses

Respond to two students discussion post. Just type the paragraph under the discussion. It doesn’t have to be in essay form.

Also, make sure that your response(s) are substantial and at least 250 words.  In your responses, you must include connections to course learning objectives. 

Discussion Post #1

The main five types of public organizations listed in the reading for this module are the cabinet department, independent agencies, regulatory agencies, government corporations and presidential commissions (The Federal Bureaucracy 1). The cabinet departments are critical to the functionality of the bureaucracy, and the most of directors, or secretaries and attorney general, report directly to the president (Scanlon 1). Examples of these departments are education, treasury, defense, justice, and numerous others. These departments handle matters that provide key service to or for citizens that could be implied by the constitution. Each department is delegated powers to create rules and enforce laws set in place by congress. Independent agencies play a role similar to that of departments, but each agency has a smaller mission then that of a department, despite the fact that both organizations’ heads are appointed by the president (The Federal Bureaucracy 1). What this means is that these organization would not focus on a matter such as United States military defense, such as the defense department does, but they would have a more limited focus. An example of this could be the FBI and the CIA, as they both operate in a defense manner but are independent organizations and not in the department category (Scanlon 2). Although this form of organization is smaller, these typically still play an important role in the U.S and are delegated limited power in order to make administrative rules. Another critical category of organization that aids in functionality of other all public and private organizations is regulatory agencies. Instead of the heads of this agency being appointed by the president, these agencies are mostly put in place by congress (The Federal Bureaucracy 1). These organizations operate just as their name would imply; in that they provide other organizations with regulations they are advised to follow. Although these organizations may be viewed negatively by those whom they enforce regulations on, they do so to ensure domestic tranquility and citizen, as well as, government protection. Government corporations, like many of the other organizations listed, have a director who is selected by the president. The main difference in managements is that director is also confirmed by the cabinet (The Federal Bureaucracy 1). This form of corporation functions in a way that is similar to a private business corporation as they provide outside individuals with services that meet their needs. One major way this differs from a private business is that their operating expenses are covered by the federal government, since they are providing what could be viewed as a governmental service (The Federal Bureaucracy 1). Lastly, is the matter of presidential commissions and the role they play. These are advisory organizations, and they have one of the more narrow and limited scopes of any of the organizations listed above (The Federal Bureaucracy 1). These, also as the name implies, typically operate only on matters or topics that the president sees fit to commission specific individuals towards (Scanlon 2). Each of these organizations has a critical role, or they would be obsolete. Along with that role each organization has specific tasks and situations they are entrusted by the president and congress to handle effectively.

Personally, I tend to view most regulations that are put in place to be necessary. If that regulation is in place, then there is most likely an issue that caused it to arise or it is there to prevent an issue from arising. One regulation, that I guess could be viewed as extreme is the regulations on male soldiers’ hair in the military. For men “When the hair is combed, it will not fall over the ears or eyebrows, or touch the collar, except for the closely cut hair at the back of the neck.” (AR 2). If the Individual’s hair were to get in their eyes, I could see how that would be a problem, but if it is long on the sides or back, there would not be a problem. The reason as to why I see this regulation as extreme is due to the fact that women in the military are permitted to have hair that is long enough to fit into a bun (AR 3). On the other hand, a regulation that seems extremely necessary, especially during current times, is the regulation for healthcare professionals to wash their hands. This regulation has been passed by various organizations such as governmental, public, and private. In the case of healthcare workers, this regulation for the majority of them has been passed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the washing of hands has been a regulation for healthcare personnel for decades, it was reiterated again in a document written by the CDC in 2010. One critical line that was listed in the document was that “The main measure assessed for reducing the risk of influenza transmission in the healthcare setting included hand washing, disposable gloves, and face masks to reduce touching the face.” (Larson and Liverman 44). In the case of employees who work in close contact with one another and with those they provide care for, it is critical that they follow all hand washing regulations.

Discussion Post #2

After reading the information given about the five different types of public organizations, I believe that each group of organizations is made for a specific reason. The independent executive agencies are assigned with administering federal laws and regulations that apply to specific areas such as social security, education, and the environment. When it comes to whether this organization can create laws, I would say no that they can only enforce the laws and regulations put forth by other organizations. Independent regulatory agencies are federal agencies created by an act of congress that are not in direct relations to executive department. Although they are independent from the executive branch of the government, they are still considered part of it and are meant to impose and enforce regulations free of political influence. The role of the cabinet is to advise the president on any area he may ask about when relating the departments on which each cabinet member is the head of. The fifteen major departments that are covered in the cabinet are the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Attorney General. The purpose of government corporations is to provide specific services to the public and handle areas that are too complex for the government which allows the government to run more efficiently. Unlike the cabinet departments I believe these corporations do not have the ability to create administrative rules. A presidential commission is a special task force that is ordained by the President and is assigned to complete a specific investigation or research. Like every other department and agency accept the Cabinet department, this commission also cannot create administrative rules. 

The regulation that I believe seems necessary to the American people in the world today are acts of regulations and legislations that have to do with COVID-19. The CARES Act is one of those regulations that is something that I have investigated and almost considered applying for. For most college students, across our nation the only way to pay for college is by working one or even two jobs in some cases. With corona hitting and closing most business across our nation people were left with no way to pay for school and the CARES Act was one way of helping most college students. 

A regulation I see that is a little overboard is the regulation on the “Trump Wall”. The bill for this is to appropriate $25,000,000,000 for the building of a border wall between Mexico and the United States as well as other purposes. This money could be spent on many different areas in our nation right now. The money could be spent on our education system so that kids in areas that do not have the opportunities to pursue a high quality of education may do so, or it could be spent on police training so that we do not have these acts of violence by police officers across the country. Any way you want to spend the money can be better that a wall that stretches 1,954 miles.