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Task2Unitsreading-TheBureaucracy.pptChapter 13
The Federal Bureaucracy
A system of organization and control that is based on three principles; handles the day-to-day business of the government
Employees about 4 million people in the United States
Bureaucracy in Political Science
Hierarchical authority (chain of command whereby officials and units at the top of the bureaucracy have authority over those in the middle, who in turn control those at the bottom)
Job Specialization
Formalized rules
Bureaucracy
- An inevitable consequence of complexity and scale
- Bureaucrats naturally take an “agency point of view” seeking to promote their agency’s programs and power
- Despite oversight and checks and balances, the bureaucracy has significant power.
Bureaucracy
- To implement policy
- Laws may lack clear, concrete details
- Rulemaking authority to create regulations about how government programs should operate.
- This authority enhances the power of the federal bureaucracy, giving it considerable jurisdiction over the implementation of government policies.
Purpose
- President Andrew Jackson (1828) opened government jobs to the common people. He inaugurated the spoils system, under which party loyalty—not experience or talent—became the criterion for a federal job .
- This was the beginning of patronage, and it continued through the late 19th century
History of Bureaucracy
- Congress passed the Pendleton Act in 1883, which created a system for hiring federal workers based on qualifications rather than political allegiance; employees were also protected from losing their jobs when the administration changed.
History of Bureaucracy
- In 1939, the Hatch Act passed to prohibit federal workers from running for office or actively campaigning for other candidates.
History of Bureaucracy
- 1930s: the size of the federal bureaucracy grew exponentially due to President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal agencies.
- Although many were short-lived, others continue to play a role
- Example: the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
History of Bureaucracy
- 1960s: President Lyndon expanded the welfare state with such programs as Medicare, Head Start, the Job Corps, and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).
- 1970s: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created by the Nixon administration, the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the Labor Department transformed the workplace for most Americans, and new cabinet departments were established .
- 2002: Department of Homeland Security established.
History of Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
Cabinet Departments:
- 15 currently exist;
- major administrative units of the executive;
- heads, or secretaries, appointed, approved and part of presidential cabinet;
- each department has responsibility for a general policy area
Forms of Bureaucracy
State,
Treasury,
Defense,
Justice,
Interior,
Agriculture,
Commerce,
Labor,
Health & Human Services,
Homeland Security,
Housing & Urban Development,
Transportation,
Energy,
Education, and
Veterans Affairs.
Cabinet Departments
Independent Agencies:
- similar to cabinets in structure but have narrower responsibilities
Example: Central Intelligence Agency
Forms of Bureaucracy
Regulatory Agencies:
- Quasi-legislative
- Quasi-judicial
- Hold hearings
- Make rules
- Resolve disputes
- Independent
- President cannot unilaterally remove leaders
- Example: Environmental Protection Agency
Forms of Bureaucracy
Government Corporations:
- Similar to private companies because they charge clients for services and are governed by a board of directors
- Different b/c receive federal funding to help defray operating expenses
- Example: Amtrak
Forms of Bureaucracy
Commissions:
- Provide advice to President
- Exist because the need for rulemaking is highly complex & technical
Examples: FTC, FCC, SEC, FEC, FRB
Forms of Bureaucracy
- Primary Responsibility is policy implementation (Rule Application, Rule Interpretation, and Rule Initiation)
- Administrators tend to look out for their agency’s point of view.
- Often, new regulation has a comment period time outlined in the U.S. Federal Register
Bureaucracy
Expertise
Special interests, or clientele groups
Friends in High Places
Sources of Power
- Overly complex rules and procedures (red tape)
- Waste
- Redundancy and duplication of efforts
- Conflict
Potential Issues
- The ability of the government (especially the President, Congress & Courts) to hold the bureaucracy responsible for its performance and actions
- See n.a. (2018) Air Force paid $1280 on coffee cup. CNN https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/10/30/air-force-coffee-cups-chuck-grassley-earlystart-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos
Accountability
Vis a vis the President
Authorized to appoint about 4000 higher-level bureaucrats
Can reorganize agencies/depts as he sees fit
President’s Office of Mgmt and Budget monitors & evaluates performance, looks at efficiency, growth, etc
Accountability
Vis a Vis Congress
Congress uses its oversight powers to ensure that legislation is implemented as intended;
Uses committee hearings to question agency staff and hold them accountable to their actions and decisions.
Can also influence the behavior of a bureaucratic agency by cutting or increasing its budget; this is also known as "power of the purse."
Accountability
- Vis a vis OMB: Budgets & Rule Making
Has substantial control over agency budgets
Review agency regulations before they go into effect (tends to be reactive)
Accountability
- Vis a vis the Courts
Legally, derives its authority from acts of Congress
An injured party can bring suit on grounds failed to carry out law properly
Courts tend to support administrators if at least somewhat consistent with law
Accountability
- Vis a vis the Bureaucracy itself
Senior Executive Service —Top-level career civil servants who qualify through a competitive process to receive higher salaries than their peers but who can be assigned or transferred by order of the President
Administrative Law judges—an official who presides at a trial-like administrative hearing to settle a dispute between an agency and someone adversely affected by a decision of the agency
Accountability
3. Whistleblowers (individuals can report instances of mismanagement without repercussions)
See https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/protecting-the-public-from-waste-fraud-and-abuse-the-whistleblower-protection-enhancement-act-of-2009
Accountability
- +4000 appointed by White House
- Loyalty
- Number of appointments has increased
- Tenure of those appointed has decreased
- Patronage
- Political Favoritism
Appointees
- Office of Personnel Management
- Bipartisan Merit Systems Protection Board
- 18 level General Schedule (GS) salary structure
- Service ratings
- Hatch Act of 1939 limits political activities of civil service
Career Civil Service
- PBS (2015) Bureaucracy basics. Crash Course. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8EQAnKntLs
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