POLS 206 10th Edition Lecture 13 Agencies and Bureaucracy Outline of Last Lecture I In the news a Boehner proposes to extend debt ceiling for 6 weeks b Obama would sign a clean debt ceiling increase but only if Republicans reopen government c Public expectations II Congressional delegation of authority a Congress has given away some of its power away to the executive branch but why III Imperial presidency IV Inside the beltway bargaining a Bargaining with WDC insiders b Negotiation and compromise i Good IBBs ii Poor IBBs Outline of Current Lecture I No in the news today because we need to catch up II Presidential approval ratings a Uses it to try and get members of congress to go along with him b Highest approval rating in first 3 6 months in office III Other resources a Bureaucracy b EOP c White House Staf IV Bureaucracy a 4th branch of government 1 Cabinet Departments Independent Executive Agencies Independent Regulatory Commission Government Corporations V Agency Creation a Institutions shape outcomes b Control procedure control the outcome c Advocacy d Intervention Lecture 13 Notes I No in the news today because we need to catch up II Presidential approval ratings a Uses it to try and get members of congress to go along with him b Highest approval rating in first 3 6 months in office c Going Public i Not negotiating more of an appeal to the public ii Forcing cooperation rather than bargaining 1 Threat of taking away office 2 Congress doesn t have the kind of captivating power that the executive does iii Founding fathers didn t want to impassionate people and charge them up that could eventually lead to the trampling of the ruling minority 1 Demagogue was inappropriate in the past 2 Was an impeachable ofense 3 Overexposure would cause people to ignore or tune him out 4 Not significantly successful III Other resources a Bureaucracy i Take care clause 4 diferent areas b EOP i NSC OMB CEA ii CEA 1 Three member board c White House Staf i Chief of Staf liaisons press secretary national security assistant ii Do not have to be confirmed by the president iii Know the current members of each position 1 COS a Determines who gets to meet with the president b Formulates presidential strategy through all of the DC channels 2 Press Secretary a Jake Harney b Show the president in the most positive light iv Problems 1 No way for the public to control who is serving on this staf This is dangerous and we cannot do anything about it 2 Stepping stone to a higher paying job 3 Burn out after short periods of time IV Bureaucracy a 4th branch of government b Take questions about things like safety and turn those things into actions and rules c Vague mandate for an agency i Agency comes up with safe and unsafe practices ii 2 7 bureaucrats that pass rules and regulations that have the same force of law as if congress were to pass them 1 Cabinet Departments a Nominated by president and confirmed by the senate b Picked for expertise and will typically have a career that precedes them c Satisfy other partisan groups i More diversity all well qualified though 2 Independent Executive Agencies 3 Independent Regulatory Commission a Federal Elections Commission i Evaluate whether candidates are complying and whether donors are complying with campaign finance laws b Federal Reserve Board i Tactical issues ii Difuse policies that afect people uniformly 4 Government Corporations iii Overview 1 Education mail delivery borders labor disputes air and water quality national parks 2 A lot of people look negatively upon bureaucracy 3 Ideal type a Hierarchical control focus on one area b Division of labor and specialization c Consistent set of abstract rules d Meritocracy i Hired based on qualifications 4 Divergence from the ideal a Rarely ideal b Abstract set of rules applies rules in an inappropriate manner i License to catch fish TSA Searches permit to change lighting fixture ii Red tape 1 Slows everything down 5 Inefficient and contradictory a Pluralistic democracy i People have diferences ii Might not be designed to be efficient 6 Main reason for contradiction a Agency creation they do not just come out of nowhere b Not designed to be efficient Meant to satisfy certain groups of people with diferent goals V Agency Creation a Institutions shape outcomes b Control procedure control the outcome c Advocacy i Lies behind every agency ii Prefer a strong agency isolated from political control iii Opponent groups don t even want the creation of an agency 1 Try to cripple it with rules and structures that prevent it from doing its job a They do this by placing it under a hostile department b President wants the agency in his control c MCs want bureaucracy to do its own thing but intervene unless they do something wrong d Intervention i Low politicization and high efficacy Advocacy Groups ii High politicization and low efficacy Opponent Groups iii High politicization and high efficacy President