Federal Bureaucracy Bureaucracy system of organization and control based on three principles o Hierarchical authority o Job specialization o Formalized rules History of Bureaucracy defined duties precise division of labor established procedures and regulations o Around 1800 Federal Bureaucracy consisted of about 3 000 employees focused mainly on Defense Foreign affairs Currency Interstate commerce o Late 1800s economic growth spurred creation of new agencies o FDR and New Deal were responsible for greatest growth of bureaucracy in the 1930s Types of Bureaucratic Agencies o Cabinet or Executive Departments Leading administrative units whose heads report directly to the President Each department is responsible for a specific area Department of Defense military Department of State Foreign Relations Some agencies have semiautonomous agencies Example Justice Department includes FBI and DEA o Presidential Commission Provides advice to President May or may not be permanent o Independent Agencies Resemble cabinet level agencies but with a narrower focuses Like cabinet agency just smaller and with a clearer purpose US POSTAL IS THE OLDEST AND LARGEST NASA o Regulatory Agencies CIA comply with them o Government Corporation Example EPA and Security and Exchange Commission Like a business but owned and operated by the government Change clients or services and governed by board of directors directors approved by the Senate receive Federal funding Amtrak FDIC Created by Congress for ongoing regulations of a particular economic activity Develop law like regulations and gauge whether individuals or organizations Staffing the Bureaucracy o Andrew Jackson advocated the Patronage or Spoils System Administrative offices are filled with people who supported the winning party o The Pendleton Act Established the merit system Hiring civil servants based upon scoring high on an exam or specialized process through which annual federal spending and revenue decisions are training Budgetary Process made o Process usually takes a year and a half o 2 3 mandatory spending has to be spent by law unless changed by law Mainly in regards to Medicare and Social Security o 1 3 discretionary spending Mainly military o Executive phase of process Office of Management and Budget talk with President about spending and guidelines and once approved they send the budget to Congress for approval o Congressional phase of process President s budget goes through legislative process of committees and subcommittees to determine if spending and revenue levels are appropriate Recommendations are made to appropriations committee Congressional Budget Office looks for errors and then it goes to the floor like regular bill for debate and vote Bureaucracy s primary task is policy implementation process responsible for carrying out the decisions of Congress the President and the Courts o Exercise control through rulemaking determining how a law will work in practice o Determine compliance Factors affecting policy implantation o Most bureaucrats adopt an agency point of view responding primarily to the needs of the agency not President or Congress o Clientele Groups o Webs of influence groups that benefit directly from an agency s program relatively stable set of bureaucrats legislators and lobbyists Iron triangle who seek to develop policies beneficial to a particular interest Issue network together temporarily around a policy problem grouping of officials lobbyists and policy specialists who come Accountability o Presidential accountability Reorganization Executive orders Appoint new officials o Congressional Accountability Threaten or propose to Congress to cut funding Power of the purse to take away funding If oversight hearing is called by Congress members must testify before Congress 2 types of provision in law Enabling Provision particular way Sunset provision expire unless Congress makes an extension give agencies authority to implement the law in a establish dates when all or part of a law is set to Parties feeling that they are being harmed through law implementations can sue agencies If court favors plaintiff agency must change its policy New Deal era forward o Accountability through Courts Accountability within Bureaucracy o Senior Executive Service roughly 7 000 top level civil servants who can be assigned by the President to any position within agency established by President Carter in 1978 this consists of o Administrative law judges Handle disputes between individuals and agencies Operate through a less formal process than Federal judges o Whistle blower person who reports instance of official mismanagement
View Full Document
Unlocking...