AP CH 14 Notes
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Northern Kentucky University**We aren't endorsed by this school
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LIN 305
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Political Science
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Dec 18, 2024
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13
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AP US GOVERNMENTTHE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY: THE REAL POWER?♦Our food is safer, health care better, and air cleaner all because of federalrules/laws. ♦Despite its reach, and perhaps because of it, Americans have a love-hate relationship with the federal government. We want more of virtually everything the government delivers, from social security to national parks, yet we often complain that the government is too big. ♦As the intense emotions of September 11 faded, so did the newfound trust in government. ♦Red tape- comes from the ribbon that English civil servants once used to tie up and bind legal documents. Today we think of it as inevitable- waiting for government services, etc. but these same rules and regulations ensure that public servants act impartially and hold them accountable. DEFINING THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY♦Bureaucrat-a career governmental employee. ♦Whether they are called bureaucrats or federal employees, 2.7 million Americans work in the executive branch. ♦Six big agencies- Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and the Postal Service- tower over the others in size. ♦Most agencies are responsible directly to the president. ♦Agencies exist by act of Congress; legislators can abolish them either by passing a new law or withholding funds. ♦Bureaucracy-a rational, efficient method of organization. The term refers tothe whole body of unelected and unappointed government officials in theexecutive branch who work for presidents and their political appointees. ♦Bureaucracies are public or private organizations that are large and hierarchical, with each employee accountable to a superior through a chain ofcommand. ♦They provide each employee with a defined role or responsibility, base their decisions on impersonal rules, and hire and promote employees according to job-related skills. ♦Bureaucracies in the modern sense exist to provide predictability and efficiency and to minimize the arbitrary practices that so often characterizedrule under monarchs.
♦Bureaucracy is virtually inevitable. How is the Federal Government Organized? ♦Public administration scholars classify the organizations of government into 4 broad categories: ♦1. Cabinet Departments- the largest federal organizations of all and have the broadest missions. ♦2. Independent Agencies-smaller and have more focused responsibilities♦3. Independent Regulatory Commissions- similar to agencies but are designed to be free from partisan control. ♦4. Government Corporations- designed to operate much like private businesses and provide revenue for the government (but many don’t). Cabinet Departments ♦cabinet departments are the most visible organizations in the federal bureaucracy. ♦15 departments of government employ more than 70% of all federal and civil servants and spend 93% of all federal dollars. ♦Measured by total employees, the largest department is the Department of Defense (Army, Air Force, Navy) next is Veteran Affairs, Homeland Security,Treasure, IRS, and Justice. ♦Measured by budget, the Department of Health and Human Services comes first, followed by Defense. ♦The greatest expansion in the number of departments occurred between 1945 and 1990: Health, Education and Welfare, HUD, Transportation, Energy, and Veterans Affairs were all created. ♦One approach to department building is to use a department to collect a number of related programs under one broad umbrella, or conglomerate. ♦The other approach is to use a department to give added visibility to a popular issue such as education, housing, or energy or to a large group of Americans
such as the elderly or workers. ♦These departments are not conglomerates, but highly specialized voices for a specific group of Americans- they are often tied to interest groups as well. ♦Clientele agencies-those that owe much of their survival to the strength of the constituency groups. Independent Regulatory Commissions ♦All were designed to “get on the backs” of people and corporations, whether to protect consumers, regulate stock markets, oversee federal election laws,monitor TV and radio, regulate business, control the supply of money, or to watch over nuclear power plants. ♦Commissions may be small in budget and employees, but their influence over American life is great. ♦Although independent regulatory commissions are part of the federal bureaucracy, they have a measure of independence from both Congress andthe president through their leadership structure. ♦They are headed not by a single executive but by a small number of commissioners who are appointed by the president, with Senate confirmation,for fixed terms of office. ♦They cannot be removed from office without cause, as a result, they are less responsive to political pressure. ♦Their annual budgets must be approved by Congress, and their decisions are subject to judicial review. Independent Agencies ♦Applied to a regulatory commission, the word independent means that the agency is outside the president’s control. ♦Applied to an agency or administration, it merely means “separate” or standing alone. ♦Independent agencies must report to the president. ♦They are small federal bureaucracies that serve specific groups of Americans or work on specific problems. ♦Becoming an agency is often the first step toward becoming a
department. ♦They are usually headed by an administrator. ♦There are 60 such agencies today: such as EPA, CIA, NASA, NSA, SBA.♦Independence increases each agency’s ability to focus on its mission, independence also weakens its willingness to cooperate. ♦The spread of independent agencies can also increase confusion about who is responsible for what in the federal government. ♦Independent agencies can be more important to the president than some cabinet departments, particularly when an issue such as international spyingor global warming is in the headlines. And both usually have a seat at the cabinet’s conference table. Government Corporations ♦Government corporations are intended to act more like businesses than like traditional government departments and agencies. ♦They are designed to make money through the sale of services such as railtickets or stamps, they are generally given more freedom from the assortedrules that control what agencies do. ♦There are between 31-47 government corporations, such as Corporation for Public Broadcasting, US Postal Service, Amtrak, Americorps Informal Organizations ♦Bureaucrats differ in attitudes, motives, abilities, experiences and political clout, and these differences matter ♦Leadership can be influenced by friendships, “knowing” someone in another department, etc. ♦Informal organization can have a significant effect on administration. ♦Such informal organization and communication, cutting across regular channels, are inevitable in any organization- public, private, military or civilian.Who Leads the Bureaucracy? ♦Every department and agency of the federal bureaucracy is headed by a presidential appointee, who is either subject to confirmation by the Senate or
appointed on the sole authority of the president. ♦They serve at the pleasure of the president and generally leave their posts at the end of that president’s term in office. ♦There are 4,000 presidential appointees. ♦Senior Executive Service- 7,000 members contain the most senior careerofficers of the federal bureaucracy. They are career professionals whocontinue their posts regardless of who happens to be president and are selected on the basis of merit, not political history or campaign contributions.♦Presidents have no influence over who gets chosen to be a member of the Senior Executive Service. ♦Political and career executives constitute the leadership corps of the federal bureaucracy. ♦The federal government has “thickened” with more layers of leadership and more leaders at each layer. ♦Theory of public bureaucracy- bureaucratic organizations constantly seek to enhance their power, whether by creating new titles, adding more staff, or increasing their budget. How Did the Bureaucracy Evolve? ♦Congress not only wanted to restrict the president’s removal power for all officers but also sought to continue the Constitutional Convention debate over who should run the Department of the Treasury. ♦The Senate’s proposals would have sharply limited the president’s authority to execute the laws and were eventually defeated on close votes. ♦Spoils System- a system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends. Began under Andrew Jackson’s reign in 1828. At the time, with each new president, came a full turnover in the federal service. ♦Pendleton Act- set up a limited MERIT SYSTEM- based on a testing program for evaluating candidates. Federal employees were to be selected and retained according to their “merit” and their party connections or loyalty. ♦Civil Service Reform Act- 1978, abolished the Civil Service Commission and split its functions between two new agencies. It was made to eliminate the possible conflict of interest in an agency that recruits, hires, and promotes employees and also passes judgment on grievances, etc. ♦Office of Personnel Management- OPM, administers civil service laws, rulesand regulations, and protects the integrity of the federal merit system andthe rights of federal employees.
WORKING FOR GOVERNMENT♦The federal government employs nearly 2.7 million civilian federal workersand 1.4 million uniformed military personnel. It also employs 1 million postal workers, 5.6 million employees under federal government contracts,and 2.6 million whose salaries are covered by federal research and construction grants. ♦The federal government will spend almost $1.8 Trillion in fiscal year 2002. ♦The federal government is composed of many small parts that administer thousands of different programs. ♦The CDC- Centers for Disease Control is just one of them that is responsible for a variety of federal programs- including immunizing children. Every dollar itspends immunizing children against measles, mumps, and rubella saves $21 in future health costs, and every dollar spent on vaccinations for diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus saves $29. ♦The CDC and its 8,000 employees do more than operate the national vaccination program- they also conduct deep research on some of thenation’s most troubling health issues. Myths About Government ♦Americans believe a number of myths about the federal bureaucracy. ♦Realities are: ♦Only 15% of career civilian employees actually work in the Washington D.C. area- the rest are scattered around the country. ♦More than 25% of civilian employees work for the Army, Navy or Air Force, and 30% work for the Postal System ♦Fewer than 10% of bureaucrats work for welfare agencies such as SocialSecurity or Veterans Affairs. ♦Federal civilian employees are more broadly representative of the nation than legislators or politically appointed executives in terms of social origin,education, religion, and other background factors. ♦Most federal employees are white-collar workers: secretaries, clerks, lawyers, inspectors, and engineers. The Hiring Process
♦Today’s civil service system was designed to reduce political corruption by promoting merit in the hiring process. ♦It regulates the hiring process to make sure that merit is the only basis foremployment and regulates what federal employees can and cannot do byway of political participation. ♦OPM delegates to the individual agencies the responsibility for hiring new personnel, subject to its standards. ♦OPM typically certifies the top three applicants for the opening, and the agency normally selects one of these. ♦Sometimes they give military veterans extra credit in the hiring process. Regulating the Civil Service♦Hatch Act- In 1939, Congress passed an act designed to neutralize thedanger of a federal civil service being able to shape, if not dictate, the election ofpresidents and members of Congress. It permitted federal employees to vote ingovernment elections, but not to take an active part in partisan politics ♦1993-Congress, under Clinton, overhauled the Hatch Act and made many forms of participation in partisan politics permissible. It still bars federal civilservants from running as candidates in partisan elections, but it does not permit most federal civil servants to hold party positions and involve themselves in party fundraising and campaigning. The Role of Government Employee Unions ♦Since 1962, federal civilian employees have had the right to form unions or associations that represent them in seeking to improve government personnelpolicies. ♦American Federation of Government Employees ♦Unlike unions in the private sector, federal employee unions lack the right tostrike and are not able to bargain over pay and benefits. However, they canattempt to negotiate better personnel policies and practices for federal workers,they can represent federal bureaucrats at grievances and disciplinaryproceedings, and they can lobby Congress on measures affecting personnelchanges. ♦The federal government is viewed by many young Americans as an employer of last resort, partly because of lower wages paid by the government, compared to the private sector. There is a pay gap of 25-30% between comparable federal and private jobs.
THE BUREAUCRACY’S JOB♦All federal organizations share one job: to implement the laws. ♦Implementation-the process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending. Covers a broad range of bureaucratic activities, from Social Security checks to inspecting job sites, swearing in new citizens, monitoring air traffic, etc. ♦Administrative Discretion- authority given by Congress to the federal bureaucracy to use reasonable judgment in implementing the laws. Thefreedom often varies from agency to agency. ♦Most agencies implement the law through two means: ♦Regulations- formal instructions for either running an agency or forcontrolling the behavior of private citizens and organizations ♦Spending-which involves the transfer of money to and from the government. Making Regulations ♦Regulations-the formal instructions that the government issues for implementing laws. They are designed to convert laws into action and to tell people what they can and cannot do, as well as what they must or must not do. ♦Although all these rules can be traced back to legislation, they provide the details that most laws leave out. ♦Rule-makingprocess- the formal process for making regulations that the Administrative Procedure Act governs. Enacted in 1946 to make sure that all rules are made visible to the public, the act requires that all proposed rules bepublished in the Federal Register. ♦Publication in the federal government’s newspaper marks the beginning of what is known as the “notice and comment” period in which all parties affected by the proposed regulation are encouraged to make their own opinions known to the agency. ♦Rules have the force of law and can become the basis for legal challenges. ♦All rules are subject to the same judicial review that governs formal laws. Spending Money ♦The federal bureaucracy also implements laws through spending, whether by writing checks to more than 35 million Social Security recipients a year, buying billions of dollars worth of military equipment, or making grants to state governments and research universities.
♦Federal spending more than doubled over the past half-century but has recently begun to shrink in the wake of the end of the Cold War in 1989. ♦Federal spending continues to rise each year, driven in part by the cost of caring for a rapidly aging population. ♦Uncontrollable Spending- 1) programs in which financial payments are required for all Americans who are eligible, such as Social Security, and 2) programs that require more federal spending each year automatically throughcost-of-living increases or interest on the national debt. ♦Uncontrollable spending sharply limits the amount of the federal budget that is actually subject to debate in any given year. ♦The largest share of uncontrollable spending comes from Social Security andMedicare, which are guaranteed to any American who has paid taxes into theprogram for enough years. The aging of the American population means thatmore older people than ever will qualify for Social Security or Medicare, souncontrollable spending will almost certainly rise over the next few decades. ♦A much smaller share of the uncontrollable budget involves welfare for the poor, which is linked to economic performance. ♦Welfare for the poor is not the only welfare in the federal budget. ♦American businesses receive a substantial amount of welfare, including tax breaks, for companies that manufacture prescription drugs in Puerto Rico, farmers who raise sugar cane in Florida, and mining companies that extract minerals from US land. ♦Entitlements-programs such as unemployment insurance, disaster relief, or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens. They accounted for $800 billion in 1999-2000, over half of the federal government’s$1.8 trillion budget. ♦Indexing-providing automatic increases to compensate for inflation, regardless of how the economy is doing. HOLDING THE BUREAUCRACY ACCOUNTABLE♦Presidents are not the only ones who want to control the bureaucracy.Congress too, clearly worries about making bureaucracy work better. Accountability to the President ♦Modern presidents invariably contend that the president should be in charge, for the chief executive is responsive to the broadest constituency. ♦The voters’ wishes can be translated into action only if the bureaucrats
support presidential policies. ♦Under our Constitution, the president is not even the undisputed master of the executive structure. ♦Presidents come into an ongoing system over which they have little control and within which they have little leeway to make the bureaucracy responsive. ♦The president has some control through the powers of appointment, reorganization, and budgeting. ♦A president can attempt to control the bureaucracy by appointing or promoting sympathetic personnel and mobilizing public opinion and congressional pressure. ♦Some critics suggest that a president’s hand could be strengthened if the chief executive were able to make two or three times as many political appointments. Accountability to Congress ♦Congress has a number of ways to exercise control over the bureaucracy,whether by establishing agencies, formulating budgets, appropriating funds,confirming personnel, authorizing new programs or new shifts in direction,conducting investigations and hearings, or even terminating agencies. ♦Much of this authority is used to help constituents as they battle federal red tape. ♦Congress deserves at least some of the blame for creating the red tape in the first place- by demanding special attention for their constituents, members of Congress may undermine the fairness of the entire process. ♦The brutal fact is that only a small minority of the 535 members of Congress would trade the present bureaucratic structure for one that was an efficient, effective agent of the general interest- the political payoffs of the latter are lower than those of the former. ♦Congress can do all these things, but individual members of Congress generally find reasons not to do so. ♦Members of Congress, come to think they know more about particular agencies than the president does. Accountability Through Oversight ♦Oversight- the process of monitoring day-to-day activities that sometimes encourages agencies to perform better or at least deter worse performance. ♦Presidents can put loyal appointees into the top jobs at key agencies, can
direct White House aides to oversee the work of certain agencies, or can callcabinet meetings to learn more about what is happening in the bureaucracy. ♦Presidents tend to use the OMB for most routine oversight. ♦Departments and agencies must get the president’s approval before testifying before Congress on pending legislation. ♦Central Clearance System- OMB forwards communications to Congress in 3 categories: ♦1. “In accordance”-with the president’s program, reserved for the president’s top priorities. ♦2. “Consistent With”- the president’s program, indicating the president’s second-tier priorities. ♦3. “No Objection”-no objection from the president, nor support. ♦Congress also has a number of tools for overseeing the federal bureaucracy, such as the individual members of Congress themselves who are free to ask agencies for detailed information on just about any issue. ♦Congress uses this information as a basis for committee and subcommittee hearings on specific agencies or programs. ♦2 types of oversight: ♦1. Police Patrol-in which the two branches watch the bureaucracy through a routine pattern. ♦2. Fire Alarm- in which the two branches wait for citizens, interest groups, or the press to find a major problem and pull the alarm. The Problem of Self-Regulation ♦The problem is that many bureaucrats often learn by hard experience thatthey are more likely to get into trouble by attempting to improve or changeprograms than if they just do nothing. ♦They sometimes become more skillful at building political alliances to protect their own organization than at building political alliances to ensure their programs’ effectiveness. ♦Career administrators usually try hard to be non-partisan, yet they are inevitably involved in politics. ♦Special-interest groups that perceive real or potential harm to their interests cultivate the bureau chiefs and agency staff who have jurisdiction over their program.
♦Despite these and other flaws, Americans still get substantial value from the federal bureaucracy. Iron Triangle and Issue NetworksIron triangles – A policy-making instrument composed of a tightly related alliance of a congressional committee, interest groups, and a federal department or agency. In this view an agency's power is determined by its constituency– a group of politically active members sharing a common interest or goal; notby its consumers- the expected recipients of goods or services provided by a government bureaucracy as often identified in an agency's written goals or mission statement. So iron triangles do what is best for the constituents (the few and powerful) not the consumers (the many).Here’s the other main theory about how policy gets made…Issue Network –A policy-making instrument composed of loosely related interest groups,congressional committees, presidential aides and others. They cooperate for a specific cause and then disband.
Here’s a side-by-side look at these two theories of how policy gets made: