Federal Bureaucracy

Unit IVCarlyle 2013

IV. Institutions of National Government: The Congress, the Presidency, the Bureaucracy, and the

Federal Courts. 35–45%

A. The major formal and informal institutional arrangements of power

B. Relationships among these four institutions and varying balances of power

C. Linkages between institutions and the following:1.Public opinion and voters2.Interest groups3.Political parties4.The media5.State and local governments

Conflicts or Trade-offs in Bureaucracy• Fairness versus responsiveness – Do we want our

bureaucracies to be fair and treat each individual or case as a special instance, or do we want them to be as responsive to all as possible?

• Treating each case as special would take a long time and reduce the agency’s ability to respond quickly to everyone.

• Example: the IRS – should they individually read each tax form (prevent errors) or should they scan the returns in an effort to process the forms in a short time frame?

• Efficiency versus effectiveness: Do we want our bureaucracy to select the most efficient way to do something, or do we want it to select the most effective?

• Example: EPA – should they inspect each and every manufacturing facility in the US for pollution compliance (time intensive but effective) or should they use reports required of these facilities to determine which need more scrutiny?

• Professional independence versus accountability: What do we want and expect of bureaucrats? Do we want them to have the professional independence to make decisions as needed, or do we want them to be accountable, and we can know what conditions/situations will yield what types of decisions?

• Example: OSHA – Should we empower OSHA inspectors to decide to warn or give fines to a company when the find a safety violation based on their interpretation of the intent or attitude of the company, or do we want to guarantee each inspector will yield the same result/decision in each case?

Define bureaucracy• Large, complex organization of appointed

officials• Federal bureaucracy includes:– Agencies– People– Proceduresthrough which the federal government operates

• Approximately 2.7 million civilian and 1.4 million military federal government employees

• ½ of all work for the Dept of Defense and 28% for the Postal Service

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Where do federal employees work?Source: Office of Personnel Management, 2007 Fact Book.

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What does the Federal Employees Political Activities Act of 1993 stipulate?

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Key features of a bureaucracy

Growth of the Federal BureaucracyI. The Spoils System

A. Originally consisted of elite upper class white males

B. “to the victor belong the spoils” – Andrew Jackson awarded federal posts to party loyalists

II. The Civil ServiceA. Pendleton Act (1883)B. Workers selected according to meritC. OPM (Office of Personnel Management)

i. Administers civil service laws and regulationsii. Is in charge of hiring for most federal agencies

III. Federal and State EmployeesA. Federal = 3% of all civilian jobsB. Number has remained constant since 1950C. State and local government employees has

steadily increased since 1950

Why?

Why has the number of state and local government employees increased?

Cabinet Departments• 15 cabinet departments• All headed by a secretary– Except Department of Justice : Attorney General

• Chosen by president and confirmed by Senate• Treasury Dept: authority over the printing of

money• Cabinet secretaries are often NOT close

presidential advisors– Develop loyalty to their departments

Independent Regulatory Agencies• Created to protect the public by regulating key

sectors of the economy– Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), Securities

and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Labor Relations Board (NRLB), and the Federal Reserve Board (FSB) are best-known

• Led by small commissions appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate– Can’t be removed by the president during their

terms of office

Federal Reserve Board• Primary responsibility is to set monetary

policy• Includes setting bank rates, controlling

inflation, regulating the money supply and adjusting bank reserve requirements

• It has great independence– Removes monetary policy from politics– Can develop policies without undue influence

from political parties and interest groups

Government Corporations

• Provide service that could be provided by private sector

• Examples: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Amtrak, US Postal Service

Independent Executive Agencies• Includes most of the non-cabinet departments• Examples:– NASA– National Science Foundation (NSF)– EPA– Government Services Administration (GSA)

Implementation and Regulation

What is an iron triangle?

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Iron triangle

• Alliance among an administrative agency, an interest group, and a congressional committee

• Each member provides key services, information or policy for the others

• So pervasive and powerful they are often called subgovernments

• The middle-level bureaucrats who run the agencies may use their special friends in Congress to block the efforts of a new President or a new Congressional majority leadership bent on reforming or reducing the size of their agencies.

• The Congressmen and Senators on the oversight committees can count upon their friends in the agencies to continue "pet" programs and pork-barrel projects important to their local constituencies or even to do special favors for their political supporters and financial backers.

• Lobbying organizations provide useful information to the committees and the agencies, provide campaign support for the relevant Congressmen, and often help to mobilize public opinion in favor of larger appropriations and expanded programs for "their" part of the government bureaucracy.

• In return, they tend to be consulted and carefully placated when new laws or administrative regulations or important appointments affecting their special interests are being made

Issue Networks• Include policy experts, media pundits,

congressional staffs, interest groups who debate an issue

• President often fills agency positions with people from an issue network who support his view.

• IMPORTANT – know the difference!– Iron triangle has 3 interlocking points– Issue network has a wide range of people who

debate major public policies

How is a regulation made?

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Employees within any agency• Careerist – spend long periods of time

working for a single agency. They are usually found at the bottom of the agency. They may be a source of loyalty, reliability and stability.

• Politician – work for relatively short periods of time since they often use the agency as a stepping –stone to something bigger. Motivated by self-interest; they tend to be found in the middle of the organizational structure and can be a source of creativity.

• Professional – get their rewards, norms and standards from their professional groups outside the agency (attorneys, academics, etc); if the agency’s goals and expectations are in line with those of their profession they will be productive, easy to manage.

• BUT: the careerist can find it difficult to change his/her behavior; the politician can be a source of destabilization; the professional can cause conflict.