4.14 : Nature of Federal BureaucracyAP U. S. Government

Key Terms: Bureaucracy• Spoils System

• Merit

• Bureaucrats

• Whig Theory

• Garfield Assassination

• Civil Service

• Pendleton Act of 1883

• Politics-Administration Dichotomy

• Devolution

• Privatization

• Glass Ceiling

• Cabinet Departments

• Independent Agencies

• Adjudication

• Administrative Discretion

•Hatch Act 1937

•Administrative Procedures Act 1947

•Neutral Competence

•Reinventing Government

•Quasi-Judicial Power

•Regulatory/Policing Power

•Civil Service Reform Act 1978

•Senior Executive Service (SES)

•Office of Personnel Management

•Collective Bargaining

•Affirmative Action

•Independent Regulatory Agencies

•Government Corporations

•Rule-Making

Introduction

• Classic conception of bureaucracy (Max Weber)—a hierarchical authority structure that use task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality

• Bureaucracies govern modern states.

The Bureaucracy• What is Bureaucracy?

A complex, hierarchically arranged organization composed of many small subdivisions with specialized functions

Bureaucracy means “rule by officialdom”

Bureaucracy is complex

Bureaucracy is hierarchical

5

Weber’s Five

Characteristics

of Bureaucracy

1. Specialization

2. Record-keeping

3. Formality

4. “Professionalization”

5. HierarchyWhat is a Bureaucracy?

Government agencies that

implement Gov. policies

The Federal Bureaucracy is:

4 million employees; 2.8 million are civilians or “civil servants”

President only appoints 3% (patronage or political appointments)

15 cabinet level departments

200+ independent agencies with 2,000+ bureaus, divisions, branches, etc.

Biggest - Dept. of Defense, U.S. Postal Service, Veterans Administration

The Bureaucracy

• A few myths about Bureaucrats… They’re paper-pushers

Only about a half million government employees have characteristically bureaucratic positions such as clerk or general administrator

The government employs about 147,00 engineers and architects, 84,000 scientists, and 2,400 veterinarians

They work in Washington DC

Only about 10% of government civilian employees work in Washington D.C

Most work in the federal government

About 22% of government employees work for the federal government

Bureaucrats

•A Civil servant

•Permanentemployee of the government

Who are the “Bureaucrats?” 97% are career government employees

Only 10% live in the D.C. area

30% work for the D.O.D.

Less than 15% work for social welfare agencies

Most are white collar workers: secretaries, clerks, lawyers, inspectors & engineers

Civil employees more diverse demographically than Congress

Neutral Competence

• The idea of neutral competence

• Despite stereotypes, most government

employees work efficiently and inexpensively.

• Roughly 2.9 million people work for the

government bureaucracy-2nd to Wal-Mart

• The bureaucracy is largely staffed by people

hired for their skills, not their political

leanings.

The Bureaucrats

•How They Got ThereCivil Service: From Patronage to Protection

Patronage: job given for political reasons

Civil Service: system of hiring and promotion based on merit and nonpartisanship, created by the Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)

Merit Principle: entrance exams and promotion ratings to find people with talent and skill

Hatch Act: prohibits government employees from active participation in partisan politics

Not Much Patronage Left.• Most civil servants are hired through the government’s

merit system. This used to mean a competitive exam, but usually today hiring is done mostly by resume evaluation.

• The merit system is overseen by two independent agencies.

• The Office of Personnel Management supervises the hiring and job classification of federal employees.

• The Merit Service Protection Board hears appeals from career civil servants who have been fired or face other disciplinary action.

The Plum Book

•Presidential Appointments.

• For day-to-day oversight of the bureaucracy, presidents rely on their political appointees. The top positions in every agency are held by presidential appoint-tees.

Patronage can only accomplish so much….• There are limits to what presidents can get done through

their appointees. The appointees number in the hundreds, and many of them lack detailed knowledge of the agencies they head, making them dependent on agency careerists. (and in some cases their powers are limited by statute, such as SSA).

• By the time the Plum Book appointee acquires a reasonable understanding of the agency’s programs, most of them leave.

• The typical presidential appointee stays on the job for less than two years before moving on to other employment.

GS Ratings

• Most federal employees have a GS (Graded Service) job ranking. Rankings range from GS-1 (the lowest rank) to GS-15 (the highest).

• College graduates who enter the federal service usually start at the GS-5 level (yearly salary of $27,000 for a beginning employee).

• Although economists show that federal employees are underpaid in comparison with their counterparts in the private sector, they receive better fringe benefits—and under most circumstances have better job security.

Limitations on Federal Employees• Federal employees can form labor unions, but their unions by law have

limited scope; the government has full control of job assignments, compensation, and promotion.

• Moreover, the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 prohibits strikes by federal employees and permits the firing of striking workers. When federal air traffic controllers went on strike anyway in 1981, President Reagan fired them.

• There are also limits on the partisan activities of civil servants. The Hatch Act of 1939 prohibited them from holding key jobs in election campaigns. Congress relaxed this prohibition in 1993, although some high-ranking administrators are still barred from taking such positions.

What do bureaucrats do?

The Bureaucracy

•Five Functions of Bureaucrats Implement the law

Provide expertise

Provide research and information to the President

Provide research and information to Congress

Quasi-judicial powers and responsibilities

Roles of the Bureaucracy• Rulemaking

The process of deciding what exactly the laws passed by Congress mean.

• Adjudication A process designed to establish whether a rule has been

violated.

• Bureaucratic Lobbying bureaucrats identify the problems and limitations of

existing laws and programs and recommend changes to the president and congressional committees.

Functions of Bureaucracy

• Policy Implementation

• Making Policy-delegated legislative authority because what Congress passes is to vague to be effective

• Regulation-establish standards and impose restrictions on violations of those standards They must publish their rule-making procedures, hold open

hearings on proposed rules and hear public input

• Collecting Data and Doing Research

• Provide Continuity-elected officials come and go, bureaucrats never leave which provides for continuity and professionalization and consistency; but also means change is slow and expensive

Functions of the Federal BureaucracyImplementation - carry out laws of Congress, executive orders of the President

Administration - routine administrative work; provide services (ex: SSA sends social security checks to beneficiaries)

Regulation - issue rules and regulations that impact the public (ex: EPA sets clean air standards)

Bureaucracies as Implementers

• What Implementation Means Translating the goals and objectives of a policy into an

operating, ongoing program

Implementation includes:

Creating and assigning an agency the policy

Translating policy into rules, regulations and forms

Coordinating resources to achieve the goals

Stage of policymaking that takes place between establishment and consequences of a policy

Bureaucracies as Regulators

•Regulation in the Economy and in Everyday LifeRegulation: use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private sector

A Full Day of Regulation

Federal agencies check, verify, and inspect many of the products and services we take for granted.

Federal and state agencies provide many services.

Bureaucracies as Regulators

•Regulation: How It Grew, How It WorksAll regulation contains these elements:

A grant of power and set of directions from Congress

A set of rules and guidelines by the regulatory agency itself

Some means of enforcing compliance with congressional goals and agency regulations

Bureaucracies as Regulators

•Regulation: How It Grew, How It WorksCommand-and-Control Policy: The government tells business how to reach certain goals, checks the progress, and punishes offenders.

Incentive System: market-like strategies used to manage public policy

Some agencies are proactive; some are reactive.

Structure of Bureaucracy

Four Types of Federal Agencies• 1. Executive Departments

Cabinet Heads appointed by the president

Confirmed by Senate with its advice & consent

• 2. Independent Regulatory Commissions Small commissions w/greater independence

Fix terms – can only be fired “for cause”

• 3. Government Corporations Government companies that serve Public for fee

Suppose to be self supporting (examples?) *

Insurance (FDIC), Energy (TVA), Comms (PO), Trans (AMTRAC)

• 4. Independent Agencies Not part of Executive Department w/sub-cabinet rank

NASA, EPA, CIA

All heads serve at Pleasure of President 27

The Bureaucracy

• The Shape of the Federal Bureaucracy

Cabinet Departments

Independent Agencies

Independent Regulatory Agencies/Commissions

Government Corporations

• Major operating departments of governmentheaded by the “Secretary of...” except Justice, which is headed by the Attorney General

The Bureaucracy• The Executive Branch Departments in order of

creation: State (1789)

Defense (1789)

Treasury (1789)

Justice (1789)

Interior (1849)

Agriculture (1862)

Commerce (1913)

Labor (1913)

Health & Human Services (1953)

Housing and Urban Development (1965)

Transportation (1966)

Energy (1977)

Education (1979)

Veterans’ Affairs (1988)

Homeland Security (2002)

The Bureaucracy

• Independent Agencies Administered by a presidential appointee with no fixed term

Responsible for narrower set of functions than department

• Some are housed in departments Social Security Administration is part of HHS, Coast Guard is

part of Transportation

• Others are independent of any department Examples include The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and

the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

The Bureaucracy

• Independent Regulatory Agencies and Commissions Independent of any department or agency

Each headed by a group of 5 - 10 commissioners who are appointed by president to fixed terms and not subject to removal by president

Example include the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Communication Commission (FCC)

The Bureaucracy

•What Government Agencies and Commissions Do: Agency investigations

Rule making

Adjudication

Informal actions

The Bureaucracy

•Government Corporations Permits organizations to use businesslike method and remain

politically independent

Run by boards of directors appointed by President to long terms

Examples include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Student Loan Management Authority (SallieMae) and the U.S. Postal Service

History of the Bureaucracy

The Bureaucracy

• History of the Bureaucracy The Whig Theory (1780s – 1828)

The idea that public service was domain of an elite class.

Families had a tradition of public service.

The Spoils System (1828 – 1883)

Andrew Jackson used government jobs or “patronage” to reward supporters and to remove elitists from the bureaucracy

The Bureaucracy

• History of the Bureaucracy The Civil Service System (1883 – Present)

Garfield’s Assassination 1881

The Pendleton Act (Civil Service Reform Act of 1883) established the principle of employment on the basis of merit and created the Civil Service System to oversee the hiring and firing of government employees

Professor Max Weber’s ideas (1870s)

Professor Woodrow Wilson’s ideas (1880s)

The Progressive Era and Bureaucratic Reform

Calls for “neutral” competence and expertise

The Bureaucracy

•History of the Bureaucracy• The Civil Service System (1883 – Present)

New Deal reforms

The federal bureaucracy grew tremendously

FDR and political control issues

Hatch Act of 1937

• Post WWII and beyond The need for technological expertise

The need for control

The “thickening” of government

Blame it on FDR! (Everyone else does.)

•The biggest spurt in the bureaucracy’s growth took place in the 1930s. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal included creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and numerous other federal agencies.

Blame it on LBJ (At least he’s more recent.)

• Three decades later, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiatives, which thrust the federal government into policy areas traditionally dominated by the states, resulted in the creation of additional federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development

The Bureaucracy

•History of the Bureaucracy

•The Civil Service System (1883 – Present)

•Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 Jimmy Carter’s “Greatest Domestic Policy

Achievement”

Created the Office of Personnel Management

Revised and expanded the Grade (“GS”) system

Created the Senior Executive Service

Political Control of the Bureaucracy

The Bureaucracy

• Which branch controls the bureaucracy? The Executive branch with chief executive?

The Legislative branch with the budget?

The Judicial branch with the judges/justices that interpret the Constitution?

• Answer: All and None…

The Bureaucracy•Political Control of the Bureaucracy

• Congressional mechanisms Power of the purse

Revision of empowering or limiting statutes

Senate approval of certain appointees

Threats of hearings and investigations

The power to create or destroy agencies

• Presidential mechanisms Appointment power

Budget proposal

Reorganization of bureaucratic structure

Executive orders

• Judicial mechanisms Judicial Review

Controlling the Bureaucracy, cont.

• Congress and the Bureaucracies Oversight-often counteracted by iron triangles

Appropriations, creating or reorganizing

Legislative vetoes

• The President and the Bureaucracies Appointment and dismissal-many employees protected from

president by seniority and merit

Budget process

Lobbying and mobilizing public opinion

• The Judiciary and the Bureaucracies Judicial review

President Supervises the Bureaucracy

• appoint & remove agency heads

• reorganize the bureaucracy

• issue executive orders

• reduce an agency's budget

President Bush speaks about his budget

priorities for FY 2007

Congress Oversees the Bureaucracy

• create or abolish agencies & departments

• cut or reduce funding

• investigate agency activities

• hold committee hearings

• pass legislation that alters an agency's functions

• influence or even fail to confirm presidential appointments

Former FEMA Chief Michael Brown testifies before

House committee investigating Hurricane Katrina

Federal courts can:al Courts Check the Bureaucracy

• through judicial review rule on whether the

bureaucracy has acted within the law and the U.S.

Constitution

• provide due process for individuals affected by a

bureaucratic action

Supreme Court of the United States

Issues in today’s bureaucracy

The Bureaucracy•Issues for bureaucracy today: Diversity and ”Glass Ceiling” Issues

Technological Competence

Privatization

“Devolution”

“Re-inventing Government”

Whistleblowing• Although the bureaucratic corruption that is common place in some

countries is rare in the United States, a certain amount of fraud and abuse is inevitable in any large bureaucracy.

• One way to stop these prohibited practices is whistleblowing—the act of reporting instances of official mismanagement.

• To encourage whistleblowers to come forward with their information, Congress enacted the Whistle- blower Protection Act.

Whistleblowing is not for the faint- hearted.

• Many federal employees are reluctant to report instances of mismanagement because they fear retaliation

• Their superiors might claim that they are malcontents or the whistleblower “wasn’t in the loop” and could not possibly have known what was going on in the Bush administration’s inner circle, and find ways to ruin their careers.

• As a result, whistleblowing often does not occur until an employee has moved to another agency or quit government service entirely.

A case in point is former CIA intelligence official

John Kiriakou, who said in 2007 that the CIA had

used waterboarding to interrogate Abu Zubaydah,

a high-ranking leader of al Qaeda. It was the first

such admission by a CIA operative and prompted

some CIA officials to demand an FBI investigation

of Kiriakou.

Controlling the Bureaucracy • Interest Groups and Individuals-interest groups want bureaucracies

to adopt rules and enforcement practices they favor

Iron Triangle- influence committeesPressure agency directlyIndirect influence-some commissioners come to their regulatory agencies from the industries they regulate

Individual citizens- “whistleblowers” can open their agencies to the public’s view (Civil Service Reform Act 1978)

Criticism of BureaucracyI. RED TAPE

too many rigid procedures >>> ex: all hiring must be done through OPM

too many policies with no flexibility for special circumstances

too many forms to fill out, lines to wait

II. INEFFICIENCY

lack of incentive to be productive - no profit motive

III. DUPLICATION OF SERVICES

bureaucracy is so complicated

agencies are performing similar and sometimes the same functions

Dept. of Commerce overlaps with Dept. of Agriculture, GSA overlaps with Dept. of Interior, etc.

federalism makes this more complicated, many services are provided at the state and national level both

Criticisms ContinuedIV. BUREAUCRACY IS LAW MAKER

regulations end up having the effect of law.

V. BUREAUCRACY IS TOO BIG

privatization would be more effective

VI. BUREAUCRACY IS CORRUPT

iron triangle - reveals the relationship between the Executive branch, Congress and private interest groups that can lead to decisions which benefit the private sector at the expense of the government.

Understanding Bureaucracies

•Bureaucracy and Democracy Iron Triangles and Issue Networks

Iron Triangles: a mutually dependent relationship between bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees

Exist independently of each other

They are tough, but not impossible, to get rid of

Some argue they are being replaced by wider issue networks that focus on more than one policy.

Understanding Bureaucracies

The Bureaucracy

•Reasons for the growth of Federal Bureaucracy We have over 3 million federal bureaucrats paid for by the

taxpayers

Issues and problems require more expertise today because society and technology is so complex

The size of our nation in both geographic size and population leads to more bureaucrats

Americans demand more services from their government, requiring the use of more people to provide those government services

THREE POINTS TO REMEMBER:

• Bureaucracy is an inevitable consequence of complexity and scale. Modern government could not function without a large bureaucracy. Through authority, specialization, and rules, bureaucracy provides a means of managing thousands of tasks and employees.

• Bureaucrats naturally take an “agency point of view,” seeking to promote their agency’s programs and power. They do this through their expert knowledge, support from clientele groups, and backing by Congress or the president.

• Although agencies are subject to oversight by the president, Congress, and the judiciary, bureaucrats exercise considerable power in their own right.