The Federal Administrative System (Bureaucracy)

Chapter 13

The Undefined Branch

The Framers believed that the bureaucracy would be relatively small and left most of the

details up to the President and Congress

The Federal Bureaucracy Today

Originally, the term bureaucracy meant fast,

effective, and rational

Today, governmental bureaucracies are difficult to manage because of their size, interest group connections,

and political history

Recruitment and Retention

• Competitive service: bureaucrats compete for jobs through Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – agency that administers civil service laws, rules, and regulations

• Appointment by merit, based on written exam or through selection criteria

The Federal Government

Expenditures and employment: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2000, Nos. 483 and 582; regulations; Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Miemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics (Washington D.C>: Congressional

Quarterly Press, 1998), tables 6-12, 6-14. Post-2000 data updated by Marc Siegal.

Characteristics of Federal Civilian Employees, 1960 and 1999

Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1961, 392-394; Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2000, Nos. 450, 482, 500, 595, 1118.

Recruitment and Retention

• Competitive service system has become more decentralized, less reliant on OPM referral

• Excepted service: bureaucrats appointed by agencies, typically in a nonpartisan fashion

Leading the Bureaucracy

How the Federal Government is Organized

Four types of organizational entities:

1. Departments

2. Independent agencies

3. Independent regulatory commissions

4. Government corporations

Bureaucracy

A large, complex organization composed of appointed officials

How the Federal Government is Organized: Departments

• State (1789)

• Treasury (1789)

• Defense (1947; formerly the War Department, created in 1789, and the Navy Department, created in 1798)

• Justice (1789)

• Interior (1849)

• Agriculture (1889)

• Commerce (1913)

• Labor (1913)

• Health and Human Services (1953 as Health, Education, and Welfare; reorganized with Education as a separate department in 1979)

• Housing and Urban Development (1965)

• Transportation (1966)• Energy (1977)• Education (1979)• Veterans Affairs (1989)• Homeland Security (2002)

The Federal Departments

Carrying Out Policy

• Most bureaucrats try to carry out policy, even those they disagree with

• Most civil servants have highly structured jobs that make their personal attitudes irrelevant

Federal Government: Money

Expenditures and employment: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2000, Nos. 483 and 582; regulations; Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Miemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics (Washington D.C>: Congressional

Quarterly Press, 1998), tables 6-12, 6-14. Post-2000 data updated by Marc Siegal.

The Budgetary Process

The 2005 Budget showed total outlays of $2.4 trillion, with a deficit of nearly $365

billion

The Budgetary Process

Uncontrollable Spending

The portion of the federal budget that is spent on

programs that the president and Congress

are unwilling to cut, includes entitlement

programs such as Social Security

Entitlement Program

Programs such as unemployment insurance, disaster relief, or disability

payments that provide benefits to all eligible

citizens

Ex.) Social Security – costs $700 billion per year

Agency Allies

• Agencies often seek alliances with congressional committees and interest groups (iron triangles)

• These alliances are far less common today—politics has become too complicated

• Today, more common are Issue Networks- groups that regularly debate government policy on certain issues

Regulating the Civil Service

The Hatch Act

Federal statute barring federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting

them from being fired on partisan grounds

Making Regulations

The Rule-Making Process

• All proposed rules must be published in the Federal Register

• “Notice and Comment” period

• Hearings and testimony (optional)

• Publication and enforcement

• Judicial review

A Few Interesting FDA Rules:

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows certain levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods, as long as they don't pose a health risk.

• For example, chocolate can have up to 60 insect fragments per 100 grams, tomato sauce can contain 30 fly eggs per 100 grams, and peanut butter can have 30 insect fragments per 100 grams (3.5 ounces), according to the FDA.

Federal Government: Regulations

Expenditures and employment: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2000, Nos. 483 and 582; regulations; Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Miemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics (Washington D.C>: Congressional

Quarterly Press, 1998), tables 6-12, 6-14. Post-2000 data updated by Marc Siegal.

Global Perceptions

Congressional Oversight

• Congress creates agencies

• Congress authorizes funds for programs

• Congressional appropriations provide funds for the agency to spend on its programs

• Congressional investigations

• Confirming personnel

• Terminating agencies

• Rewriting legislation to extend control

Accountability to the President

The president has control over the bureaucracy though the powers of

Appointment

Reorganization

Budgeting

Bureaucratic Pathologies

• Red tape: complex, sometimes conflicting rules • Conflict: agencies work at cross-purposes• Duplication: two or more agencies seem to do

the same thing• Imperialism: tendency of agencies to grow,

irrespective of programs’ benefits and costs• Waste: spending more than is necessary to buy

some product or service

Reforming the Bureaucracy

• Most rules and red tape are due to struggles between the president and Congress or to agencies’ efforts to avoid alienating influential voters

• Periods of divided government worsen matters, especially in implementing policy