The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government

PART 1

Main Points• Bureaucracy is an inevitable consequence of

compatibility and scale• The bureaucracy is expected simultaneously to

respond to the direction of partisan officials and to administer programs fairly competently

• Bureaucrats naturally take an “agency point of view.” they seek to promote preserve their agency’s program and power

• Although agencies are subject to scrutiny by the president, Congress and the judiciary, bureaucrats are able to achieve power in their own right.

Federal Administration: Form, Personnel, and Activities• Americans often think bureaucracy as a set of

rules and rigidity• A Bureaucracy is a efficient and effective

organization• Americans often equate the bureaucracy with the

Federal government• Bureaucracy is found when large population and

tasks are needed to be managed• All large scale organizations, public and private,

are in bureaucratic form• Administrators function as a group, NOT

individually; their behavior is based on position, specialty, and rule

The federal bureaucracy in Americans’ daily lives• 2.5 million US employees in the federal

Bureaucracy• Bureaucracy has more impact on Americans

than the President and Congress• Examples: mail delivery, maintains national

forest and parks, administers social security, builds dams and generates hydroelectric power, enforces environmental protection laws, develops the country’s defense, provides school lunch programs, and regulated the stock market

Types of Administrative Organization• 5 forms of organization: Cabinet

department, independent agency, regulation agency, government's corporation, or president commission

Cabinet (Executive) Department• Cabinet (Executive) department- the

major administrative organizations within the federal executive bureaucracy, each of which is headed by a secretary or, in the case of Justice, the attorney generals. Each department has responsibility for a major function of the federal government's, such as the defense, agriculture, or justice

Cabinet Department• Vary in size, visibility, and importance• Department of State: one of the oldest and smallest,

25,000 employees• Department of Defense: +600,000 civilian employees

separate from the 1.4 million uniform active service members

• Department of Health and Human Service: largest budget and spends ¼ of all federal spending

• Department of Homeland Security: formed in 2002• Each department is semiautonomous- composed of

smaller groups- with labels of “bureau”, “agency”, “division”, or “service.

• Example: department of justice is made up of the FBI and other groups

Independent Agencies• Independent Agency-bureaucratic

agencies that are similar to cabinet departments but usually have a narrower area of responsibility. Each agency is headed by a presidential appointee who is not a cabinet member. Example: NASA and the CIA

• Independent agencies exist apart from cabinet departments

Regulatory Agencies• Regulatory Agencies- Administrative units, such as the

Federal Communication Commissions (FCC) and EPA, that have responsibilities for the monitoring and regulation of ongoing economic activities.

• Regulatory agencies are “independent” by virtue of their relative freedom from political control

• Heads are presidential appointees, but cannot be removed by the pres.

• Commissioners serve a fixed number of years, a legal stipulation to free them from political interference

• EPA lacks autonomy- self-rule- and the head presidential appointee can be removed by the pres.

Government's Corporations • Government Corporations- Bodies that

are similar to private corporations in that they charge for services but differ in that they receive federal funding to help defray expenses. Their directors are appointed by the pres. With senate approval.

• Government's corporations include: US postal service, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Nat’l Railroad passenger corporation (Amtrak),

Presidential Commissions• Presidential Commissions- organizations

within the bureaucracy that are headed by commissioners appointed by the pres.

• Commission on Civil Rights and Commission on the Arts

• Some Commissions are temporary to the specific issue

• 2001 Pres. Bush established the President’s commission to strengthen social security; to study ways of reforming social security

Federal Employment• 2.5 million employees include professionals, service

workers (from the mailman to high supervisors).• +90% are hired by merit criteria: education, experience,

Performance/ Competitive tests• The majority of all federal employees are on the GS

scale for job ranking. (smallest g-1 highest g-18)• The merit system prevents discrimination if partisanship

is present• Public employees receive fringe benefits, full- health

insurance, secure retirement plans, and vacation & sick leave

• Federal employees can form Labor Union, but have limited authority; Government's maintains full control of job assignments , compensation, and promotions

Federal Employment• Taft Hartley Act 1947- Prohibits striking by

federal employees and permits the firing of workers who do strike.

• Example: President Reagan fired air-traffic controllers on strike 1980

• The hatch act of 1939- prohibits civil servants from holding key positions in election campaigns

• 1993 Congress eased the prohibition and kept prohibition for high-ranking career bureaucrats

Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy responsibility• Policy Implementation- The Primary function of

the bureaucracy; it refers to the process of carrying out the authoritative decisions of congress, the president, and the courts.

• The bureaucracy’s main function is policy implementation

• Policy implementation is sometimes described as “mere administration”, it is highly significant and creative function

• Administrators create policy ideas that are brought to the pres. Or members of congress

Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy responsibility• Legislative Acts identify general goals, which

bureaucrats call specific programs• The Telecommunication Act of 1996- To

promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for Americans telecommunication consumers, and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunication technologies.

• The implementation of the Act was left for the FCC to decide and promote competition.

Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy responsibility• Rulemaking- Determines how laws will

work in practice; administrative agencies’ real power

• Agencies are responsible for the delivery services

• Some agencies allow employees to be discreet enough it can be described as “street-level” bureaucracy

• The bureaucracy administers policy and makes policy

Development of the Federal Bureaucracy: Politics and Administration

• Agencies serve society and maintain partisan interest, which is a constant conflict

• This conflict describes the management systems of bureaucracy: The patronage, merit, and executive leadership systems.

Growth in government's and the merit system• Merit (civil service) system- approach to

managing the bureaucracy whereby people are appointed to government's positions on the basis of either competitive examinations of special qualification, such as professional training.

• Neutral Competence- The administration objective of merit-based bureaucracy. “neutral” in the sense that it operates by objective standards rather than partisanship, and “competent” in the sense that the employees are hired and retained on their expertise.

Growth in Government's and merit system• The Great Depression caused formation for the

economic and social welfare agencies such as the Securities and Exchange commissions (SEC) and the Social Security Board, which was to promote government's action in daily American lives

• 1883 the Pendleton Act established the merit(civil service) system, which created the civil service commission to establish job classification, administer competitive examinations, and oversee merit employees

• 1978 the Civil Service Commission got replaced by The Merit Service Protection Board and Office Personnel Management (OPM).

Growth in government's and merit system• A merit based bureaucracy is based on

neutral competence.• Partisanship in beau racy is based on a

agency’s self-interest rather than political group.

Big Government's and the Executive Leadership System• Executive Leadership System- An approach to

managing the bureaucracy that is based on presidential leadership and presidential management tools, such as the president’s annual budget proposal

• Pres. Provides the general leadership that overcomes agency flaw and provide a common direction

• The (OBM) was created to give the president authority to coordinate the annual budgetary process

• The pres. Is authorized to develop the Executive office other Pres., which supervises agencies on the half of the pres.

• The pres.’s executive leadership weakens congress’s check on presidential power.

The Agency Point of View• -the tendency of bureaucrats to place the interests of their agency ahead of

other interests and ahead of the priorities sought by the president or Congress

• Administrators look out for their agency’s interests• Professionalism also cements agency loyalties. Positions have been filled

with scientists, engineers, lawyers, and other professionals.• Bureaucrats believe in the importance of their agency’s work

Sources of Bureaucratic Power• Bureaucrats rely on their specialized knowledge, the support of interests,

and the backing of the president and Congress• The Power of the Expertise:

o Expert knowledge is essential to the development of effective public policy

o Elected officials are generalists; members of congress do specialize in their committee work; the president’s understanding is much more general so Congress and president depend heavily on the bureaucrats for advice and guidance

• The Power of Clientele Groups:o Clientele groups are special interest groups that benefit directly

from the activities of a particular bureaucratic agency and therefore are strong advocates of the agency

o Agencies both assist and are assisted by clientele groupso Many agencies were created for the purpose of promoting

particular interests

• The Power of Friends in High Placeso An agency’s resources—its programs, expertise, and

group support—can assist elected officials in their efforts to achieve their goals

o Bureaucrats also seek help with the members of Congress

o Iron triangles-permanent alliances that form among agencies, clientele groups, and congressional subcommittees

o Also, temporary issue networks form among bureaucrats, lobbyists, and members of Congress

o They are a means of gaining support from legislators and groups supporting their goals

• Accountability through the Presidencyo President can only broadly influence the bureaucracyo He cannot unilaterally eliminate an agency or its funding and

programs; however, he can apply management tools: reorganization, presidential appointees, and the executive budget

• Reorganizationo Agencies pursue independent and contradictory paths. Ex. Over 100

units responsible for different pieces of education o Recent presidents tried to streamline the bureaucracy to make it

more accountable which greatly improve things but also produce marginal gains

o Reorganization cannot fully correct the coordination problems

• Presidential Appointmentso President does not have time to check the bureaucratic order, he

relies on political appointees in the agencieso Some cases, presidential appointees have greater power than

some agencies, such as the Social Security Administration (SSA)

• Contrastingly, most regulatory agencies have broad discretion over regulatory policy

• There are limits to what the president can accomplish through appointments; the number of appointees lies in the hundreds with a high turnover rate. The average appointee remains for two years not allowing the president to keep track of them

• The Executive Budgeto Presidents rely heavily on their personal bureaucracy, the EOP

Key unit in it is the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Every agency consists of funding, programs, and regulations No agency can issue major regulation without the OMB’s

verification that benefits outweigh its costs OMB’s greatest influence over agency derives from its

budgetary role

Accountability Through Congress • Congress can greatly influence the bureaucracy• Most substantial role: power to authorize and fund programs• Without authorization or funding, the program does not exist• They can exert control through oversight function where they take decisive

corrective action when agency is interrupted. Here they hold hearings and interrogate

• Due to the oversight’s burdensome, the General Accounting Office (GAO) holds responsibility to keep track of funds and monitors what policies are being implemented

• Congress has also devised ways to constrain the bureaucracy before it acts with the sunset law or drafting laws that limit the bureaucrats’ options

• Accountability through the Courtso Judiciary has less of a direct effect but can also ensure the bureaucracy’s

compliance or order and agency to change an application of a lawo Courts tend to support administrators, but the administration is flexible since they

can interpret legislation how they wish unless explicitly stated by Congresso Judges recognize that constraints on bureaucracy must work mainly through the

president and Congress

• Accountability with the Bureaucracy Itselfo Two measures to ensure accountability:

Whistle-Blowing: and internal check on the bureaucracy whereby employees report instances of mismanagement that they observe

Demographic Representatives: the idea that the bureaucracy will be more responsive to the public if its employees at all levels are demographically representative of the population as a whole

Reinventing Government• A wave of effort began in 1990s- sought to improve the administration of

government by the reduction of its size, cost, and lines of authority• Reinventing Government- Osborne and Gaebler: bureaucracy today was

created in the response to earlier problems, particularly the Industrial Revolution and spoils system

• These ideas informed the Clinton administration’s National Performance Review by creating laws requiring systematic monitoring of agencies by efficiency, responsiveness, and outcomes

• But, there are limits on how much the federal bureaucracy can be trimmed• How can the federal government be made more efficient and accomplish all

that American’s expect of it?

The Process of Political Socialization• Political socialization in the United States has several major characteristics

o Most political outlook is influenced by childhood learning. Typically follow views of the parents

o Cumulative in nature Early learning influences later learning Change in view is possible

Normally after a catastrophic event Roosevelt and the New Deal Age-cohort tendency

Agents of Political Socialization• Families

o Member of a political party because it is the party of your parents.o Having a voice in the family

• Schools o Support in the nation

Pledge of Allegiance Equality

• Mass Media o Media affects people’s perception on the world

Agents of Political Socialization

• Peerso Reinforce what people believe

• Political Institutions and Leaders o Citizens look to political leaders and

institutions, particularly the president and political parties as guides to opinion.

• Churches o Many believe that religion has the answer to

many of the world’s problems.

Major Frames of Reference through which Americans evaluate political Alternatives

• Cultural Thinking: Common Ideas o Americans embrace common ideals

Liberty, equality, and individualism• Ideological Thinking: The Outlook of Some

o Ideology is a consistent pattern of political attitudes that stems from a core belief.

Socialism and Communism Four types of American ideologies

Liberals Conservatives Libertarians Populists

The Influence of Public Opinion On Policy

• What impact does public policy have on government?o People’s views ought to prevail on public

issues. It is difficult to put into practice. Size makes it impossible for the people to directly

formulate public policy.