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The Federal Bureaucracy“Rule by People at Desks”Chapter 13
The Daily / Undefined Branch
• Interaction with all of us daily– FDA, EPA, DOE and many more
• Love hate relationship between citizens and bureaucracy– Less most of the time, more in emergencies
Understanding the Federal Bureaucracy
• Cannot serve in Congress and hold executive branch position. Article I, Section 6 of U.S. Constitution– Issue with Hillary Clinton recently– Done to prevent corruption
Understanding the Federal Bureaucracy
• Congress has power too create departments, the Senate approves nominees, but the President is the administrator in chief
Bureaucracy Today
• 2.7 Americans employed– 15 Cabinet-level departments– U.S. Postal Service– 50 independent agencies– 1.4 million in armed forces
• Congress can create or abolish with a law, or by withholding funds
Bureaucracy Today
• Difficult to manage because of size, interest group connections, and political history.
• Confusion over who is responsible and overlap of duties. – Mad cow disease
• Food and Drug Administration, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection
– DOA & HHS
• SLOW
How the Federal Government is Organized
• Department is the highest ranking in federal hierarchy and usually largest.
• Example: Department of Defense– Departments of Army, Navy, and Air Force
• Each has separate duties• Army has its own air force, navy has its own army (marines)
OVERLAP
How the Federal Government is Organized
• 15 Cabinet Departments are most visible
• Employ 70% of all federal civil servants and spend 93% of all federal dollars– 14 headed by secretaries, Justice department
by the Attorney General
Two Approaches to Creation of Departments
• Umbrella Department– Combining a number
of related programs• Homeland Security• Health and Human
Services• Commerce• Defense
• Single Purpose Department– Survival strength due
to a constituency group (Interest Group)
• Veterans Affairs– 1989 American
Legion
• Education• Agriculture• Commerce• Labor
Independent Regulatory Commissions
• Part of bureaucracy but are partially independent from Congress and President
• Run by a small number of commissioners appointed by president, approved by senate
• Federal Reserve – Ben Bernanke
• SEC
• FCC
Independent Agencies
• These agencies still report to the President
• Usually start smaller, and work up to becoming a department– Veterans Administration in 1930, Department
1989
• Currently 50– CIA, NASA, EPA, and DEA
Leading the Federal Bureaucracy
• ~3,000 presidential appointees head federal departments and agencies– 600 subject to Senate confirmation– 2,400 serve entirely “at the pleasure of the
president”
Becoming a Presidential Appointee
• Selection by White House Presidential Personnel Office
• White House clearance
• Submission of name to Senate
• Senate review
The Senior Executive Service
• ~7,000 members– ~6,400 career executives – ~600 political executives
• Along with the president’s political appointees, help run federal departments and agencies
The Civil Service
• Federal employees who work for the government through a competitive, not political selection process.– Originally abused by the “spoils system”– 90% of government jobs are now on merit
Civil Service Realities• Only 15% of career civilian employees
work in Washington, D.C.
• 25% work for armed forces, 30% for post office
• Majority of bureaucrats are white-collar employees (lawyers, managers, engineers, etc…)
Regulating the Civil Service
• 1939 Hatch Act– Allowed civil service members to vote, but not
be active in partisan politics– Also could not be dismissed for political
reasons– Overhauled in 1993 by Clinton administration
• Idea is it could increase political participation