Chapter 7 Flashcards
A system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials.
Bureaucracy
Activities undertakes to establish whether a process or procedure is carried out in conformance with relevant external requirements whether set through legislation, regulation, or directions.
Compliance Monitoring
Complex systems of relationships among groups that influence policy, including elected leaders, interest groups, specialists, consultants, and research institutes.
Issue Networks
A close relationship between an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group.
Iron Triangle
Government agency created by the Pendleton Act of 1883 to fill federal jobs on the basis of merit.
Civil Service Exam
Law that replaced the Civil Service Commission with the Office of Personnel Management and the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
A system of employment based on qualifications, test scores, and ability, rather than party loyalty.
Merit System
A 1993 effort, led by Vice President Al Gore, to make bureaucracy work better and cost less.
National Performance Review
The office in charge of hiring for most agencies of the federal government, using elaborate rules in the process.
Office of Personnel Management
Granting favors, giving contracts, or making appointments to office in return for political support.
Patronage
The first federal regulatory commission. Office holders would be assessed on a merit basis to be sure they were fit for duty. Brought about by the assassination of Garfield by an immigrant who was angry about being unable to get a government job. The assassination raised questions about how people should be chosen for civil service jobs.
Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)
A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.
Spoils System
Guidelines for ways in which the federal government may propose/establish legislation.
Administrative Procedures Act (1946)
A reference work that compiles regulations of all agencies in a series of volumes.
Code of Federal Regulations
Provides advice and funding for schools.
Department of Education
The power of members of government agencies to interpret legislation and create rules.
Delegated Discretionary Authority
US federal agency created in 2022 to coordinate national efforts against terrorism.
Department of Homeland Security
Manages the nation’s highways, railroads, airlines, and sea traffic.
Department of Transportation
An independent agency of the government that regulates financial markets and investment companies.
Securities and Exchange Commission
A commission created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act to administer election reform laws. Its duties include overseeing disclosure of campaign finance information and public funding of presidential elections, and enforcing contribution limits.
Federal Election Commission
An official document, published every weekday, which lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.
Federal Register
Agencies with quasi-judicial responsibilities that are meant to be carried out in a manner free of presidential interference.
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Citizens can review and voice concerns about proposed legislation.
Notice and Comment Opportunity
Directs services for armed forces veterans.
Department of Veterans Affairs
Regulates the use of pesticides and ensures the safety of public drinking water.
Environmental Protection Agency
The amounts of money approved by Congress in statues (bills) that each unit or agency of government can spend.
Appropriations
These measures state the maximum amount the agency can give on a certain program.
Authorization of Spending
The United States Congress had the authority to conduct hearings, investigations, and budget reviews of the actions by the executive branch.
Congressional Oversight
A unit of the Office of Management and Budget that sets federal policy on statistics and reviews draft rules before publication.
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Activities undertaken to establish whether a process or procedure is carried out in conformance with relevant external requirements, whether set through legislation, regulations, or directions.
Compliance Monitoring
A law passed in 1946 requiring federal agencies to give notice, solicit comments, and (sometimes) hold public hearings before adopting any new rules.
Administrative Procedures Act (1946)
Ability of congress to override an executive decisions, acts must wait a certain amount of time before taking effect.
Legislative Veto
This law protects from retaliation from their employees who tell upper-management, government officials, or the press that their employers are engaged in some unsafe or illegal activity.
Whistleblower Protection Act (1989)
Why does Congress give federal agencies policy-making powers?
- Congress does not have the experience/expertise
- They do not want to be blamed for bad policy
- Time-consuming & more efficient
- Easier to come to an agreement because they are not political agencies
How can Congress ensure that agencies follow legislative intent?
- Budget / appropriations
- Change Law
- Oversight
- Hearings/testifying/investigation, explaining what is occurring or what the agency is working on
- Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- Case Work
- Sunset laws/ dissolve agencies/ create new agencies
Merit System Characteristics
- Hired/ promoted based on experience or qualifications
- Hired/ promoted based on testing
Why is the bureaucracy necessarily independent in the way that it is structured?
- So large
- Specialized units/expertise
- Tenured protections
- Difficult to fire
- Based on Merit
- Independent agencies & independent commissions
Bureaucratic Independence, Complexity of Public Policy Problems
- Specialized units of expertise
- Delegated authority
- Discretionary Authority
Constitutional Provisions, Congress can check bureaucracy
- Funding
- Make Laws
- Rejection of presidential appointments
- Impeachment of executive officials
Constitutional Court Checks on the Bureaucracy
- Judicial Review
- Injunctions against federal agencies
Constitutional Checks on the Bureaucracy by Interest Groups
Religion, Assembly, Petition, Press, Speech
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the process of bureaucratic RULE MAKING?
The Department of Veterans Affairs rewrites its regulations regarding compensation and pensions into plain language that is easier for beneficiaries to understand.
Which of the following best illustrates delegated discretionary authority?
Congress gives the Environmental Protection Agency the power to establish national pollution standards.
Which of the following concepts is related to the Department of Transportation ensuring safety and efficiency regarding public comments on new automated vehicles?
Delegated Discretionary Authority.
Bureaucracy Hierarchical Structure
Independent Agencies (Agency/administration, Commission, Authority/Corporation), Cabinet Departments, Executive Office of the President, and the President.
How many cabinet departments are there?
Fifteen.
Providing support for other workers.
Staff agencies.
Performing organizational tasks.
Line agencies.
Discretionary & Rule Making Authority
- Write and enforce regulations
- Issue fines
- Testify
- Iron triangle
Bureau-
French for small desks, referring to the king’s traveling business men who set up small desks in town squares, rule by desk.
20th century German economist, maticullus with details, came up with a well organized and complex machine that is rational for society.
Max Weber
Weber
- Hierarchical Authority Structure
- Task Specialization
- Extensive Rules
- Clear Goals
- Merit Principles
- Impersonality
Bureaucracy with the New Deal, WWII, Increase in programs and government work.
1932 - 1945
90% of all federal employees and salaries were chosen on merit.
1950’s - 1970’s
Development of procedures and rules for reaching the goal of a new policy.
Implementation
Checking private business activity
Regulation
1877, Supreme Court upheld that the government had the right to regulate business rates and services.
Munn V. Illinois
Appointments, executive orders, budget control, reorganize agencies.
Presidential Accountability on the Bureaucracy
Three-way alliance among legislators (Congress), bureaucrats (Bureaucracy), and interest groups, to make or preserve policies that benefit their respective interests.
Iron Triangles & Issue Networks
Foreign Service, Regional Bureaus, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Bureau of Consular Affairs (Passports).
Department of State
Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of the Public Debt, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, United States Mint, Customs Service.
Department of Treasury
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Central Intelligence, Agency, Departments of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.
Department of Defense
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Naturalization Services, Criminal Division, Civil Rights Division.
Department of Justice
