Chapter 9

The Executive Branch and the Federal Bureaucracy

Pearson Education, Inc. © 2008

American Government: Continuity and Change9th Editionto accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, Texas, and Essentials Editions

O’Connor and Sabato

The Executive Branch and the Federal Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy A set of complex hierarchical

departments, agencies, commissions, and their staffs that exist to help a chief executive officer carry out his or her duties

Bureaucracies may be private organizations of government.

Origins and Growth of the Federal Bureaucracy

1789 only three departments under the Articles of Confederation Foreign Affairs, War, and Treasury Washington inherited these.

Head of each called a “secretary” Foreign Affairs renamed Department of State

1816 to 1861 size increased and demands increased Post Office expanded as country grew Major source of jobs (spoils system/patronage)

Civil War and the Growth of Government Civil War spawned need for new government

agencies. Department of Agriculture (1862)

Not given Cabinet-level status until 1889 Pension Office (1866) Department of Justice (1870) Spoils system

The firing of public-office holders of a defeated political party and their replacement with loyalists of the newly elected party

Patronage Jobs, grants, or other special favors that are given as

rewards to friends and political allies for their support

From the Spoils System to the Merit System Garfield’s presidency

Besieged by office-seekers (patronage seekers) Wished to reform the system Irony: assassinated by a frustrated job seeker Reaction to Garfield’s death and increasing criticism of the

spoils system was the Civil Service Reform Act in 1883 Also called the Pendleton Act

Reform measure that created the Civil Service Commission to administer a partial merit system

The act classified the federal service by grades to which appointments were made based on the results of a competitive examination.

It made it illegal for federal political appointees to be required to contribute to a particular political party.

Civil service system operated to 1978 New version is the merit system

Regulating the Economy Growth of big business, price fixing, and other unfair

business practices after the Civil War stimulated Congress to create the Interstate Commerce Commission First independent regulatory commission

An agency created by Congress that is generally concerned with a specific aspect of the economy

Theodore Roosevelt Department of Commerce and Labor

Woodrow Wilson Divided it into two separate departments Encouraged Congress to create the Federal Trade

Commission 16th Amendment

Growth of Government in the 20th Century Franklin Roosevelt

Great Depression FDR created hundreds of new government agencies

to regulate business practices and various other areas of the national economy.

WWII Affected the economy Manufacturing of goods related to the war Tax rates increased and never fell again After the war

Demands for services/new money infusion=more government

Civil Rights Movement War on Poverty

The Modern Bureaucracy Who Are Bureaucrats

2.7 million federal workers 1/3 in the U.S. Postal Service

Tests usually for entry-level positions Mid-level to upper ranges of federal positions do not normally

require tests. 10 percent of federal workforce not covered by civil service.

Appointive policy-making positions (cabinet secretaries, for example)- Schedule C

Independent Regulatory Commissioners (appointed by the president) Low-level, non-policy patronage positions

Secretarial assistants to policy makers, for example Many located in Washington, D.C., but many are spread out throughout

the country (decentralized) Graying of the federal workforce Hiring of outside contractors

Formal Organization Cabinet Departments

Major administrative units with responsibility for a broad area of government operations

Indicates a permanent national interest Government Corporations Businesses established by Congress that perform functions that could

be provided by private businesses Example: Amtrak, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Independent Executive Agencies Governmental units that closely resemble a Cabinet department but

have a narrower area of responsibility and are not part of any Cabinet Department

Example: Central Intelligence Agency Independent Regulatory Commissions

Agencies created by Congress to exist outside the major departments to regulate a specific economic activity or interest

Example: Federal Reserve Board

Government Workers and Political Involvement

Hatch Act Law enacted in 1939 to prohibit civil servants

from taking activist roles in partisan campaigns Could not make political contributions, work for a

political party or campaign for a particular candidate

Federal Employees Political Activities Act 1993 liberalization of the Hatch Act Allowed federal employees to run for office in

nonpartisan elections and to contribute money to campaigns in partisan elections

How the Bureaucracy Works

Weber Chain of command Division of labor/specialization Clear lines of authority Goal orientation Impersonality Productivity

How the Bureaucracy Works Implementation

The process by which a law or policy is put into operation by the bureaucracy

Iron triangles Relatively stable relationships and patterns of interaction that

occur among an agency, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees

Issue networks The loose and informal relationships that exist among a large

number of actors who work in broad policy area Interagency Councils: working groups that bring together

representatives of several departments and agencies to facilitate the coordination of policy making and implementation

Increasing complexity of policy domains Interagency councils

Making Policy Administrative discretion

The ability of bureaucrats to make choices concerning the best way to implement congressional intentions

Rule making A quasi-legislative administrative process that has the

characteristics of a legislative act Regulations

Rules that govern the operation of a particular government program that have the force of law

1946 Administrative Procedures Act Public notice of time, place and nature of rule-making

proceedings provided in the Federal Register Submission of written arguments Statutory purpose and basis of rule to be stated Once rule is written, 30 days must elapse before it takes effect.

Making Policy

Administrative adjudication A quasi-judicial process in which a

bureaucratic agency settles disputes between two parties in a manner similar to the way courts resolve disputes

Making Agencies Accountable Executive Control

Appointments Executive orders

Rules or regulations issued by the president that have the effect of law

Congressional Control Constitutional powers Power of the purse General Accounting Office, Congressional Research

Service, and Congressional Budget Office Judicial Control