The Government At Work

Magruder Chapter 15 The Bureaucracy

The Federal Bureaucracy

What is a Bureaucracy?

 Bureaucracy is based on the principles of hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formal rules  A bureaucracy is a way of organizing people to do work

Major Elements

 Nearly all of the bureaucracy of the federal Government resides in the Executive Branch of government  The Constitution gives little guidance about the structure of the federal bureaucracy

Major Elements

 The bureaucracy is made up of three major groups of administrative agencies: the Executive Office of the President; the 15 Cabinet Departments; and the Independent Agencies

The Name Game

 The term

department

is reserved for agencies of cabinet rank  The term

agency

is used to refer to any governmental body or, more particularly, to a major unit headed by a single administrator of near-cabinet status. The term

administration

is used in a similar way

The Name Game

 The term

commission

is given to agencies charged with the regulation of business activities. Commissions are headed by varying numbers of top-ranking officers, or commissioners.

 The terms

corporation

and

authority

are used for agencies that have a board and a manager and that conduct business-like activities.

 These terms are not used consistently

Staff and Line

 Staff agencies are those agencies that serve in a support capacity by furnishing advice and assistance in the management of an organization  Line agencies are those agencies that actually perform the tasks for which the organization exists

Executive Departments and Independent Agencies

The Cabinet

 The head of each department is known as the Secretary, except for the Justice Department which is headed by the Attorney General  Department secretaries are appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate  Together, the department secretaries serve as the cabinet

What are Independent Agencies?

 An independent agency operates outside of the 15 executive departments in the cabinet  Four major reasons explain why these agencies exist outside of the cabinet department structure:  Some agencies are independent because their functions did not fit well into any of the existing departments

What are Independent Agencies?

 Some are independent to protect their officials from political pressures  Office of Personnel Management  Social Security Administration  Federal Election Commission

What are Independent Agencies?

 Some are independent to make them more responsive to interest-group pressures  Some are independent because of their peculiar and sensitive nature of their functions

What are Independent Agencies?

 There are three types of independent agencies: independent executive agencies; independent regulatory commissions; and government corporations

Independent Executive Agencies

 Most of the independent agencies fall into this category  They are organized under a single administrator and have subunits that operate on a regional basis

Independent Executive Agencies

 Today, there about 150 Independent Regulatory Agencies  Most are found on the list of agencies on page 383 in the Magruder textbook

Independent Executive Agencies

 Includes most of the Independent Agencies  Some are large, multi-million or even billion dollar budgets  GSA, NASA, EPA  Almost the same as the cabinet departments, just do not have cabinet status

Independent Executive Agencies

 Others do important work just not as large  Civil Rights Commission  Peace Corps  Federal Election Commission

Independent Executive Agencies

 Others act far from the limelight  American Battle Monuments Commission  Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee

Independent Regulatory Commissions  These commissions are created to regulate important aspects of the nation’s economy  The 10 independent regulatory commissions are largely not under the President’s control  The members of the commissions are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate for long, staggered terms

Independent Regulatory Commissions  These commissions must be made up from both parties, and members cannot be removed for political reasons  They have quasi-legislative and quasi judicial powers  Used to clarify the laws they must enforce  Act as an arbitrator when questions arise

Independent Regulatory Commissions  These regulatory bodies possess all three powers – executive, legislative, and judicial – and are exceptions to the principle of separation of powers  Congress has delegated some of its responsibilities to these agencies to carry out the role congress should have

Independent Regulatory Commissions  Two major regulatory commissions – the Civil Aeronautics Board and the Interstate Commerce Commission – have disappeared in recent years

Government Corporations

 These corporations are within the executive branch, and they are under the control of the President  Their top officers are appointed by the President with Senate confirmation; all of their employees are public officials

Government Corporations

 Examples would be  the FDIC – Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation  Eximbank -- Export/Import Bank of the United States  The US Postal Service  National Railroad Passenger Corporation

Government Corporations

 Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation  Tennessee Valley Authority

Government Corporations

 Some controversy exists as to whether government corporations are compatible with the democratic government’s requirement that all public agencies be accountable to the public

The Civil Service

Development of the Civil Service

 The Beginnings – During the early years of the republic, Presidents tried to fill federal jobs with qualified persons who shared their political views  The Spoils System – Andrew Jackson began the practice of giving government positions to the President’s political supporters

Development of the Civil Service

 Jackson defended this policy by saying that any intelligent person can fill any public office  Jackson also maintained that there should be rotation in office so that more people can serve in public office  Long service in office, Jackson believed, would lead to tyranny and inefficiency

Development of the Civil Service

 Finally, Jackson claimed that the people are entitled to have the party they elected to power in control of all government offices  The Movement to Reform – Widespread corruption and the assassination of James Garfield led to the Civil Service Act, or Pendleton Act, in 1883

Development of the Civil Service

 The Pendleton Act  The Pendleton Act made merit the basis for hiring and promotion in federal jobs  The act also required that the federal work force would consist of men and women from every State, with the number from each State bearing a close relationship to that State’s share of the total population

Development of the Civil Service

 The Pendleton Act (con)  Veterans received preferred ranking in federal hiring

Civil Service Today

 A second goal of civil service reform has been to ensure that the best available people are included in the federal work force  Reorganization – President Carter succeeded in implementing reforms in the civil service system that were intended to make the system more efficient and responsive to merit

Federal Employees and Party Activists  The political activities of federal employees are subject to several limits  Federal employees may not strike  Classified federal employees may not be party activists, run for a partisan office, become officers in a political organization or delegates to a party convention, or raise funds for a political party or any of its candidates

Federal Employees and Party Activists  Pay and Benefits Issues – Minority groups and women are well represented in most federal agencies, but remain at lower-level jobs