THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY

Pendleton Act

1883 civil service reform that required the hiring and promoting of civil servants to be based on merit, not patronage.

Independent Executive Agency

A federal agency who specializes in one area that is not part of a cabinet department but reports directly to the president

Independent Regulatory Commission

A government agency responsible for some sector of the economy, making and enforcing rules to protect the public interest.

civil service

A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create nonpartisan government service

merit

A system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage.

Explain how Congress uses its oversight power in its relationship with the executive branch and as a check on the bureaucracy.

As a means to curtail the use of presidential power, "congressional oversight" serves as a check of executive authorization and appropriation. The presidency has been enhanced beyond its expressed constitutional powers.

Testifying before Congress

Direct lobbying

Explain the extent to which governmental branches can hold the bureaucracy accountable given the competing interests of Congress, the president, and the federal courts.

Formal and informal powers of Congress, the Pres, and the courts over the bureaucracy are used to maintain its accountability.

Explain how the federal bureaucracy uses delegated discretionary authority for rulemaking and implementation.

Laws may lack clear, concrete details on how they should be enacted, so the federal bureaucracy has discretionary authority to make decisions on what actions to take—or not take—when implementing laws, as well as rulemaking authority to create regulations about how government programs should operate.

Explain how the president ensures that executive branch agencies and departments carry out their responsibilities in concert with the goals of the administration.

Presidential ideology, authority, and influence affect how executive branch agencies carry out the goals of the administration Compliance monitoring can pose a challenge to policy implementation.

Writing and enforcing regulations

Regulation such as rule making, issuing fines

Explain how the bureaucracy carries out the responsibilities of the federal government.

The federal bureaucracy performs three primary tasks in government: implementation, administration, and regulation. The federal bureaucracy makes regulations (the rules by which federal and state programs operate) through an administrative process known as rule making.

Iron triangles

When a bureaucratic agency, an interest group, and a congressional committee works together to advance its own agenda and act in its own interests.

Government Corporation

a government agency that operates like a business corporation, created to secure greater freedom of action and flexibility for a particular program.

Departments

the biggest units of the executive branch, covering a broad area of government responsibility