Understanding the Bureaucracy
From Spoil to Merit
"To the victor belong the spoils" (1828) The spoils system or patronage, started by Andrew Jackson, was used for filling federal jobs President rewarding supporters with jobs based on service, not on merit -Creation of the Pendleton Act (1883) - Hatch Act (1939) _Civil Reform Act (1878)
THE CONSTITUTION AND BUREAUCRACY
- A little is mention of the bureaucracy - "All other officers of the United States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law" (Article II, Section 3) -
Civil Service
- Abolished the U.S. Civil Service Commission - Created the OPM (Office of Personnel Management) to provide guidance to agencies of the executive branch
ct Creation of Pendleton
- Eliminated the spoils system (patronage); created merit system - An exam-based merit system would be used to fill government jobs - Civil Service Commission was created to administer these exams
Power of the Bureaucracy
- Implementation and Discretionary authority Carry out laws of Congress, executive orders of the president Agencies have power to set specific guidelines when receiving a general mandate from Congress - Congress gives them the bones, bureaucracy adds the meat - Regulation• Issue rules and regulations that impact the public and that the private sector must follow (EPA sets clean air standards); Labels on food, emissions of cars, etc. - Administrative Law• Rules and regulations created by an agency that have the effect of law - Helping Congress draft legislation - Providing advice to the White House
Hatch Act
- Political activities of bureaucrats are limited - May not directly support/oppose a candidate/political party - Fundraise for a candidate/political party
POWERS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY TO IMPLEMENT POLICY
-After the president signs a bill into law or issues an executive order, the federal bureaucracy is responsible for implementing that policy. 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. -This authority enhances the power of the federal bureaucracy, giving it considerable jurisdiction over the implementation of government policies.
Why does congress not do it
-Congress lacks time to write all the details into every law -Congress lacks the expertise in the specialized technical aspects of implementation
PROFESSIONALISM IN THE BUREAUCRACY
-The bureaucracy carries out the responsibilities of the federal government to regulate and enforce individual and commercial activities. Except for top-level political appointees, employees of the bureaucracy are specialists in their fields, who are hired and promoted based on merit rather than on their connections to politicians. -The transition from a patronage-based bureaucracy to a merit-based system has increased the bureaucracy's professionalism and expertise. The bureaucracy is nonpartisan and career civil servants tend to span many presidential administrations, allowing for continuity in the public sector.
Rule-Making Authority
-The process through which the federal bureaucracy makes rules that have the force of law (which states and corporations must obey), to carry out the laws passed by Congress.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BUREAUCRACY
Agencies of the executive branch may be organized into four basic types: 1) Cabinet departments • Cabinet departments are heading by a secretary (except Dept of Justice) and manage a specific policy area with responsibility further divided among various agencies 2) Independent regulatory agencies or commissions• Regulatory agencies/commissions are created by Congress to regulate important parts of the economy 3) Government corporations• Government corporations are businesses run like corporations, but controlled by the government 4) Independent executive agencies • Independent agencies are agencies that do not fall into the first three categories. They closely resemble Cabinet departments, but they are smaller and less complex.
ONTROLLING THE BUREAUCRACY - PRESIDENTIAL INFLUENCE
Appointments Appointment of top-level bureaucrats (including Cabinet secretaries) Fire top-level bureaucrats (including Cabinet secretaries) Executive Orders An executive order is a directive, order, or regulation issued by the president An executive order of the President must find support in the Constitution, either in a clause granting the President specific power, or by a delegation of power by Congress to the President Economic Powers • Proposes agency budgets (either an increase or a decrease in $) Other Powers Propose the reorganization of the executive branch Presidential power of influence over different agencies direction What are the limits on presidential influence? Senate confirmation needed for top personnel President cannot fire vast majority of bureaucrats Reorganization must go through Congress Agency budgets must go through Congress
CONTROLLING THE BUREAUCRACY - CONGRESSIONAL INFLUENCE
Congress has a great amount of power over the bureaucracy because Congress can exercise LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT. What are the numerous ways in which Congress can exercise "oversight" of the bureaucracy? Creation of agencies ➢ Constitutional power to create and abolish executive departments and independent agencies, or to transfer their functions Advice and consent ➢ Congress can influence the appointment of agency heads➢ The Senate has the power to confirm presidential appointments Appropriations of agency budgets ➢ Congress determines how much money each agency gets Annual authorization legislation ➢ No agency may spend money unless it has first been authorized by Congress ➢ Authorization legislation originates in a congressional committee and states the maximum amount of money that an agency may spend on a given program ➢ Even if funds have been authorized, Congress must also appropriate the money Rewriting legislation ➢ If they wish to restrict the power of an agency, Congress may rewrite legislation or make it more detailed ➢ The more detailed the instructions, the better able Congress is to restrict the agency's power Duplication ➢ Giving any one job to more than one agency, keeping any single agency from becoming all powerful ➢ For example, drug trafficking is the task of the Customs Services, the FBI, the DEA, the Border Patrol, and the Department of Defense ➢ Keeps any one agency from becoming all-powerful Holding hearings and conducting investigations ➢ Congress can call bureaucrats to testify before committees to determine whether the agency is complying with congressional intent ➢ Congress can investigate agencies Reorganization ➢ By realigning or restructuring departments, agencies and their responsibilities, Congress can contain costs, reduce bureaucratic overlap and improve accountability Sunset laws ➢ Provides for the law to cease to have effect after a specific date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend the law ➢ Sunset laws create a finite lifespan for a bureaucratic agency ➢ In order to be reauthorized, these bureaucracies must prove their effectiveness and merit
Iron Triangle
Definition: Alliances among bureaucrats, interest groups, and congressional subcommittee members and staff sometimes form to promote their common causes. Also known as subgovernments.
Issue Netorks
Definition: Network that consists of people in interest groups, on congressional staffs, in bureaucratic agencies, in universities, and in the mass media who regularly debate an issue.
CONTROLLING THE BUREAUCRACY - INTEREST GROUPS
POWER OF INTEREST GROUPS -Lobbying -"Revolving door" - Agencies are staffed by people who move back and forth between the public/private sector -Client groups ➢ Some agency-interest group relations are so close that the interest group is said to be a client of the agency (e.g., dairy groups and Agriculture Dept) -Iron triangles: congressional committee, relevant agency, related interest groups -Issue networks: informal groups of people within both the public/private sectors who have common interests -Agency employees are recruited from the regulated industry (vice versa) -Agencies rely on support from regulated industries in making budget requests -Litigation: Take a bureaucratic agency to court
CONTROLLING THE BUREAUCRACY - THE COURTS
Powers -Court rulings that limit bureaucratic practices -Judicial review - can declare bureaucratic actions unconstitutional -Injunctions (a judicial order that restrains a person/group from beginning or continuing an action threatening or invading the legal rights of another) against federal agencies WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS CASE? The Supreme Court also supported a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) in a 1969 case. In Red Lion Broadcasting v. FCC, the court upheld the constitutionalityof the commission's "fairness doctrine," which required broadcasters to present "fair and balanced" coverage of controversial issues.
Discretionary Authority
The power to decide how a law is implemented and what Congress meant when it passed the law (including administrative adjudication)
CONTROLLING THE BUREAUCRACY - CONGRESSIONAL INFLUENCE ( Limits)
What are the limits on congressional influence? • Congress may not really want to clamp down on the bureaucracy: - Members profit politically from the existence of federal programs within their states or districts (e.g., military base closure) - Easier for Congress to simply pass broadly worded laws and have experts within the bureaucracy fill in the holes - No electoral payoff; Political ramifications - Oversight is labor intensive/hard work; Lack of technical expertise - Congress creates opportunities for casework through red tape - Congress lacks expertise/agencies have expertise - Congress does not want to be blamed for bad policy - Time-consuming
THE MODERN BUREAUCRACY
• A bureaucracy is a large, complex organization of appointed, not elected, officials. - LARGE: Three million civilian federal employees• Department of Defense is the largest department = about 50% (even without active military which is about 1.4 million) • Post Office has about 28% - <10% of top-level jobs are appointed (political appointees) by the president >> PATRONAGE - >90% of federal employees are civil service workers >> MERIT SYSTEM • Tenure protection, difficult to fire (unless appointed by president) - Specialized units with expertise in a field
HOW DOES THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY USE DELEGATED DISCRETIONARY AUTHORITY FOR RULE MAKING AND IMPLEMENTATION?
• Discretionary and rule-making authority to implement policy are given to bureaucratic departments, agencies, and commissions, such as: - Department of Homeland Security - Department of Transportation- Department of Veterans Affairs- Department of Education - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)- Federal Elections Commission (FEC)- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
TO WHAT EXTENT DO GOVERNMENTAL BRANCHES HOLD THE BUREAUCRACY ACCOUNTABLE GIVEN THE COMPETING INTERESTS OF CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT, AND THE FEDERAL COURTS?
• Formal and informal powers of Congress, the president, and courts over the bureaucracy are used to maintain its accountability
HOW DOES CONGRESS USE ITS OVERSIGHT POWER IN ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH?
• Oversight and methods used by Congress to ensure that legislation is implemented as intended are represented by: - Committee hearings - Power of the purse • As a means to curtail the use of presidential power, congressional oversight serves as a check of executive authorization and appropriation
HOW DOES THE PRESIDENT ENSURE 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
HOW DOES THE BUREAUCRACY CARRY OUT THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?
• Tasks performed by departments, agencies, commissions, and government corporations are represented by: - Writing and enforcing regulations - Issuingfines - Testifying before Congress - Issue networks and "iron triangles" •Political patronage, civil service, and merit system reforms all impact the effectiveness of the bureaucracy by promoting professionalism, specialization, and neutrality
