The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government

1. The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government Part 1

2. Main Points • Bureaucracy is an inevitable consequence of compatibility and scale • The bureaucracy is expected simultaneously to respond to the direction of partisan officials and to administer programs fairly competently • Bureaucrats naturally take an “agency point of view.” they seek to promote preserve their agency’s program and power • Although agencies are subject to scrutiny by the president, Congress and the judiciary, bureaucrats are able to achieve power in their own right.

3. Federal Administration: Form, Personnel, and Activities • Americans often think bureaucracy as a set of rules and rigidity • A Bureaucracy is a efficient and effective organization • Americans often equate the bureaucracy with the Federal government • Bureaucracy is found when large population and tasks are needed to be managed • All large scale organizations, public and private, are in bureaucratic form • Administrators function as a group, NOT individually; their behavior is based on position, specialty, and rule

4. The federal bureaucracy in Americans’ daily lives • 2.5 million US employees in the federal Bureaucracy • Bureaucracy has more impact on Americans than the President and Congress • Examples: mail delivery, maintains national forest and parks, administers social security, builds dams and generates hydroelectric power, enforces environmental protection laws, develops the country’s defense, provides school lunch programs, and regulated the stock market

5. Types of Administrative Organization • 5 forms of organization: Cabinet department, independent agency, regulation agency, government's corporation, or president commission

6. Cabinet (Executive) Department • Cabinet (Executive) department- the major administrative organizations within the federal executive bureaucracy, each of which is headed by a secretary or, in the case of Justice, the attorney generals. Each department has responsibility for a major function of the federal government's, such as the defense, agriculture, or justice

7. Cabinet Department • Vary in size, visibility, and importance • Department of State: one of the oldest and smallest, 25,000 employees • Department of Defense: +600,000 civilian employees separate from the 1.4 million uniform active service members • Department of Health and Human Service: largest budget and spends ¼ of all federal spending • Department of Homeland Security: formed in 2002 • Each department is semiautonomous- composed of smaller groups- with labels of “bureau”, “agency”, “division”, or “service. • Example: department of justice is made up of the FBI and other groups

8. Independent Agencies • Independent Agency-bureaucraticagencies that are similar to cabinet departments but usually have a narrower area of responsibility. Each agency is headed by a presidential appointee who is not a cabinet member. Example: NASA and the CIA • Independent agencies exist apart from cabinet departments

9. Regulatory Agencies • Regulatory Agencies- Administrative units, such as the Federal Communication Commissions (FCC) and EPA, that have responsibilities for the monitoring and regulation of ongoing economic activities. • Regulatory agencies are “independent” by virtue of their relative freedom from political control • Heads are presidential appointees, but cannot be removed by the pres. • Commissioners serve a fixed number of years, a legal stipulation to free them from political interference • EPA lacks autonomy- self-rule- and the head presidential appointee can be removed by the pres.

10. Government's Corporations • Government Corporations- Bodies that are similar to private corporations in that they charge for services but differ in that they receive federal funding to help defray expenses. Their directors are appointed by the pres. With senate approval. • Government's corporations include: US postal service, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Nat’l Railroad passenger corporation (Amtrak),

11. Presidential Commissions • Presidential Commissions- organizations within the bureaucracy that are headed by commissioners appointed by the pres. • Commission on Civil Rights and Commission on the Arts • Some Commissions are temporary to the specific issue • 2001 Pres. Bush established the President’s commission to strengthen social security; to study ways of reforming social security

12. Federal Employment • 2.5 million employees include professionals, service workers (from the mailman to high supervisors). • +90% are hired by merit criteria: education, experience, Performance/ Competitive tests • The majority of all federal employees are on the GS scale for job ranking. (smallest g-1 highest g-18) • The merit system prevents discrimination if partisanship is present • Public employees receive fringe benefits, full- health insurance, secure retirement plans, and vacation & sick leave • Federal employees can form Labor Union, but have limited authority; Government's maintains full control of job assignments , compensation, and promotions

13. Federal Employment • Taft Hartley Act 1947- Prohibits striking by federal employees and permits the firing of workers who do strike. • Example: President Reagan fired air-traffic controllers on strike 1980 • The hatch act of 1939- prohibits civil servants from holding key positions in election campaigns • 1993 Congress eased the prohibition and kept prohibition for high-ranking career bureaucrats

14. Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy responsibility • Policy Implementation- The Primary function of the bureaucracy; it refers to the process of carrying out the authoritative decisions of congress, the president, and the courts. • The bureaucracy’s main function is policy implementation • Policy implementation is sometimes described as “mere administration”, it is highly significant and creative function • Administrators create policy ideas that are brought to the pres. Or members of congress

15. Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy responsibility • Legislative Acts identify general goals, which bureaucrats call specific programs • The Telecommunication Act of 1996- To promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for Americans telecommunication consumers, and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunication technologies. • The implementation of the Act was left for the FCC to decide and promote competition.

16. Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy responsibility • Rulemaking- Determines how laws will work in practice; administrative agencies’ real power • Agencies are responsible for the delivery services • Some agencies allow employees to be discreet enough it can be described as “street-level” bureaucracy • The bureaucracy administers policy and makes policy

17. Development of the Federal Bureaucracy: Politics and Administration • Agencies serve society and maintain partisan interest, which is a constant conflict • This conflict describes the management systems of bureaucracy: The patronage, merit, and executive leadership systems.

18. Growth in government's and the merit system • Merit (civil service) system- approach to managing the bureaucracy whereby people are appointed to government's positions on the basis of either competitive examinations of special qualification, such as professional training. • Neutral Competence- The administration objective of merit-based bureaucracy. “neutral” in the sense that it operates by objective standards rather than partisanship, and “competent” in the sense that the employees are hired and retained on their expertise.

19. Growth in Government's and merit system • The Great Depression caused formation for the economic and social welfare agencies such as the Securities and Exchange commissions (SEC) and the Social Security Board, which was to promote government's action in daily American lives • 1883 the Pendleton Act established the merit(civil service) system, which created the civil service commission to establish job classification, administer competitive examinations, and oversee merit employees • 1978 the Civil Service Commission got replaced by The Merit Service Protection Board and Office Personnel Management (OPM).

20. Growth in government's and merit system • A merit based bureaucracy is based on neutral competence. • Partisanship in beau racy is based on a agency’s self-interest rather than political group.

21. Executive Leadership System- An approach to managing the bureaucracy that is based on presidential leadership and presidential management tools, such as the president’s annual budget proposal • Pres. Provides the general leadership that overcomes agency flaw and provide a common direction • The (OBM) was created to give the president authority to coordinate the annual budgetary process • The pres. Is authorized to develop the Executive office other Pres., which supervises agencies on the half of the pres. • The pres.’s executive leadership weakens congress’s check on presidential power. Big Government's and the Executive Leadership System

22. The Agency Point of View -the tendency of bureaucrats to place the interests of their agency ahead of other interests and ahead of the priorities sought by the president or Congress Administrators look out for their agency’s interests Professionalism also cements agency loyalties. Positions have been filled with scientists, engineers, lawyers, and other professionals. Bureaucrats believe in the importance of their agency’s work

23. Sources of Bureaucratic Power Bureaucrats rely on their specialized knowledge, the support of interests, and the backing of the president and Congress The Power of the Expertise: Expert knowledge is essential to the development of effective public policy Elected officials are generalists; members of congress do specialize in their committee work; the president’s understanding is much more general so Congress and president depend heavily on the bureaucrats for advice and guidance

24. The Power of Friends in High Places • An agency’s resources—its programs, expertise, and group support—can assist elected officials in their efforts to achieve their goals • Bureaucrats also seek help with the members of Congress • Iron triangles-permanent alliances that form among agencies, clientele groups, and congressional subcommittees • Also, temporary issue networks form among bureaucrats, lobbyists, and members of Congress • They are a means of gaining support from legislators and groups supporting their goals The Power of Clientele Groups: Clientele groups are special interest groups that benefit directly from the activities of a particular bureaucratic agency and therefore are strong advocates of the agency Agencies both assist and are assisted by clientele groups Many agencies were created for the purpose of promoting particular interests

25. Reorganization • Agencies pursue independent and contradictory paths. Ex. Over 100 units responsible for different pieces of education • Recent presidents tried to streamline the bureaucracy to make it more accountable which greatly improve things but also produce marginal gains • Reorganization cannot fully correct the coordination problems • Presidential Appointments • President does not have time to check the bureaucratic order, he relies on political appointees in the agencies • Some cases, presidential appointees have greater power than some agencies, such as the Social Security Administration (SSA) Accountability through the Presidency President can only broadly influence the bureaucracy He cannot unilaterally eliminate an agency or its funding and programs; however, he can apply management tools: reorganization, presidential appointees, and the executive budget

26. The Executive Budget • Presidents rely heavily on their personal bureaucracy, the EOP • Key unit in it is the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) • Every agency consists of funding, programs, and regulations • No agency can issue major regulation without the OMB’s verification that benefits outweigh its costs • OMB’s greatest influence over agency derives from its budgetary role Contrastingly, most regulatory agencies have broad discretion over regulatory policy There are limits to what the president can accomplish through appointments; the number of appointees lies in the hundreds with a high turnover rate. The average appointee remains for two years not allowing the president to keep track of them

27. Accountability Through Congress Congress can greatly influence the bureaucracy Most substantial role: power to authorize and fund programs Without authorization or funding, the program does not exist They can exert control through oversight function where they take decisive corrective action when agency is interrupted. Here they hold hearings and interrogate Due to the oversight’s burdensome, the General Accounting Office (GAO) holds responsibility to keep track of funds and monitors what policies are being implemented Congress has also devised ways to constrain the bureaucracy before it acts with the sunset law or drafting laws that limit the bureaucrats’ options

28. Accountability through the Courts Judiciary has less of a direct effect but can also ensure the bureaucracy’s compliance or order and agency to change an application of a law Courts tend to support administrators, but the administration is flexible since they can interpret legislation how they wish unless explicitly stated by Congress Judges recognize that constraints on bureaucracy must work mainly through the president and Congress Accountability with the Bureaucracy Itself Two measures to ensure accountability: Whistle-Blowing: and internal check on the bureaucracy whereby employees report instances of mismanagement that they observe Demographic Representatives: the idea that the bureaucracy will be more responsive to the public if its employees at all levels are demographically representative of the population as a whole

29. Reinventing Government A wave of effort began in 1990s- sought to improve the administration of government by the reduction of its size, cost, and lines of authority Reinventing Government- Osborne and Gaebler: bureaucracy today was created in the response to earlier problems, particularly the Industrial Revolution and spoils system These ideas informed the Clinton administration’s National Performance Review by creating laws requiring systematic monitoring of agencies by efficiency, responsiveness, and outcomes But, there are limits on how much the federal bureaucracy can be trimmed How can the federal government be made more efficient and accomplish all that American’s expect of it?

30. The Process of Political Socialization Political socialization in the United States has several major characteristics Most political outlook is influenced by childhood learning. Typically follow views of the parents Cumulative in nature Early learning influences later learning Change in view is possible Normally after a catastrophic event Roosevelt and the New Deal Age-cohort tendency

31. Agents of Political Socialization Families Member of a political party because it is the party of your parents. Having a voice in the family Schools Support in the nation Pledge of Allegiance Equality Mass Media Media affects people’s perception on the world

32. Agents of Political Socialization Peers Reinforce what people believe Political Institutions and Leaders Citizens look to political leaders and institutions, particularly the president and political parties as guides to opinion. Churches Many believe that religion has the answer to many of the world’s problems.

33. Major Frames of Reference through which Americans evaluate political Alternatives Cultural Thinking: Common Ideas Americans embrace common ideals Liberty, equality, and individualism Ideological Thinking: The Outlook of Some Ideology is a consistent pattern of political attitudes that stems from a core belief. Socialism and Communism Four types of American ideologies Liberals Conservatives Libertarians Populists

34. The Influence of Public Opinion On Policy What impact does public policy have on government? People’s views ought to prevail on public issues. It is difficult to put into practice. Size makes it impossible for the people to directly formulate public policy.