Chapter 13

1. Chapter 13 The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government

2. Norman Thomas [No] industrial society could manage the daily operations of its public affairs without bureaucratic organizations in which officials play a major policymaking role.

3. Federal Administration: Form, Personnel, and Activities • Bureaucratic Principles • Hierarchical Authority • Job Specialization • Formalized Rules • The Federal Bureaucracy in Americans’ Daily Lives • roughly 2.5 million employees • The President & Congress get more press but the bureaucracy has more impact on our daily lives: • delivers daily mail • maintains national forests • administers social security • regulates stock markets • build dams and generates hydroelectricity • develops the country’s defense systems

4. Federal Administration: Form, Personnel, and Activities • Types of Administrative Organizations • Cabinet Departments • Dept. of justice • FBI • Dept. of Agriculture • U.S. Forest service-“dual-use”- preserves forests for environmental reasons & opens them up for logging • Independent Agencies • NASA, CIA • Narrow area of responsibility compared to cabinet dept. • Divided into a number of smaller operating units • Exist independently of cabinet depts. • Head is appointed by POTUS • Regulatory Agencies • EPA, FCC • Created when Congress perceives a need for ongoing control of an economic activity • Legislative, executive, and judicial functions • Government Corporations • US Postal Service • Presidential Commissions

5. Cabinet (Executive) Departments

7. Federal Administration: Form, Personnel, and Activities • Federal Employment • 2.5 Million civilian employees • Dept. of Defense has the most • Plus more than 1.4 million active uniformed service members • Patronage system—designed to improve link between administration and the people • Abuses—spoils system • Merit criteria • most fed employees are hired on merit • GS pay scales • GS-1 (lowest) to GS-18 (the highest) • federal employees are underpaid compared to their private sector counterparts • College graduates usually start out at G-5 $22,000 • Unions • Federal employees can form labor unions but they have limited authority • Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 • prohibits strikes by federal employees • permits the firing of workers who do go on strike

8. Federal Administration: Form, Personnel, and Activities • The Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy Responsibilities • Policy Implementation (administration) • executing the policy decisions of the pres., Cong. & the courts • regulation of industries ,such as meat and poultry • delivery of services as provided by laws • Development of Public Policy • Rulemaking- deciding how laws will work in practice

9. Development of the Federal Bureaucracy: Politics and Administration • Small Government and the Patronage System • developed during the Jackson administration • designed to make the admin. of gov. more responsive to citizens • It would tie the administration more closely to the people it served • Growth in Government and the Merit System • Civil Service System • Neutral Competence • Bureaucracy should be staffed by people chosen on the basis of ability and to do its work fairly on behalf of all citizens • Neutral administration • Civil servants are not partisan appointees, thus ensuring evenhanded work

11. Development of the Federal Bureaucracy: Politics and Administration • Big Government and the Executive Leadership System • During the New Deal era, the fed bureaucracy grew substantially in size

12. The Bureaucracy’s Power Imperative • The Agency Point of View • Career bureaucrats tend to follow their agency's point of view • bureaucrats are specialists and elected officials are generalists • Promoting agency’s goals • Bureaucrats relay on specialized knowledge, backing of POTUS and Congress, and the support of clientele groups • Sources of Bureaucratic Power • Legally, the bureaucracy derives its authority from acts of Congress • The Power of Expertise • Career bureaucrats in the Dept. of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission are most likely to understand trade issues in the U.S. • The Power of Clientele Groups • SPECIAL INTERESTS THAT BENEFIT DIRECTLY FROM A bureaucratic AGENCY • The Power of Friends in High Places • Agency goals may conflict with president or Congress, but they still need agency expertise and competency

13. Bureaucratic Accountability • Accountability Through the Presidency • Reorganization • encounters opposition from • the bureaucracy itself • clientele groups • members of Congress • the public • Presidential Appointments • The Executive Budget • Office of Management and Budget • the most important part of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) • assigns each agency a budget limit in accordance with the president’s directives

14. The Budgetary Process • Year and a half long; begins with OMB assigning each agency a budget limit based on presidential directives • Agencies develop detailed budget; president finalizes with OMB • POTUS sends to Congress • House & Senate budget committees prepare budget resolution; full House and Senate vote • House and Senate appropriations committees prepare appropriations bills; full House and Senate vote • President signs or vetoes • Fiscal year begins Oct. 1 • Continuing resolutions???

15. Federal Budgetary Process

16. Bureaucratic Accountability • Accountability Through Congress • Oversight • Sunset laws • Budget • GAO- Government Accountability Office • Has moved from a limited role of keeping track of agency spending to also monitoring whether the agency is implementing policies in the way Congress intended • CBO- Congressional Budget Office • Accountability Through the Courts • Lawsuits • African American farmers sued the Dept. of Agriculture for discrimination in granting federal farm loans • Courts tend to support administrators if their actions are in line with the law they are administering • Agencies can apply reasonable interpretation of statutes • Administrators must have flexibility if they are to operate effectively

17. Bureaucratic Accountability • Accountability Within the Bureaucracy Itself • Senior Executive Service (SES) • Administrative law judges • Handles disputes that involve cases in which an individual believes that he or she was improperly disadvantaged by a bureaucrat’s decision • Whistle-Blowing • While employed- it takes “guts” • Post-employment • Richard Clarke accused George W. Bush of downplaying the terrorist threat • Demographic Representativeness • If all employees are taken into account, the federal bureaucracy is close to being representative of the nation’s population • The bureaucracy is not demographically representative at its highest levels • about 60% of managerial and professional positions are held by white males

18. Federal Job Rankings (GS) of Various Demographic Groups

19. Reinventing Government • Bureaucracy today was created in response to problems in the past. • Now suggested to focus on outputs. • Others question the focus on “customers” of the agencies. • Limits on what can be cut from the agencies. • “reinventing teams”- formed under the National Performance Review to analyze and make recommendations about bureaucratic effectiveness • Responsiveness, accountability, and efficiency

20. States in the Nation