Howard Yin

February 5, 2016
AP US Gov.
Pattersons Outlines
Chapter 13 Outline: The Federal Bureaucracy
Government agencies are seldom in the headlines unless they do something
wrong; nor do federal agencies rank high in public esteem
Bureaucracy is a system of organization and control that is based on
hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formalized rules.
Bureaucracy is an inevitable consequence of complexity and scale
Bureaucrats naturally taken an agency point of view, seeking to promote
their agencys programs and power
Although agencies are subject to oversight by the 3 branches, bureaucrats
exercise considerable power in their own right
Origin and Structure of the Federal Bureaucracy
I. Types of Federal Agencies
a. US federal bureaucracy is organized along policy lines. Leading
administrative units are the 15 cabinet departments; largest is the
Department of Defense
b. Independent agencies resemble the cabinet departments but typically
have a narrower area of responsibility; heads of these agencies are
appointed by and report to the president but are not members of the
cabinet
c. Regulatory agencies are created when Congress recognizes the need
for ongoing regulation of a particular economic activity
i. They possess a legislative and judicial function they develop
law-like regulations and then judge whether individuals or
organizations are complying with them
d. Government corporations are similar to private corporations in that they
charge clients for their services and are governed by a board of
directors
i. Receive federal funding to help defray operating expenses, and
their directors are appointed by president with Senate approval
e. Presidential commissions provide advice to the president
II. Federal Employment
a. Most civil servants are hired through the governments merit system;
the merit system is an alternative to the patronage system (spoils
system)
b. Administrative objective of the merit system is neutral
competenceemployees are not partisan and are retained on the
basis of their skills
c. Federal employees can form labor unions, but their unions by law have
limited scope; the government has full control of job assignments,
compensation, and promotion
The Budgetary Process

I.

II.

III.

Of special importance to the executive agencies is the budgetary process-the

process by which annual federal spending and revenue decisions are made
a. Elected branches have final
authority over these
agencies; entire process
lasts a year and a half
Presidential and Agency Budgets
a. Budgetary process begins in
executive, when the
president establishes general
budget guidelines
i. Each agency is
allotted a budget
ceiling that cannot be
exceeded
b. Agencies receive guidelines
in the spring and work
through the summer to
create a detailed agency
budget, taking into account their existing programs and new proposals
i. Agency budgets are then submitted to OMB for a full review
c. Agencies naturally seek additional funding whereas OMB has the job of
matching the budget to the presidents priorities
i. OMB focuses 1/3rd of the budget to discretionary funding,
including defense spending, foreign aid, and education
d. President then works off the margins of the budget
Congress and the Agency Budgets
a. In January, the presidents budget is submitted to Congress
i. During its work on the budget, the presidents recommendations
undergo varying degrees of change; Congress has constitutional
authority over govt spending and its priorities are never exactly
the same as the presidents
b. Upon reaching Congress, the presidents budget proposal goes to
House and Senate budget committeesrecommend overall spending
and revenue levels
i. The levels are a constraint on the rest of Congress work on the
budget
c. House and Senate appropriations committees take over at this point;
these committees focus on discretionary spending programs, which are
basically the only budget items subject to change
i. House Appropriations Committee (through its 13
subcommittees) reviews the budget; each subcommittee has
responsibility for a particular substantive area
ii. Senate Appropriations Committee and its subcommittees also
review the budget but being a smaller body, its review of agency
requests is less exacting than that of the House

1. Serves as a court of last resort

d. Throughout this entire process, members of both House and Senate
rely on the Congressional Budget Office, the congressional equivalent
of the OMB
i. Responsible for alerting Congress to any discrepancy (if it
believes OMB or any agency has miscalculated the amount of
money needed to carry out its mandated programs)
e. After House and Senate finish, they submit their recommendations to
the full chambers for a vote
i. If approved, both versions in both houses are reconciled in
conference committee
ii. Reconciled version of the budget is then voted upon in both and
is then sent to the president to sign or to veto
f. Budget invariably reflects both presidential and congressional priorities;
takes effect on October 1
Policy and Power in Bureaucracy
I. Administrative agencies main task is policy implementationcarrying out
decisions made by 3 branches
a. In implementing these decisions, bureaucracy is constrained by budget
II. Bureaucracy may often have broad discretion when implementing policy
a. Administrative agencies make policy in the process of determining how
to implement decisions
b. Rulemaking-determining how a law will work in practice-is the chief
way administrative agencies exercise control over policy
c. In the course of their work, administrators also develop policy ideas
that they then propose to the White House or Congress
III. The Agency Point of View
a. Although bureaucrats are responsive to both the President and
Congress, they are even more responsive to the needs of the agency
in which they work (agency POV)
b. Professionalism also cements agency loyalties
c. Agency POV distorts govt priorities, bureaucrats have little choice but
to look out for their agencys interests
i. If an agency is to operate successfully in Americas partisan
system of divided power, it must seek support wherever it can
find it
IV. Sources of Bureaucratic Power
a. The Power of Expertise
i. Most of the policy problems confronting the federal government
are extraordinarily complex; much of these expertise is provided
by bureaucrats
ii. Elected officials are generalists, who deal with dozens of various
issues
1. Rely heavily on career administrators for policy advice
2. All agencies have some influence over policy through
their careerists expertise
3. All issues always have layers of complexity

b. The Power of Clientele Groups

i. Nearly every major interest in society has a corresponding
federal agency; these interests are clientele groups (they benefit
directly from the agencys programs)
1. Clientele groups can be counted on to lobby Congress
and the president on behalf of the agency
ii. Relationship between an agency and its clientele group is a
reciprocal one
c. The Power of Friends in High Places
i. An agencys resources can help elected officials achieve their
policy goals
ii. Agencies also have allies in Congress
1. Agencies with programs that benefit important key voting
blocs are particularly likely to have congressional support
Democratic and Bureaucratic Accountability
I. Because federal bureaucracys policy influence is at odds with democratic
principles (fixed rules, hierarchy, command, permanence of office), their level
of influence raises question of bureaucratic accountabilitythe degree to
which bureaucrats are held accountable for the power they exercise
II. Accountability through the Presidency
a. Via executive orders to force agencies to pursue particular
administrative actions
i. Still, most do not have the time or knowledge to exercise
personal oversight of the federal bureaucracy rely instead on
management tools
b. Reorganization
i. Presidents have sought to streamline the bureaucracy in an
attempt to make it more accountable
ii. Such reorganization efforts usually improve the bureaucracys
performance, but not dramatically so
iii. Presidents have had more success in controlling the
bureaucracy by moving activities out of agencies and into the
Executive Office of the Presidency
1. Directly under White House control and functions to a
degree as the presidents personal bureaucracy
2. EOP now makes some policy decisions for bureaucratic
agencies
c. Presidential Appointments
i. Top positions in every agency are held by presidential
appointees; their influence is greatest in agencies have
substantial discretionary authority
ii. As party polarization has increased, presidential appointment
process has become more contentious
d. OMB: Budgets, Regulations, and Legislative Proposals
i. Funding and policy are the mainstays of every agency, and
OMB has substantial control over each

III.

IV.

V.

ii. Also acts as a review board for agency regulations and policy
proposals
Accountability Through Congress
a. Congress claims ownership to a degree because it has the power of
the purse (spending)
b. Also invokes control through its oversight function, which involves
monitoring the bureaucracys work to ensure its compliance with
legislative intent
i. If an agency steps out of line, Congress can call hearings to ask
tough questions, and if necessary, take legislative action
c. Nevertheless, Congress lacks the time and expertise to define in detail
how programs should be run
i. Congress has delegated much of its oversight responsibility to
the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Accountability through the Courts
a. Bureaucracy derives its authority from acts of Congress, and an injured
party can bring a suit against an agency on the grounds that it has
failed to carry out a law properly
i. If the court agrees, the agency must change its policy
b. Courts tend to support administrators if their actions are at least
somewhat consistent with the law they are administering
i. SC has held that agencies can apply any reasonable
interpretation of statutes unless Congress has stipulated
something to the contrary and that agencies in some instances
have discretion in deciding whether to enforce statutes
Accountability within the Bureaucracy Itself
a. Senior Executive Service
b. Administrative Law Judges
c. Whistleblowing: the act of reporting instances of official
mismanagement
d. Demographic Representativeness