1. The Executive Branch and the Bureaucracy
Chapter 9
The Executive Branch and the Bureaucracy

2. Development of the Federal Bureaucracy
A set of complex hierarchical departments, agencies, commissions, and their staffs that exist to help a chief executive officer carry out his or her duties.

3. Development of the Federal Bureaucracy
Growth in bureaucracy from 1789 to 1861
Andrew Jackson used political positions to reward friends and loyalists, known as the spoils system
Post Office, authorized by Congress in Article I, had to adapt to a growing country

4. Distribution of Federal Civilian Employment

5. Growth of Bureaucracy 1789- 3 departments 2004- 1.8 million employees
Foreign Affairs (Department of State), War, and Treasury
Secretaries met with George Washington regularly, establishing Cabinet meetings
million employees

6. How to Fire a Federal Bureaucrat

7. Civil War and the Growth of Government
Civil War spawned need for new government agencies.
Department of Agriculture (1862): Abraham Lincoln
Pension Office (1866): Pay benefits to Union veterans
Patronage
Jobs, grants, or other special favors that are given as rewards to friends and political allies for their support.

8. From the Spoils System to the Merit System
Garfield’s presidency
Irony: assassinated by a frustrated job seeker.
Reaction to Garfield’s death and increasing criticism of the spoils system was the Civil Service Reform Act in 1883.
Also called the Pendleton Act
Reform measure that created the Civil Service Commission to administer a merit system.
Established federal employment on the basis of open, competitive exams

9. Creation of Civil Service and Merit Systems
Civil Service System: The process of hiring government officials based on civil service (merit) instead of patronage
Merit system: Government jobs classified into levels, appointments are made on the basis of performance

10. Regulating the Economy and the Growth of Government in the 20th Century
Growth of big business, price fixing, and other unfair business practices after the Civil War stimulated Congress to create the Interstate Commerce Commission.
First independent regulatory commission
An agency created by Congress that is generally concerned with a specific aspect of the economy.
Created by Congress
Theodore Roosevelt
Department of Commerce and Labor

11. Regulating the Economy and the Growth of Government in the 20th Century
Woodrow Wilson
Divided it into two separate departments. (Commerce and Labor)
Encouraged Congress to create the Federal Trade Commission.
Franklin Roosevelt
Hundreds of new government agencies due to the Great Depression
Lyndon Johnson
War on Poverty created additional growth in the bureaucracy

12. Lyndon B. Johnson
Civil Rights Act of 1964: Passed by Congress to outlaw segregation in public facilities and racial discrimination in employment, education, and voting.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOP) created to enforce antidiscrimination laws
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 1965
Department of Transportation 1966

13. Government Workers and Political Involvement
Hatch Act (aka Political Activities Act)
Law enacted in 1939 to prohibit civil servants from taking activist roles in partisan campaigns.
Could not make political contributions, work for a political party or campaign for a particular candidate.
Federal Employees Political Activities Act
1993 liberalization of the Hatch Act.
Allowed federal employees to run for office in nonpartisan elections and to contribute money to campaigns in partisan elections.

14. The Liberalized Hatch Act

15. Formal Organization Executive Departments
Major administrative units with responsibility for a broad area of government operations.
Indicates a permanent national interest.
Government Corporations
Businesses established by Congress that perform functions that could be provided by private businesses.
Example: Amtrak, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

16. Formal Organization Independent Agencies
Governmental units that closely resemble a Cabinet department but have a narrower area of responsibility and are not part of any Cabinet Department.
Example: Central Intelligence Agency
Independent Regulatory Commissions
Agencies created by Congress to exist outside the major departments to regulate a specific economic activity or interest.
Regulatory policy: any policy passed by a commission setting regulations on their area
Example: Federal Reserve Board.

17. Cabinet 15 departments 60% of federal workforce
VP, heads of all departments, head of EPA, OMB, Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Trade Representative, and president’s chief of staff

18. The President’s Cabinet

20. How the Bureaucracy Works
Given independence by Congress to work
Structure of the bureaucracy
Specialized areas
Based on merit
Independent agencies/regulatory commissions
Complexity of the bureaucracy
Administrative discretion (a.k.a. bureaucratic discretion, delegated authority)
The ability of bureaucrats to make choices concerning the best way to implement congressional intentions.
Congress lacks time/expertise/knowledge to deal with it all
Bureaucracy's ability to make policy
Implementation
The process by which a law or policy is put into operation by the bureaucracy.
Iron triangles (aka issue networks)
Relatively stable relationships and patterns of interaction that occur among an agency, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees.

21. Making Policy Rule making
A quasi-legislative administrative process that has the characteristics of a legislative act.
Regulations
Rules that govern the operation of a particular government program that have the force of law.
1946 Administrative Procedures Act
Statutory purpose and basis of rule to be stated.
Once rule is written, 30 days must elapse before they take effect.

22. Insert Figure 9.5 here
How a Regulation is Made

23. Making Policy Administrative adjudication
A quasi-judicial process in which a bureaucratic agency settles disputes between two parties in a manner similar to the way courts resolve disputes.
Administrative law judges
Fines and penalties common
Jail time is rare

24. Making Agencies Accountable
Executive Control
Adjust budget (with Congressional approval)
Executive orders
Rules or regulations issued by the president that have the effect of law.
Congressional Control
Power of the purse
Can reward/punish agencies with money
Congressional hearings/investigations
Confirmation/rejection of appointments to bureaucracy
Impeachment
New legislation
Legislative veto (ruled unconstitutional!)
Judicial Control
Judicial Review: can rule bureaucratic actions unconstitutional
Court rulings can limit bureaucratic practices

25. Making Agencies Accountable
Interest groups (Informal)
Use of the First Amendment
Lobby
Protests
Use of Media
Free Speech
Litigation
Amicus curiae

26. Making Agencies Accountable
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27. An Iron Triangle
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