THE BUREAUCRACY

I. Distinctiveness of the United States Bureaucracy-size, scope, and political

context

The Constitutional system and traditions make the US bureaucracy distinctive.

-political authority over the bureaucracy is shared by the president and congress

-federal agencies share functions with related state and local government agencies.

-adversary culture leads to closer scrutiny and make court challenges more likely

Scope of the Bureaucracy-Little public ownership of industry in the U. S.

-High degree of regulation of private industries

-Progressives and the New Deal bring about early regulation

II. The Growth of the Bureaucracy-Supreme Court gives the president sole removal power, strengthens executive role

-Congress still funds and investigates the agencies, and shapes the laws they administer

-Creates a check and balance of power

The Appointment of Officials-Officials affect how laws are interpreted, tone and effectiveness of administration, and party strength

-Patronage in the 19th and early 20th centuries rewarded party supporters, induced congressional support, and built party organizations

-Civil War beginning of bureaucratic growth, it pointed out the administrative weakness of the federal govt. and increased the demands for civil service reform

-Post-Civil War begins industrialization, becomes necessary to regulate interstate trade- controversial

The Change in Role1861-1901 new agencies performed mainly a service role due to:-constraints of limited govt., states’ rights, and limited power-laissez fare policies-Supreme Court held that executive agencies could only apply statutes passed by Congress -Wars led to reduced restrictions on administrators and an enduring increase in executive branch personnel

Depression and WWII lead to government activism-Supreme Court reverses position and upheld laws that granted discretion to administrative agencies-introduction of income taxes supports a larger bureaucracy-public believes in need for military preparedness and social programs

III. The Federal Bureaucracy TodayDirect and indirect growth:-modest increase in number of direct government employees-significant increase in the number of emplyees through use of private contractors, state and local government employees

Growth in discretionary authorityDefined as-the ability to choose courses of action and make policies not set out in the statutory law-Delegation of undefined authority greatly increased

Primary areas of deregulation:-subsidies to groups and organizations

-Grant in aid programs, transfer ring money from national to state and local govts.

-devising and enforcing regulations, especially for the economy

Factors explaining the behavior of officials:

-Recruitment and rewards system

-Personal and political attributes

-Nature of work

-Constraints imposed on agencies by outside forces

Recruitment and Retention

A.The Competitive service: bureaucrats compete for jobs through OPM:-Appointment by merit based on written exam

Departments are moving away from OPM due to:-OPM is cumbersome and not geared towards individual department needs-agencies have need of professionals who cannot be ranked by an examination- particular skill set-agencies face pressure to diversify

B. The excepted service:- About 3 % of employees are appointed on grounds other than merit- presidential appointments, Schedule C jobs, and non-career executive assignments

-Pendleton Act (1883)- changed the basis of government jobs from patronage to merit

-Merit system protects president from pressure and protects patronage appointees from removal by new presidents

The Buddy System-Name-request job: filled by a person the agency has already identified for middle and upper level jobs-job description often tailored for the person-circumvents the usual search process…..but also encourages issue networks based on shared policy views

Firing a Bureaucrat:-most bureaucrats cannot be easily fired-the Senior Executive Service (SES) was established to provide the president and cabinet with more control in personnel decisions-SES still has not fired many individuals

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Why make it difficult to fire a bureaucrat?Positives-Agencies are dominated by lifetime bureaucrats who have worked for no other agency

-assures continuity and expertise

Negatives:

-gives subordinates power over new bosses

-workers know how to work behind their boss’s back through sabotage and delay methods

So who are the bureaucrats?Critics say that political appointees and upper-level bureaucrats are unrepresentative of the US society and believe that they work in their own occupational self interestReality-bureaucrats are somewhat more liberal or conservative, depending on the appointing president-they do not take extreme positions-correlation between the type of agency and the attitude of the employeeExample-activist agency tends to attract more liberal employees- Policy views reflect the type of work they do

Do bureaucrats sabotage their bosses?-most carry out policy regardless of personal beliefs

-most have highly structured jobs

-each agency has its own culture, an informal understanding among employees about how they are supposed to act

-strong agency culture motivates employees, but it makes agencies resistant to change

Constraints on the bureaucracy-constraints much higher than on private business-hiring, firing, pay, and other procedures established by law, not by the market

General Constraints:-Administrative Procedure Act-1946-Freedom of Information Act- 1966National Environmental Policy Act -1969Privacy Act- 1974Open Meeting Law-1976

Effects of Constraints- government moves slowly-government sometimes acts inconsistently-easier to block action than to take action-reluctant decision making by lower ranking employees-red tape

Why so many constraints?-constraints come from the demand of the citizens-agencies try to respond to citizen demands for openness, honesty, and fairness

Congressional Oversight-Congress creates agencies and authorizes their programs-Congress appropriates monies to allow agency to spend money on programs-Appropriations committee approves most expenditure requests-House tends to recommend an amount lower than the agency requests-House can influence an agency’s policies by “marking up” their budget

Appropriations committee becoming less influential because:-trust funds operate outside the regular government budget-Annual authorizations allow the legislative committee greater oversight-Budget deficits necessitate cuts

Informal controls over agencies:-individual members of Congress seek priveleges for constituents-Congressional committees may seek committee clearance, the right to pass on certain agency decisions

Five major complaints about the bureaucracy:Red tape, sometimes complex and conflicting

Conflict- agencies work at cross purposes

Duplication-two agencies doing the same thing

Imperialism-tendency of agencies to grow

Waste-spending more than necessary

Bureaucratic reform?-11 reform attempts in the 1900’s-most stressed presidential control on behalf of efficiency, and accountability

Reform is difficult-Most rules and red tape are due to struggles between president and Congress-Periods of divided government worsen matters, especially in implementing policy