Chapter

13
In formal terms, bureaucracy is a system of organization and control
that is based on three principle: hierarchical authority, job
specialization, and formalized rules

Hierarchical authority refers to a chain of command whereby the

officials and units at the top of a bureaucracy have authority
over those in the middle, who in turn control those at the
bottom

Job specialization refers to explicitly defined duties for each job

position and to a precise division of labor within the
organization

Formalized rules are the established procedures and regulations

by which a bureaucracy conducts its operations

Origin and Structure of the Federal Bureaucracy

The federal bureaucracy was initially small

The federal governments role was confined largely to defense

and foreign affairs, currency and interstate commerce, and
the delivery of mail

In the latter part of the 1800s, the bureaucracy began to grow

rapidly in size largely because economic growth was
generating new demands on government

Types of Federal Agencies

The president and Congress get far more attention in the news,
but the federal bureaucracy has a more direct
impact on Americans every lives
The leading administrative units are the fifth cabinet (executive)
departments

Expect for the Department of Justice, which his led by the

attorney general, the head of each department
is its secretary
Each cabinet department has responsibility for a general policy
area
This responsibility is carried out within each department by
semiautonomous operating units that
typically carry the label bureau, agency,
division, or service
Independent agencies resemble the cabinet departments but
typically have a narrower area of responsibility

CIA and NASA

 The heads of these agencies are appointed by and report to the

president but are not members of the cabinet

Some independent agencies exist apart from cabinet

departments because their placement within
the department would post symbolic or
practical problems
The largest and also the oldest independent agency is the US
Postal Service, with roughly 700,000
employees
Regulatory agencies are created when Congress recognizes the
need for ongoing regulation of a particular
economic activity

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA)
Regulatory agencies have a legislative function and a judicial
function
They develop law-like regulations and then judge whether
individuals or organizations are complying
with them
Government corporations are similar to private corporations in
that they charge clients for their services and are
governed by a broad of directors

However, government corporations receive federal funding to

help defray operating expenses, and their
directions are appointed by the president
with Senate approval

 Government corporations include Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation (FDIC) and National Railroad
Passenger Corporation (Amtark)
Presidential commissions provide advice to the president

Some of them are permanent bodies, such as the Commission on Civil

Rights and the Commission on Fine Arts
Other presidential commissions are temporary and disband after
making recommendations on specific issues, such as Presidents
Commission on Strengthen Social Security
Federal Employment
Most civil servants are hired through the governments merit system,
whereby they have to score high on a competitive exam or have
specialized training
The merit system is overseen by two independent agencies
The Office of Personnel Management supervises the hiring and job
classification of federal employees
The Merit Service Protection Board hears appeals from career civil
servants who have been fired or face other disciplinary action

The merit system is an alternative to the patronage system that

governed th
federal employment during much of the 19 century Patronage was the
postelection practice of filling administrative offices
with people who had supported the winning party Later presidents
extended patronage to all levels of administration
without much regard for its impact on the quality of administration,

which led to critics to label it a spoils systema device for the awarding
of government jobs to friends and party hacks
The administrative object of the merit system is neutral
competence A merit-based bureaucracy is competent in the sense
that employees
are hired and retained on the basis of their skills, and its is neutral in
the sense that employees are not partisan appointees and are expected
to be of service to everyone, not just those who support the incumbent
president
It has its own biases and inefficiencies
Career bureaucrats tend to place their agencies interest ahead of
those of other agencies and typically oppose efforts to trim their
agencies programs
The large majority of federal employees have a GS (Graded Service)
job ranking
Federal employees salaries increase with rank and length of service
Although federal employees are underpaid in comparison with their
counterparts in the private sector, they receive better fringe
benefitsincluding full health insurance, secure retirement plans,
and substantial vacation time and sick leavethen do most
private-sector employees
Federal employees can form labor unions, but their union by law
have limited scope; the government has full control of job
assignments, compensation, and promotion
The Budgetary Process
Of special importance to executive agencies is the budgetary process
the process through which annual federal spending and revenue
decisions are made

The Constitution assigns Congress the power to tax and spend, but the
president, as chief executive, also has a major role in determining
the budget
The budgetary process involves give-and-take between Congress and the
president as each tries to influence how federal funding will be
distributed among various agencies and programs
The President and Agency Budgets
The budgetary process beings in the executive branch when the
president, in constitution with the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB), establishes general budget
guidelines
Each agency is assigned a budget ceiling that it cannot exceed in
developing its budget proposal
The agencies receive their guidelines in the spring and then
work through the summer to create a detailed agency
budget, taking into account their existing programs and
new proposals
They then are submitted to OMB in September for a full review
that invariably includes further consultation with each
agency and the White House
OMB then finalizes the agency budgets and combines them into
the presidents budget proposal
The president does not have any real say over most of the
budget, about 2/3 of which involves mandatory
spending
The spending is required by law, which includes spending on

defense, foreign aid, education, national parks, space

exploration, and highways
The president, then, works on the margins of the budget
In most policy areas, the president will propose a modest
spending increase or decrease over the previous year

Congress and the Agency Budgets

Congress has constitutional authority over government
spending and its priorities are never exactly the same as
the presidents even when the congressional majority is
of the same political party
Upon reaching Congress, the presidents budget proposal goes to
the House and Senate budget committees
Once approved by the full House and Senate, the levels are a
constraint on the rest of Congresss work on the budget

As with the executive branch, these committees focus on

discretionary spending programs, which are basically,
the only budget items subject to change
TheHouseAppropriationsCommitteethroughits13
subcommitteereviews the budget
The Senate is a smaller body, and its review of agency requests
is less exacting than that of the House

The Senate Appropriations Committee serves as a court of last

resort for agencies that have had their funding requests cut by
OMB or by the House Appropriations Committee

 Members of the House and Senate rely on Congressional Budget

Office
If the Congressional Budget Office believes that OMB or an agency has
miscalculated the amount of money needed to carry out its
mandates programs, it will alert Congress to the discrepancy
They submit their recommendations to the full chambers for a vote
If approved by a majority in the House and in the Senate, differences
in the Senate and House versions are then reconciled in
conference committee
The reconciled version of the budget is then voted upon in the House
and Senate and, if approved, is sent to the president to sign or veto

Policy and Power in The Bureaucracy

Administrative agencies main task is policy implementationthat is, the
carrying out of decisions made by Congress, the president, and the
courts
Some of what the bureaucracy does is fairly straightforward, as in the
case of delivering the mail, processing government loan
applications, and imprisoning those convicted of crime
Yet the bureaucracy often has broad discretion when implementing
policy
Administrative agencies make policy in the process of determining how
to implement congressional, presidential, and judicial decisions
Such rulemakingdetermining how a law will work in practiceis the
chief way administrative agencies exercise control over policy
In the course of their work, administrators also develop policies ideas
that they then propose to the White House or Congress

In sum, administrators initiate policy, develop it, evaluate it, apply it, and
decide whether others are complying with it
The bureaucracy does not simply administer policy, it also makes policy

The Agency Point of View

A key issue about bureaucratic policymaking is the perspective
that bureaucrats bring to their decisions
Do they operate from the perspective of the president or do they
operate from the perspective of Congress?
Although bureaucrats are responsive to both of them, they are
even more responsive to the needs of the agency in which

they work, a perspective also called the agency point of

view
This outlook comes naturally to most high-ranking civil servants

More than 90% of top bureaucrats reach their high-level

positions by rising through the ranks of the same agency

Professionalism also cements agency loyalties

High-level administrative positions have increasingly been filled by

scientist, engineers, lawyers, educators, physicians, and other
professionals
Although the agency point of view distorts government priorities,
bureaucrats have little choice but to look out for their agencys
interests
The president and members of Congress differ in their constituencies
and thus in the agencies to which they are most responsive
Republican and Democrats officials also differ in their priorities, a
reality that is never more apparent than when party control of the
presidency or Congress changes
In sum, if an agency is to operate successfully in Americas partisan
system of
divided power, it must seek support wherever it can find it
Sources of Bureaucratic Power
In programming their agencys interests, bureaucrats reply on their
specialization knowledge, the support of interests that benefit
from their programs, and the backing of the president and
Congress

 The Power of Expertise

Most of the policy problems confronting the federal

government are extraordinarily complex

Much of this expertise is provided by bureaucrats

They spend their careers working in a particular policy area, and many
of them have had scientific, technical, or other
specialized training
Elected officials, on the other hand, are generalists, none more so that the
president, who must deal with dozens of interests
Members of Congress acquire some expertise through their committee
work, but most of them lack the time, training, or
inclination to become deeply knowledgeable of the
issues they handle

All agencies acquire some influence over policy through their

careerists expertise

The Power to Clientele Groups

Most federal agencies were created for the purpose of

promoting, protecting, or regulating a particular interest

Nearly every major interest in societycommerce, labor,

agriculture, banking, and so onhas a corresponding federal
agency

In most cases, there interests are clientele groups in the sense

that they benefit directly from the agencys programs

Clientele groups can becounted on the lobbyCongress and

the president on behalf of the agency when its programs and
funding are being reviewed

Even a relatively weak or loosely organized clientele group can

be of help to an agency if its programsand therefore, the

groups benefitsare threatened with cuts or elimination

The relationship between an agency and its clientele group is a

reciprocal one

Just as a clientele group can be expected to protect its agency,

the agency will work to protect the group

The Power of Friends in High Places

Although the goals of the president or Congress can conflict

with those of the bureaucracy, they need it as much as it
needs them

An agencys resourcesits programs, expertise, and group

supportcan help elected officials achieve their policy goals

Agencies also have allies in Congress Agencies with programs that

benefit important key voting blocs are
particularly likely to have congressional support
Democracy and Bureaucratic Accountability
Studies have found that the US federal bureaucracy compares favorably
to government bureaucracies elsewhere
Nevertheless, the federal bureaucracys policy influence is at odds with
democratic principles
The bureaucratic form of governing is the antithesis of the democratic
form
Bureaucracy entails hierarchy, command, permanence of office,
appointment to office, and fixed rules, whereas self-government
involves equality, consent, rotation of office, election to office, and
open decision making

The president and members of Congress are accountable to the people

through elections
Bureaucrats are not elected and yet exercise a significant degree of
independent power
Their influence raises the question of bureaucratic accountabilitythe
degree to which bureaucrats are held accountable for the power
they exercise
To a small degree, they are accountable directly to the public
For the most part, however, bureaucratic accountability occurs largely
through the president, Congress, and the courts
Accountability through the Presidency

Periodically, presidents have launched broad initiatives

aimed at making the bureaucracy more responsive

Presidents can also intervene more directly through

executive orders to force agencies to pursue particular
administrative actions

Nevertheless, presidents do not have the time or

knowledge to exercise personal oversight of the federal
bureaucracy

It is far too big and diverse

Reorganization

The bureaucracys sizeits hundred of separate agencies

makes it difficult for presidents to coordinate its
activities

 Agencies pursue independent and even conflicting paths

Presidents have sought to streamline the bureaucracy in an
attempt to make it more accountable
Such reorganization efforts usually improve the bureaucracys
performance, but not dramatically so
Presidents have had more success in controlling the bureaucracy
by moving activities out of the agencies and into
the Executive Office of Presidency (EOP)
EOP is directly under White House control and functions to a
degree as the presidents personal bureaucracy
The EOP now makes some policy decisions that at an earlier time
would have been made in the agencies
Presidential Appointments

For day-to-day oversight of the bureaucracy, presidents rely on

their political appointees
The president has about 3000 partisan appointees
Some appointees fill part-time positions and some must satisfy
specified areas,
Even so, presidents appoint a large number of handpicked
executive
officials
The top positions in every agency are held by presidential appointees

Their influence is greatest in agencies that have substantial

discretionary authority

 Some agencies operate within guidelines that limit what agency heads
can do
As party polarization has increased in Washington, the presidential
appointment process has become more contentious
Presidents have increasingly sought to appoint individuals who can be
trusted to advance the White Houses agenda while senators
of the opposing party have increasingly sought to block those
that they think are overly partisan
Although presidents usually prevail in these showdowns, there are limits
to what they can accomplish through their appointees
Presidential appointees number in the 100s, and many of them lack
detailed knowledge of the agencies they head, making them
dependent on agency careerists
By the time they come to understand the agencys programs, many of
them leave
OMB: Budgets, Regulations, and Legislative Proposals
Of the management tools available to the president, few are more
direct than the Office of Management and Budget
Funding and policy are the mainstays of every agency
OMBs role in overseeing the preparation of agency budgets, it acts as
a review board for agency regulations and policy proposals
No agency can issue a major regulation without OMBs verification
that the benefits of the regulation outweigh its costs, and no
agency can propose legislation to Congress without OMBs
approval
OMB operates from a presidential perspective
A proposed regulation or bill that conflicts with the presidents

policies is unlikely to be approved

Accountability through Congress
A common misperception is that the president has sole authority
over executive agencies
Congress also claims ownership because it is the source of each
agencys programs and funding
The most substantial control that Congress exerts over the
bureaucracy is through its power of the purse.
Congress has constitutional authority over spending; it decides how
much money will be appropriated for agency programs
Congress can also exert control by taking authority away from the
bureaucracy
Congress also has control through its oversight function, which
involves monitoring the bureaucracys work to ensure its
compliance with legislative intent
If any agency steps out of line, Congress can call hearings to ask tough
questions and, if necessary, take legislative action to correct the
problem
Bureaucrats are required by law to appear before Congress when
asked to do so, and the mere possibility of being grilled by a
congressional panel can lead administrators to stay in line
The effect is not altogether positive
Bureaucrats are sometimes reluctant to try innovative approaches
out of a fear that particular members of Congress will disapprove
Congress has delegated much of its oversight responsibility to the
Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Accountability through the Courts

The bureaucracy is also overseen by the judiciary
Legally, the bureaucracy derives its authority from acts of
Congress, and an injured party can bring suit against an
agency on the grounds that it has failed to carry out a
law properly
If the court agrees, the agency must change its policy
Nevertheless, the courts tend to support the administrators if
their actions are at least somewhat consistent with the
law they are administering
They Supreme Court has held that agencies can apply any
reasonable interpretations of statutes in some instances
have discretion in deciding whether to enforce statutes

These rulings reflect the judiciarys recognition that

administrators must have flexibility if hey are to
operate effectively
They bureaucracy and its judiciary would both grind to the
crunching halt if administrators were constantly in
court defending their agencys decision

Accountability within the Bureaucracy itself

Senior Executive Service
Recognizing that the bureaucracys employment system encourages an
agency point of view, Congress in 1978 established the Senior Executive
Service (SES)

Represents a compromise between a president-led bureaucracy and an

expert one
Consist of roughly 7000 top-level career civil servants who quality
through a competitive process to receive a higher salary than
their peers but, in return, can be assigned by the president to any
position within the bureaucracy
Intended to be the intermediaries between the regular presidential
appointees at the top of federal agencies and the regular civil
servants who work in these agencies
Administrative Law Judges
Occasionally, an individual will believe tat he or she was
unfairly disadvantaged by a bureaucrats decision and will
contest it
Such disputes are usually handled by an administrative law
judge
Whistleblowing
One way to stop these prohibited practices is whistleblowingthe act
of
reporting instances of official mismanagement Demographic
Representativeness
More equally representative of the entire population