Chapter 13
The Federal Bureaucracy
The Importance of the Federal
Bureaucracy: Disaster Relief
The federal government has
been providing aid to
victims of disaster since 1803
By the 1970s, dozens of
federal agencies were active
in some form of disaster
relief
In 1979, the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) was
established
– Budget cuts following 9/11
– Poor response to Hurricane
Katrina in 2005
– Resultant reforms
– Rapid response to tornado
destruction in 2008
The Undefined Branch
The Federal Bureaucracy has only one task—
to faithfully execute all the laws
The Framers believed that the bureaucracy would
be relatively small and left most of the details up
to the president and Congress
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Constitutional Controls
Members of Congress may not hold
executive branch positions
President has complete authority to
nominate the senior officers of
government
President also is in charge of
monitoring presidential appointees,
and may ask them to resign for any
reason
Defining Bureaucracy
A form of organization that operates
through informal, uniform rules and
procedures
Characteristics (Max Weber)
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Specialization
Centralization
Formal Rules
Standardization
Expertise
Accountability
Defining Bureaucracy
Originally meant fast, effective, and
rational administration
Over time, has come to mean a large,
inefficient organization clogged with red
tape
Problems
– Today’s jobs are too complex to be divided into
specialized pieces
– Too many leaders at the top creates confusion
among lower-level bureaucrats
– Rules are almost impossible to enforce within a very
large workforce
– Duplication and overlap between units creates
confusion
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Four Types of Federal Organizations
Departments
Independent regulatory
commissions
Independent agencies
Government corporations
The Federal Departments
Leading the Federal Bureaucracy
~3,000 presidential appointees head
federal departments and agencies
– 600 subject to Senate confirmation
– 2,400 serve entirely “at the pleasure of the
president”
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Becoming a Presidential Appointee
Selection by White House
Presidential Personnel Office
White House clearance
Submission of name to Senate
Senate review
The Senior Executive Service
~7,000 members
– ~6,400 career executives
– ~600 political executives
Along with the president’s political
appointees, help run federal
departments and agencies
The Civil Service
Federal employees who work for
government through a competitive,
not political, selection process
Spoils system
Merit system
– Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
– Merit System Protection Board
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Types of Federal Employees
Civil Service Realities
Only about 15 percent of career civilian employees
work in Washington, D.C.
More than 25 percent work in a defense agency
30 percent work for the U.S. Postal Service
Fewer than 10 percent work for the Social
Security Administration and the Medicare
program
Almost half of federal employees work in the
departments of Defense, Homeland Security,
Justice, and State
Most workers are white-collar employees
Federal civil servants “look” more like regular
Americans than do political appointees or
members of Congress
Regulating the Civil Service
The Hatch Act
Federal statute barring federal
employees from active
participation in certain kinds of
politics and protecting them from
being fired on partisan grounds
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Government Employee Unions
Since 1962, federal civilian
employees have had the right to
form unions
About one-third currently belong to
a union
The Job of the Federal Bureaucracy
Implementation
Administrative discretion
Making regulations
– Federal Register
Spending money
– Uncontrollable spending
– Entitlement program
Uncontrollable Spending
in 1962 and 2008
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Presidential Controls
Appointment
Reorganization
Budgeting
Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned from
office only days after the 2006 elections. His management of
the war in Iraq had been widely criticized, and he was blamed
for the deep Republican losses in the elections.
Congressional Controls
Establishing agencies
Formulating budgets
Appropriating funds
Confirming personnel
Authorizing new programs
Conducting investigations
Terminating agencies
Shared Controls
Oversight
Central clearance
Vice President Al Gore shows David Letterman how to
smash an ashtray under federal rules.
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A History of Great Endeavors
We may complain about
red tape and waste in
Washington, but we also
recognize that our federal
bureaucracy continues to
make progress in solving
very difficult problems
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