Name: __________________
1
Class:
Date: _____________
The ________ is made up of the president's key advisers who are responsible for the areas
under their jurisdiction.
a. cabinet
b. Senate
c. Supreme Court
d. Pentagon
2
Which section of the Constitution gives the president the power of appointment?
a. Article II Section 2
b. Article I Section 1
c. Article III Section 1
d. Article I Section 3
3
The Framers wanted to make sure that the president followed the intent of Congress, but they
gave him wide discretion in how he carried out the laws. In Article II, Section 3, they gave him
the power to "take Care that the Laws be ________ ."
a. morally applied
b. faithfully executed
c. summarily discharged
d. legally administered
4
How many executive, or cabinet-level, departments make up the federal bureaucracy?
a. 30
b. 20
c. 10
d. 15
5
Which agency has final authority over the federal budget?
a. Internal Revenue Service
b. Securities and Exchange Commission
c. the U.S. Department of Treasury
d. Office of Management and Budget
PAGE 1
Name: __________________
6
Class:
Date: _____________
Which agency has the authority to preserve the quality of the air, water, and land in the United
States?
a. the National Park Service
b. the Environmental Protection Agency
c. the Department of Agriculture
d. the National Transportation Safety Board
7
Each agency has a ________ that defines its role and responsibilities.
a. constitution
b. preamble
c. handbook
d. mission
8
Who is responsible for the policy decisions that come out of a federal department?
a. deputy secretary
b. assistant secretary
c. bureau chief
d. secretary
9
What is the primary disadvantage to the hierarchical decision-making process that exists within
the federal bureaucracy?
a. It can present an obstacle to speedy decision making.
b. It fails to ensure that policies are administered equally.
c. It blocks governmental transparency.
d. It often results in uninformed decisions.
10 The fourth component of a bureaucracy is ________ , a persistent, patterned way of thinking
about the central tasks of and human relationships within an organization.
a. oversight
b. expertise
c. a mission
d. culture
PAGE 2
Name: __________________
Class:
Date: _____________
11 The bureaucratic failure relating to the BP oil spill in 2010 began in which office?
a. the Department of Health and Human Services
b. the Federal Bureau of Investigation
c. the Minerals Management service
d. the Environmental Protection Agency
12 What were the first three departments created by Congress in 1789?
a. State, Justice, and Treasury
b. State, Agriculture, and Education
c. State, Treasury, and War
d. State, Agriculture, and Interior
13 Which agency created in 1849 regulated the sale and development of federal lands?
a. the Internal Revenue Service
b. the Department of the Interior
c. the Department of Agriculture
d. the Environmental Protection Agency
14 In response to intelligence failures associated with the terrorist attacks of 9/11, ________ was
created.
a. The Department of the Interior
b. the Department of Veterans Affairs
c. the Department of Homeland Security
d. the Department of Defense
15 What was the first reform that helped slowly change the federal bureaucracy from a corrupt,
partisan insider organization to a neutral, policy-based organization?
a. Office of Personnel Management
b. General Services Administration
c. Government in the Sunshine Act
d. the Pendleton Act
PAGE 3
Name: __________________
Class:
Date: _____________
16 What are federal employees who are appointed specifically to carry out the president's political
agenda are called?
a. career civil servants
b. political appointees
c. executive employees
d. merit system employees
17 President Eisenhower appointed a layer of federal employees to oversee civil service
employees; they were called the
a. Senior Executive Service.
b. Civil Service appointees.
c. Oversight Committee appointees.
d. Schedule C appointees.
18 Which president created the Senior Executive Service?
a. Bill Clinton
b. Lyndon Johnson
c. Barack Obama
d. Jimmy Carter
19 Which act prohibited government employees from working on political campaigns or using their
position to solicit campaign donations?
a. the Alien and Sedition Act
b. the Pendleton Act
c. the Stamp Act
d. the Hatch Act
20 The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 led to the creation of which agency?
a. the Internal Revenue Service
b. the Environmental Protection Agency
c. the Office of Personnel Management
d. the Interstate Commerce Commission
PAGE 4
Name: __________________
Class:
Date: _____________
21 ________ exercises power of the purse to keep the bureaucracy accountable and responsive.
a. The president
b. Congress
c. The bureaucracy
d. The vice president
22 Congress can hold the bureaucracy accountable through its powers to ________ , giving
Congress a chance to evaluate federal agencies and to withhold funds if there are
dissatisfactions.
a. evaluate and implement
b. interpret and approve
c. authorize and appropriate
d. intervene and organize
23 In 1966, the ________ established a procedure by which ordinary citizens could directly request
nonclassified reports from the federal government for a nominal fee.
a. Government in the Sunshine Act
b. Freedom of Information Act
c. General Services Administration
d. Government Accountability Act
24 Which piece of legislation was created in response to the mistrust of the federal government that
grew out of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal?
a. the Economic Stabilization Act
b. the Voting Rights Act
c. the Government in the Sunshine Act
d. the Freedom of Information Act
25 Government employees who report wrongdoing within their agencies are called
a. civil servants.
b. regulators.
c. whistleblowers.
d. gerrymanders.
PAGE 5
ANSWER KEY
Copy of
1. a
10. d
19. d
2. a
11. c
20. c
3. b
12. c
21. b
ANSWER KEY - Page 1
4. d
13. b
22. c
5. d
14. c
23. b
6. b
15. d
24. c
7. d
16. b
25. c
8. d
17. d
9. a
18. d