Unit 2b part 2 (Bureaucracy)

federal bureaucracy

"arms and legs of the executive branch" that help the president administer and implement and enforce the laws

characteristic of federal bureaucracy

-hierarchical authority

-job specialization

-formal rules

-red tape

organization of federal bureaucracy

-executive office of the president

-cabinet departments

-independent regulatory agencies

-independent executive agencies

-government corporations

executive office of the president

key white house staff members who do not need senate confirmation

white house office staff

staff members make up the personnel that run the White House and advise the president and do not need senate confirmation

white office press secretary

chief white house spokesperson that does not need senate confirmation

white house chief of staff

closest advisor to the president that does not need senate confirmation

cabinet departments

under the president's control and manage specific policy areas

cabinet department examples

the president's cabinet

cabinet members

help the president carry out legislation and must be confirmed by the senate

independent regulatory agencies

not under the president's control and perform a perform a regulatory mission

independent regulatory agency examples

-Federal Reserve Board

-Food and Drug Administration

-Federal Trade Commission

independent executive agencies

under the president's control and perform a service mission

independent executive agency examples

-Central Intelligence Agency

-Environmental Protection Agency

-Social Security Administration

government corporations

not under the president's control and created by congress to carry out business-like functions as they charge for services and earn money

government corporation examples

-U.S. Postal Service

-Amtrak

specific tasks of federal bureaucracy

-rule-making and discretion

-compliance monitoring

-testifying

-iron triangles

rule-making and discretion

bureaucrats have the power to write and implement specific regulations that determine the implementation of public policy and the power to make choices about how to implement existing laws

compliance monitoring

bureaucrats have the power to make sure firms and companies that are subject to industry regulations are following them

testifying

members of the bureaucracy are often experts in their field and appear before congress to provide testimony about an issue

iron triangles

alliances between staffs of interest groups and congressional committees and executive agencies that exert influence over legislation and law enforcement

revolving door

movement from the job of legislator to a job within an industry affected by the laws or regulations

influences on federal bureaucracy

-president and his appointees who hold top positions in bureaucracy

-congress which appropriates money to agencies and writes legislation

-interest groups that have built relationships with federal agencies and congress

patronage (spoils system)

practice of giving government jobs as rewards to political supporters

civil service act (1883)

replaced the spoils system with a merit system for hiring and promotion for most U.S. government jobs

civil service (merit system)

system that ensures that federal workers will be hired and promoted based on merit and not on politics