budget & bureaucracy

budget resolution

A resolution binding Congress to a total expenditure level, supposedly the bottom line of all federal spending for all programs.

Surplus

government budget receipts that exceed its budgets outlays for the given budget/year.

Deficit

An excess of federal expenditures over federal revenues in ONE YEAR

National debt

All the money borrowed by the federal government over the years and still outstanding.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

An office that prepares the president’s budget and also advises presidents on proposals from departments and agencies and helps review their proposed regulations.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Advises Congress on the probable consequences of its decisions, forecasts revenues

16^th amendment

The constitutional amendment adopted in 1914 that explicitly permitted Congress to levy an income tax

Authorization bill

An act of Congress that establishes, continues, or changes a discretionary government program or an entitlement. It specifies program goals and maximum expenditures for discretionary programs.

 Appropriations bill

An act of Congress that actually funds programs within limits established by authorization bills. Usually cover one year.

Mandatory spending

spending determined by pre-determined laws or regulations. It cannot be changed without an act of Congress;

Discretionary Spending

spending that is subject to the appropriations process, whereby Congress sets a new funding level each fiscal year. (subject to change every year).

Uncontrollable expenditures

Government spending on mandatory programs (often called entitlement programs), and net interest on the public debt

entitlements

any government-provided or government-managed benefit or service to which some or all individuals are entitled by law

Federal Reserve 

The main instrument for making monetary policy in the United States. It was created by Congress in 1913 to regulate the lending practices of banks and thus the money supply.

 Fiscal Policy

Use of the federal budget - taxes, spending, and borrowing - to influence the economy; determined by Congress and the president.

Monetary policy

Government manipulation of the supply of money in private hands - one of 2 important tools by which the government can attempt to steer the economy.

Internal Revenue Service

A government agency that prescribes the rules and regulations that govern the collection of tax revenues in the United States.

Social Security Act

A 1935 law intended to provide a minimal level of sustenance to older Americans and thus save them from poverty.

Medicare

A program added to the Social Security system in 1965 that provides health insurance for the elderly, covering hospitalization, doctor fees, and other health expenses.

Medicaid

A public assistance program designed to provide healthcare for poor Americans and funded by both the stats and the national government.

Debt Ceiling

A legislative limit on the amount of national debt that can be incurred by the U.S. treasury.

Government Shutdown

occurs when there is a failure to pass a funding legislation to finance the government for its next fiscal year - government closes all nonessential offices

Supply side theory

An economic theory, first applied during the Reagan administration, holding that the key task for fiscal policy is to stimulate the supply of goods, as by cutting tax rates.

Keynesian theory

A theory emphasizing that government spending and deficits can help the economy deal with its ups and downs. Proponents of this theory advocate using the power of government to stimulate the economy when it is lagging.

Free Enterprise

The ability of individual people and businesses to make money with minimal interference by the government.

Bureaucracy

a hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality

Civil service

A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create a nonpartisan government service

Administrative discretion

The authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem. Discretion is greatest when routine, or standard operating procedures, do not fit a case.

 Iron triangles

 consist of interest groups, government agencies, and congressional committees/subcommittees that have mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship; they dominate some areas of domestic policy making

Legislative oversight

Congress’s monitoring of the executive branch bureaucracy and its administration of policy, performed mainly through committee hearings

Merit system/principle

A system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage.

“Red tape”

complex bureaucratic rules and procedures that must be followed to get something done.

Independent executive agencies

The government agencies not accounted for by cabinet departments. Their administrators are appointed by the president and serve at the president’s pleasure.

Independent regulatory agencies

A government agency with responsibility for making and enforcing rules to protect the public interest in some sector of the economy and for judging disputes over these rules.

Government corporations

A government organization that, like business corporations, provides a service that could be delivered by the private sector and typically charges for its services.

Pendleton Act

Passed in 1833, an act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage.

Hatch Act

A federal law prohibiting government employees from active participation in partisan politics while on duty or for employees in sensitive positions at any time. 

Spoils System

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.

Patronage

One of the key inducements used by party machines. A job, promotion, or contract is one that is given for political reasons rather than for merit or competence alone. 

Incentive System

An alternative to command-and-control, with market-like strategies such as rewards used to manage public policy.

Policy Implementation

The stage of policymaking between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of the policy for the people affected. Implementation involves translating the goals and objectives of a policy into an operating, ongoing program.

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

used for everyday decision making; enable bureaucrats to bring efficiency and uniformity to the running of complex organizations. Uniformity promotes fairness and makes personnel interchangeable.

Regulation

The use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private sector

Deregulation

The lifting of government restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities.

Command and Control policy/regulation

The typical system of regulation whereby the government tells business how to reach certain goals, checks that these commands are followed, and punishes offenders.

Discretionary power

An agency's ability to decide whether or not to take certain courses of action when implementing existing laws

Rule-making authority

An agency's ability to make rules that affect how programs operate, and to force states and corporations to obey these rules as if they were laws.

Department of Homeland Security

responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the US from terrorist attacks and other disasters

Department of Transportation

Regulates policy development and planning for all forms of transportation.

Department of Veterans Affairs

manages programs for veterans of armed forces - pensions, insurance, etc.

Department of Education

Coordinates federal assistance programs for public and private schools

Environmental Protection Agency

The largest federal independent regulatory agency, created in 1970 to administer much of the US environmental protection policy.

power of the purse

The constitutional power of Congress to raise and spend money.

Compliance Monitoring

Activities undertaken by bureaus to establish whether a process or procedure is carried out by corporations in conformance with relevant external requirements, whether set through legislation, regulations, or directions.