Unit 4 Federal Bureaucracy Reading Vocabulary - AP US Gov. & Politics

Bureaucracy

The vast, hierarchical organization of executive branch employees that take care of the federal government’s business.

Civil Service Commission

Created to oversee the process of appointing people to federal jobs and prevented officials from requiring federal employees to contribute to political campaigns. Created by the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883.

Civil Service Reform Act of 1978

Altered how a bureaucrat is dismissed, limited preferences for veterans in hopes of balancing the genders in federal employment, put upper-level appointments back into the president’s hand, and promoted merit and performance among bureaucrats while giving the president the power to move those not performing their jobs successfully away from office.

Compliance Monitoring

Making sure the firms and companies that are subject to industry regulations are following those standards and provisions.

Iron Triangle

The relationships between an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group that’s interdependent relationship is so strong.

Issue Networks

Committee staffers, academics, advocates, leader of think tanks, interest groups, and/or the media who are experts and stakeholders and who are also sometimes at odds with each other on issues not related to the issue they are addressing, will temporarily collaborate to create specific policy on one issue.

Merit System

A more fair system that included competitive, written exams for many job applicants to bureaucratic positions. Created by the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883.

National Performance Review

President Clinton’s key document in assessing the Federal Bureaucracy. Organized to identify problems and offer solutions ad ides for government savings Focused on diminishing the paperwork burden and placing more discretionary responsibility with the agencies. It made 400 recommendations design to cut inefficiency, put customers first, empower employees, and produce better and less expensive governments.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Replaced the Civil Service Commission that operated until 1978. Preserves the merit system principles. Runs the merit system and coordinates the federal application process for jobs and hiring and promotes ideas of public series and finding the best people for federal jobs. Many of the larger and more established agencies do their own hiring.

Patronage

Rewarding loyal party leaders with federal jobs.

Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883

Prevented the constant reward to loyal party members. It created the merit system, and the Civil Service Commission.

Spoils System

A system in the early days of the nation when the bureaucracy became a place of rewarding loyal party leaders with federal jobs which is a practice known as patronage. Presidents of different parties came and went, and the whole bureaucracy would rotate with new strong political members regardless of merit or performance of appointees.

Administrative Procedure Act (1946)

A law that guides agencies in developing their rules and procedures and assures that those citizens and industries affected by a policy can have input into shaping it, providing one of many access points for stakeholders to promote their interests.

Code of Federal Regulations

A final printing of the laws created by executive agencies that cleanly arranges the final regulation or law.

Department of Education

Department for cancelling or lowering student debt.

Delegated Discretionary Authority

Given by Congress to executive departments and agencies, the power to interpret legislations and create rules.

Department of Homeland Security

Department for allowing certain exemptions for immigrants.

Department of Transportation

Department for determining which highway projects get special grants.

Environmental Protection Agency

Agency for intervening in state environmental issues.

Federal Election Commission

Commission for administering and enforcing federal campaign finance laws.

Federal Register

Prints the record of how an agency’s regulation started, how it was developed, and how it ended in its final form.

Independent Regulatory Agencies

Have unique charges from Congress to enforce or regulate industry-specific law, can create industry-specific law, can create industry-specific regulations and issue fines and other punishments, structured with a director and assistants and some are headed by a board or commission led by a person, ad members of those boards have staggered terms so that a president cannot completly replace them with thier own chose appointees.

Notice-And-Comment Opportunity

A step in the rule making process in which proposed rules are published in the Federal Register and made available for debate by the general public.

Department of Veterans Affars

Department for deciding how to administer a health program for veterans.

Securities and Exchange Commission

Commission for determining if financial firms should be disqualified from raising money because of ilegal conduct.