AP U.S. Government Unit 2 Notes: How the Bureaucracy Exercises Power—and How It’s Controlled

Federal bureaucracy

The executive-branch departments, agencies, and commissions that implement and carry out laws passed by Congress.

Delegation (of authority)

When Congress authorizes agencies to fill in details and run programs day to day because modern policy requires expertise and constant updating.

Discretionary authority

The ability of bureaucrats to make choices about how to implement laws (e.g., priorities, enforcement strictness, what counts as compliance, and resource allocation).

Rule-making authority

The power of agencies to create regulations—detailed rules with the force of law—when Congress authorizes them to do so.

Enabling legislation

The statute that creates/authorizes an agency and sets the scope and boundaries of its power.

Top-level administrators

Political appointees and senior career officials who set broad enforcement priorities and interpret ambiguous statutory language.

Street-level bureaucrats

Frontline public workers (e.g., inspectors, caseworkers, law enforcement) who apply rules in real cases and make case-by-case decisions affecting outcomes.

Bounded discretion

The idea that bureaucratic discretion is limited by enabling legislation, internal rules and norms, court decisions, budgets/staffing, and oversight/political pressure.

Regulation

A detailed agency rule that implements a statute and has the force of law within the scope of delegated authority.

Statute

A law passed by Congress through bicameralism and presentment; it can delegate authority to agencies but remains distinct from regulations.

Legislative rule-making

The agency process of creating binding regulations under authority delegated by Congress.

Administrative guidance

Nonbinding (in the same way as regulations) agency documents—such as interpretive rules or policy statements—explaining how the agency understands and intends to enforce the law.

Notice-and-comment

A core formal rule-making procedure where an agency publishes a proposed rule, solicits public input, reviews comments, and then issues a final rule with an explanation.

Bicameralism and presentment

The constitutional requirements that a bill must pass both houses of Congress and be presented to the president; agencies do not use this process to make regulations.

Congressional oversight

Congressional monitoring of agencies (often through hearings, investigations, document requests, and testimony) to gather information and apply political pressure.

Power of the purse (appropriations)

Congress’s ability to increase, decrease, or condition agency funding, thereby shaping what agencies can realistically enforce or prioritize.

Appropriations conditions

Limits or requirements Congress attaches to funding to encourage or deter certain agency enforcement or regulatory actions.

Advice and consent

The Senate’s role in confirming high-level presidential appointees, which can influence the direction of agencies.

Independent regulatory commission

An agency designed (often with multi-member boards and fixed terms) to reduce direct presidential control; its structure is set by Congress.

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

A congressional support agency that audits and evaluates government programs to help Congress oversee the executive branch.

Legislative veto

A mechanism some statutes used to let one chamber reverse an executive/agency action without passing a new law; found unconstitutional.

INS v. Chadha (1983)

Supreme Court case holding the legislative veto unconstitutional because it bypasses bicameralism and presentment.

Executive order

A presidential directive used to coordinate agency actions and set administrative priorities, but it cannot override statutes and is subject to legal limits and court challenges.

Judicial review of agency action

Court review of whether an agency stayed within delegated statutory authority and followed required procedures; courts can invalidate rules or decisions that fail these requirements.

Inspectors general

Internal agency watchdog offices that investigate waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct and produce reports used by Congress, the president, and the public as checks on agencies.