Bureaucracy Notes

The Spoil System

  • The spoil system: if you were a donor to the president, you could get a job.
  • Example: Giving money to the president in exchange for becoming the secretary of agriculture, regardless of knowledge about farming.
  • Phrased by Andrew Johnson: "To the victor goes the spoils."
  • Led to corruption and other issues.
  • Reformed: 90% of federal government employees now have to take an exam.
  • The other 10% must go through the U.S. Senate.
  • The spoil system is essentially getting jobs based on political favors, which has mostly gone away.
  • Example of it still existing: ambassadorships to cushy locations for donors.

Growth of Federal Government

  • Discussion of errors in the growth of the federal government over time.
  • Question: When did the largest increases occur?
  • Question: Do you think we'll ever see a truly huge decrease in the size of the federal government?
  • President Trump tried to reshape the federal government.
  • Roughly 100,000 people have been laid off or have taken buyouts.
  • The largest growth occurred during the Great Depression and World War II (around 1945).
  • FDRFDR and the New Deal led to a huge increase in government programs and cooperative federalism.
  • Private factories converted to war munitions production.

Factors Preventing Decrease

  • Necessary and proper clause and the supremacy clause empower the federal government.
  • Conflict can arise if Congress and the President have different views on federal power.
  • Cuts are happening, but some are being challenged in court.
  • The American people expect too many things from the government to allow for massive decreases.
  • People are unlikely to want to get rid of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Size of Government Employees

  • Government employee numbers may drop, but likely not to historical lows.
  • Estimates suggest a drop to 2.5 or 2 million is possible.

Which Branch Has the Most People Working in the Bureaucracy?

  • The executive branch employs the most people because they need people to enforce laws.

Three Types of Bureaucratic Agencies

  • Cabinet Departments
  • Independent Executive Agencies
  • Independent Regulatory Commissions.
  • Need to understand the three different types and give an example of each.

Cabinet Departments

  • Major unit of bureaucracy created by Congress.
  • Permanent.
  • Headed by a secretary, except for the Attorney General.
  • Started with 3, now 17.
  • Example: Department of Defense.

Independent Executive Agency

  • Like a cabinet department but narrow in focus.
  • Example: CIA, which focuses on spying on foreign threats.
  • Connected to overall defense but with a specific, narrow job.

Independent Regulatory Commissions

  • Regulate some sort of economic activity.
  • Example: Federal Reserve Board that sets interest rates for monetary policy.
  • Meet quarterly and discuss the nation's interest rates and regulating banks.

Agency Examples

  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • National Security Agency (NSA)
  • Treasury Department

EPA

  • Independent regulatory commission that regulates economic activity related to environmental impact.

NSA

  • Independent executive agency that spies on national security.
  • They monitor communications and data.

Treasury Department

  • Cabinet department.
  • Advises the President on economics and economic activity.

Types of Agencies

  • Need to understand the types of agencies
  • Also, know what each one does.
  • It is impossible to know the names and jobs of all agencies.

How Bureaucracy Works

  • Bureaucracy doesn't always work correctly.

Iron Triangle vs. Issue Network

  • Iron Triangle: A stable relationship among an agency, a committee, and a lobbying firm.
  • The Iron triangle involves corrupt behavior that cannot be broken.
  • Once thought to be true, but has been proven wrong.
Example using the FBI, ACLU, and Judiciary Committee:
  • ACLU lobbies the judiciary committee regarding the FBI.
  • Committee passes laws or changes to budgets to appease the interest group.
  • Those outside the triangle cannot affect policy.

Issue Network

  • Issue Network: A loose and informal relationship.
  • More realistic.
  • Democracies are slow and messy.
  • Many entry points for participation: voters, running for office, committee hearings, interest groups, corporations, media, concerned citizens.

Bureaucracy Acting Like the Three Branches

  • Administrative discretion.
  • The Federal Reserve setting interest rates without direct control from Congress or the President.
  • More efficient as these people do not have to run for office.

Acting Like the Executive

  • Making decisions.
  • Appointed instead of elected.
  • Easier to come to agreements.

Acting Like the Congressional

  • They regulate.
  • The EPA making rules such as mandating the use of certain materials in air conditioners or making fuel efficiency standards.

Acting Like the Judicial Branch

  • Administrative adjudication.
  • Settling disputes among contesting parties.
  • Example: patent law, deciding who invented what first.

Bureaucracy Checked by the Three Branches

  • The president checks bureaucracy by:
    • Appointing people.
    • Issuing executive orders.
  • Congress checks bureaucracy by:
    • Conducting investigations.
    • Controlling the budget.
  • The judicial branch checks bureaucracy by:
    • Issuing injunctions (judicial review).
  • Congress has the most checks.