American Government: Stories of a Nation (Presidential Election Update) - Chapter 7

• federal bureaucracy

  • the departments and agencies within the executive branch that carry out the laws of the nation

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  • an agency housed within the Public Health Service, which itself is housed in the Department of Health and Human Services

• bureaucrat

  • an official employed within a government bureaucracy

• political patronage

  • filling of administrative positions as a reward for support, rather than merit

• Pendleton Act

  • an act of Congress that created the first United States Civil Service Commission to draw up and enforce rules on hiring, promotion, and tenure of office within the civil service (also known as Civil Service Reform Act of 1883)

• federal civil service

  • the merit-based bureaucracy, excluding the armed forces and political appointments

• merit system

  • a system of hiring and promotion based on competitive testing results, education, and other qualifications rather than politics and personal connections

  • significance: hires competent experts to run the government more effectively than people whose qualifications don’t fit the job description

• iron triangle

  • coordinated and mutually beneficial activities of the bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups to achieve shared policy goals

• issue network

  • webs of influence between interest groups, policymakers, and policy advocates - involve more interests than iron triangles and often address a specific problems

  • example: web of public health interest groups against smoking

• policy agenda

  • the set of issues on which policymakers focus their attention

• implementation

  • the bureaucracy’s role in putting into action the laws that Congress has passed

• bureaucratic discretion

  • the power to decide how a law is implemented and to decide what Congress meant when it passed the law

• regulation

  • the process through which the federal bureaucracy makes rules that have the force of law, to carry out the laws passed by Congress

• independent regulatory commissions

  • independent agencies who are politically appointed but whose set terms are supposed to insulate them from direct political influence

  • example: Interstate Commerce Commission, Federal Communications Commission

• Hatch Act

  • restricts political activities by federal workers with exceptions for the highest-level political appointees

• bureaucratic adjudication

  • when the federal bureaucracy settles disputes between parties that arise over the implementation of federal laws or determines which individuals or groups are covered under a regulation or program

• Government Accountability Office (GAO)

  • a bureaucratic office to keep tabs on executive branch implementation

  • through its oversight functions, Congress checks on how executive agencies are exercising their authority and whether they are spending the funds appropriated to them wisely

• congressional oversight

  • how Congress influences what happens when agencies are up and running; includes conducting hearings or requiring information from agencies

  • example: Hurricane Katrina oversight and investigation into preparedness and response

Concepts:

• The main tasks of the executive branch departments that make up the cabinet

  • Advise the president on specific issues relating to their cabinet department, e.g. department of interior could advise on a national parks-related issue

• Ways that career civil servants are independent of presidential control

  • hired, not appointed

  • Independent judgment - some in the bureaucracy work for independent agencies

• Methods used by presidents, Congress and federal courts to control federal agencies

  • President - has formal control, appoints agency heads, signs executive orders that agencies must follow

  • Congress - oversight

  • Federal courts - judicial decisions that can restrict agency actions

• How federalism can impact policy implementation

  • Different portions of the federalist government have to work together to implement policies, which can lead to conflicting views and increased time to enact policies