AP Gov Bureaucracy QUEST 2.12-2.15

AP Gov 2.12-2.15 Study Guide

The Bureaucracy

Key Terms:

2.12: The Bureaucracy

1. Bureaucracy: An administrative group of nonelected officials charged with implementing policies created by the other branches of government.

2. Civil Service Commission: Civil service is the permanent, professional branches of government administration. The civil service is nonpartisan and its employees are hired and promoted based on merit rather than patronage.The Civil Service Commission was established by the Pendleton Act and it operated until the 1978 reforms replaced it with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

3. Civil Service Reform Act (1978): Carter administration law, altered how a bureaucrat is dismissed, limited preferences for veterans in hopes of balancing the genders in federal employment and put upper-level appointments back into the president’s hands. It also promoted merit and performance among bureaucrats while giving the president more power to move those not performing their jobs successfully.

4. Compliance Monitoring: This is a key aspect of enforcement; it means making sure that the firms and companies that are subject to industry regulations are following those standards and provisions (See 2.14 for more)

5. Iron Triangle: A longstanding, mutually-beneficial relationship between an interest group, congressional committee, and bureaucratic agency devoted to similar issues. For example, the American Association of Retired Persons, the Congressional Subcommittee on Aging, and the Social Security Administration all work closely on issues related to seniors.

6. Issue Networks: A group of individuals, public officials, and interest groups that form around a particular issue, usually a proposed public policy that they wish to support or defeat.

7. Merit System: In the federal bureaucracy, the practice of hiring and promoting individuals based on their qualifications and job performance.

8. National Performance Review (1993): This became Clinton’s key document in assessing the federal bureaucracy. The review was organized to identify problems and offer solutions and ideas for government savings. The group focused on diminishing the paperwork burden and placing more discretionary responsibility with the agencies. The report made almost 400 recommendations designed to cut inefficiency, put customers first, empower employees, and produce better and less-expensive government. The findings? The federal government was operating as an industrial-era structure in the information age; the bureaucracy had become so inundated with rules and procedures that it could not perform the way Congress had intended.

9. Office of Personnel Management: The OPM runs the merit system and coordinates the federal application process for jobs and hiring. The OPM’s goals include promoting the ideals of public service, finding the best people for federal jobs, and preserving merit system principles. Many of the larger, more established agencies do their own hiring.

10. Patronage: In the federal bureaucracy, the practice of hiring and promoting individuals based on their political support for a party or candidate rather than on their merit. Also called the spoils system.

11. Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883): Extreme cases of patronage were brought to light after Garfield’s assassination. Congress passed this act in 1883 to prevent the constant reward to loyal party members. This law ultimately created the merit system, which included competitive, written exams for many job applicants. It also created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission to oversee the process and prevent officials from requiring federal employees to contribute to political campaigns.

12. Spoils System: type of patronage system made popular by Andrew Jackson; Congressmen began recommending fellow party members, and senators - with advice and consent power - asserted their influence on the process; presidents appointed regional and local postmasters in the many branch offices across the nation expecting loyalty in return. This made the US Post Office one of the main agencies to run party machinery.

2.13: Discretionary and Rule-Making Authority

1. Administrative Procedures Act (1946)

2. Code of Federal Regulations

3. Department of Education: Administering educational policies to the states and promoting research on education.

4. Delegated discretionary authority

5. Department of Homeland Security: Protecting the United States from terrorist attacks, controlling borders, and minimizing damage from natural disasters.

6. Department of Transportation: Managing highways, rails, and air travel.

7. Discretionary Authority: An agency’s ability to decide whether or not to take certain courses of action when implementing existing laws.

8. Environmental Protection Agency: Protecting human health and the environment by developing and enforcing regulations.

9. Federal Election Commission: Administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law.

10. Federal Register

11. Independent regulatory agencies

12. Notice-and-comment opportunity

13. Rulemaking 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.

14. Department of Veterans Affairs: Promoting the welfare of armed services veterans and managing VA hospitals.

Securities and Exchange Commission: Regulating the stock market and protecting investors from fraud.
2.14

Holding the Bureaucracy Accountable

• Appropriations: The allocation of funds by Congress to various government agencies, allowing them to carry out their functions and programs.

• Authorization of Spending: Legislation that gives federal agencies the ability to spend money on specific programs or policies.

• Compliance Monitoring: The process of ensuring that government regulations and standards are being followed by individuals and organizations.

• Congressional Oversight: The review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, and policy implementation by Congress to ensure they are functioning correctly and efficiently.

• Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA): Oversees the implementation of government-wide regulations and assesses federal agencies' regulatory actions.

• Power of the Purse: The ability of Congress to control government spending and allocate funds, which serves as a significant check on the executive branch.

Policy and the Branches of Government

• Administrative Procedures Act (1946): A law that governs the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations, including providing for public participation through notice-and-comment rulemaking.

• Legislative Veto: A provision that allows Congress to reject actions or regulations made by executive agencies, although its constitutionality has been questioned.

• Whistleblower Protection Act (1989): A law designed to protect federal whistleblowers who disclose information about wrongdoing within the government, ensuring they do not face retaliation for their actions.