A Service Role

• 1861-1901 many new agencies created

  • 200,000 employees added, half in the Post Office

  • Pension Office paid Civil War veterans

  • Dept of Agriculture (1862) helped fArmers

  • Dept of Labor (1992) served workers

  • Dept of Commerce (1903) helped businesspeople

  • role primarily to serve not regulate

    • research, statistics, dispensed federal lands, or gave benefits

    • Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC - 1887) gov began to regulate economy

    • Constitution - limited gov, states’ rights, fear of concentrated discretionary power

      • laissez-faire economy

      • regulatory agency could not make rules on its own; it could only apply the standards enacted by Congress

        • restrictions set aside in wartime

          • more civilian government employees in wartime

A Change in Role

• largely a product of Great Depression (+New Deal) and WWII

  • changes in public attitudes and in constitutional interpretation

  • gov played role in dealing with socioeconomic problems

  • WWII - heavy use of federal income taxes to finance activities

    • social programs, mililtary prepardness

    • financial boom for gov't

• 9/11 changed bureaucracy - Dept of Homeland Security

  • director of national intelligence centralized work of >70 agencies authorized to spend money on counterterrorist activities

15.3 The Federal Bureaucracy Today

• presidents do not want to admit they increase bureaucracy size

  • point out that number of civilians working for gov has not increased significantly

    • many work indirectly for Washington at firms/state/local agencies that are supported by federal funds

  • most bureaucrats live outside the capital

• power of bureaucracy depends on extent to which appointed officials have discretionary authority: the extent to which appointed bureaucrats can choose courses of action and make policies not spelled out in advance by laws

  • delegated substantial authority to agencies in three areas:

    • paying subsidies to particular groups and organizations in society (farmers, veterans, scientists, schools, hospitals)

    • transferring money from fed gov to state + local govs

    • devising and enforcing regulations for sectors of society and the economy

    • some are closely monitored by Congress (grants), some are more independent (regulatory programs)

    • delegations of power did not become commonplace until 1930s after Supreme Court declared them constitutional

  • four factors explain officials’ behavior:

    • manner in which they are recruited and rewarded

    • personal attributes (backgrounds and political attitudes)

    • nature of jobs

    • constraints that outside forces impose (political superiors, legislators, interest groups, journalists)

Recruitment and Retention

• civil service system designed to recruit qualified people and retain/promote on performance

  • many appointed officials belong to competitive service: the gov offices to which people are appointed on basis of merit as ascertained by written exam/certain selection criteria

    • Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

    • became decentralized - each agency hires people w/o OPM referral, exams less common

      • old OPM system cumbersome and not relevant to dept needs

      • agencies need more professionally trained employees not ranked on standard exam

      • civil rights groups pressed DC to make racial composition more proportional to national

      • kinds of workers have changed - more white-collar

  • employees hired outside competitive service are part of excepted service

    • not hired by OPM but still nonpartisan hiring, some by agencies

    • 3% are appointed other than/in addition to merit

      • pres appts authorized by statute

      • “Schedule C” appts to jobs described as having “confidential/policy-determining character” below level of cabinet/subcabinet posts

      • noncareer exec assgts give to high-ranking members of competitive civil service/people brought into civil service at high levels - deeply involved in advocacy of pres programs/policymaking

      • more political appointees - widespread pres patronage is hardly unprecedented (every fed job was patronage job in 19th cent)

      • Pendleton Act (1883):: transfer of fed jobs from patronage to merit system

        • public outrage over abuses of spoils system

        • fear that if Dem came to power on wave of antispoils sentiment, existing Republican officials would be fired

        • merit system is more of federal bureaucracy generally w/pres support

• The Buddy System

  • recruitment of civil servants is more complicated and political than laws and rules suggest

    • name-request job: filled by a person whom an agency has already identified

      • head of bureau decides who to hire in advance or someone learns of a job from somebody who already has one

      • agency still sends form to OPM but names person to appoint

  • does not necessarily produce poor employees

    • people known as capable

    • possibility of hiring people whose policy views are congenial to those in office

  • ‘old boys’ network’ among those who move in and out of high-level gov posts

• Firing a Bureaucrat

  • many have jobs that are beyond reach

    • elaborate steps to fire/demote/suspend - must prepare to invest time + effort

      • strategies to bypass/force out civil servants - denying promotions, transferring to undesirable locations, assigning them to meaningless work

      • Civil Service Reform Act (1978): created Senior Executive Service (SES) - 8000 fed managers can be hired, fired, and transferred more easily than civil servants, could get substantial cash bonuses

        • did not work out; higher-ranking pos increased modestly, cash bonuses not important, hardly any member of SES was fired

• Agency’s Point of View

  • policies work to ensure that most bureaucrats have agency point of view

  • most agencies dominated by people who have been in gov service most of their lives and not served in any other agency

    • most top-tier bureaucrats are experts in procedures and policies of agencies; degree of continuity in agency behavior regardless of political party

    • political executive must carefully win support of career subordinates (can sabotage and delay action, withhold information, follow the rule book exactly, or make an “end run” around a superior to mobilize Congress members sympathetic to bureaucrat’s point of view)

Personal Attributes

• social class, education, political beliefs

• civil service as a whole looks like America, but higher-ups are usually middle-aged white men

• more likely to be liberal, trust gov, and vote for Democrats

  • many appointed by presidents share their ideologies

• don’t have extreme positions on policy

• “traditional agencies” are more conservative than “activist agencies”

• policy views reflect type of gov work

Do Bureaucrats Sabotage Their Political Bosses?

• conservative pres + secretaries are concerned - bureaucrats are liberal

• most try to carry out policies of superiors even when they disagree with them when they are cooperative and constructive

• Whistle Blower Protection Act (1989): created Office of Special Counsel - investigate complaints from bureaucrats punished after reporting to Congress about waste, fraud, or abuse in agencies

• carry out strict tasks not influenced by attitudes

  • loose tasks influenced by attitudes

    • performed by professionals - values may influence behavior, extensive training + attitudes

Culture and Careers

• most don’t have a lot of freedom to choose course of action

• culture of the agency - informal understandings among employees as to how to act

  • motivation to work hard but hard to change

Constraints

• more constraints on gov agency than private organization

  • cannot hire, fire, build, or sell w/o going through legal procedures

  • salary determined by statute not market

  • goals + procedures spelled out by Congress

  • general constraints:

    • Administrative Procedure Act (1946): agency must give notice/solicit comments/hold hearings before adopting rule/policy

    • Freedom of Information Act (1966): citizens can inspect gov records except military/trade/intelligence secrets

    • National Environmental Policy Act (1969): agency must issue environ impact statement

    • Privacy Act (1974): gov files about individuals must be confidential

    • Open Meeting Law (1976): agency meetings must be open to public unless certain matters are being discussed

  • Congress rarely gives any job to a single agency

  • Behavior effects

    • gov acts slowly - more constraints, longer it will take

    • gov sometimes acts inconsistently

    • easier to block action than take action

    • lower-ranking employees reluctant to make decisions on their own

    • citizens complain of red tape

    • tends to be clumsy

      • complicated political environment, not incompetence