Chapter 9 Review

THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY

• Bureaucracies split up the executive duties of the government. For instance, the Department of Defense manages war-related issues while the Department of the Treasury keeps track of our debt.

• In the 1880s, the bureaucracy was small—composed of a mere three departments. Back then, employees of these departments (also known as bureaucrats) were chosen by elected officials as political favors in a scheme known as the spoils system.

• However, President Garfield changed this by pushing for the Pendleton Act which required public officials to pass exams in order to be hired. This gave birth to a new system known as the merit system.

WHAT’S A BUREAUCRACY?

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Any branch of the Federal

Bureaucracy can be

divided into one of four categories:

POWER SPLITTING

A cabinet department

Independent

regulatory agency

Government corporation

Independent regulatory

commission

In the 1930s, people became worried about the effect government workers could have on elections. So in 1939 the Hatch Act was passed which barred all government workers (from Post Office employees to bureaucrats in the White House) from participating in political campaigns.

It wasn’t until 1993 that the Federal Employees Activities Act lifted these restrictions. Today, federal employees are only prohibited from campaigning while on the job.

GOVERNMENT WORKERS

• There are fifteen cabinet departments. • Examples: Department of the State, Department of the

Treasury, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, Department, Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Homeland Security.

CABINET DEPARTMENTS

Government corporations (as the name implies) are businesses established by the federal government. They function as any private business would, only their revenue goes on to fund other areas of the government. Government corporations are usually made in response to a failing or much needed sector of the economy. For instance, Amtrak was created in response to the “sustained decline of private passenger rail services in the United States from about 1920 to 1970”.” Other examples of government corporations include, FDIC and the Tennessee Valley Authority or TVA.

GOVERNMENT CORPORATIONS

Independent executive agencies are much like cabinets but have a narrower focus and usually provide services instead of regulatory functions. Examples include the Central Intelligence Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency. NASA used to be an independent executive agency until it was privatized in 2011.

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE AGENCIES

These commissions were created by Congress to exist outside of the Cabinets to regulate specific aspects of the economy. These commissions include The Federal Reserve, The National Reserve Relations Board, and the Federal Communications Commission.

INDEPENDENT REGULATORY COMMISSIONS

•Advertising regulation•Bank regulation•Consumer protection•Cyber-security regulation•Financial regulation•Food safety and food security•Noise regulation•Nuclear safety•Minerals

•Occupational safety and health•Public health•Regulation and monitoring of pollution•Regulation of acupuncture•Regulation of nanotechnology•Regulation of sport•Regulation of therapeutic goods•Regulation through litigation

•Telecommunication•Vehicle regulation•Regulation of ship pollution in the United States•Regulation and prevalence of homeopathy•Regulation of science•Wage regulation

Areas

To understand how bureaucracies function in context, here’s an iron triangle. The iron triangle displays the relationship between Congress, Bureaucracies, and Interest Groups. Bureaucracies are supported by the money allotted to them by Congress, Interest Group lobbyists. In turn, the bureaucracies support lobbyists through favors and Congress by executing their policies.

THE IRON TRIANGLE