The Federal Bureaucracy: Independent Agencies

What is an Independent Agency? The term Independent agency can be misleading It DOES NOT necessarily mean that the agency functions independent of presidential or congressional oversight The term Independent simply means that it is independent from the executive (or cabinet) departments There are three types of independent agencies: Independent Executive Agencies Government Corporations Independent Regulatory Commissions

Why do we have Independent agencies? There are many reasons why why the Independent agencies are independent but most of them are independent for one of these three reasons. 1. Congress wanted to make sure that these agencies stayed safeguarded from political pressures the president could wield over them if they were part of his Cabinet. The Federal Election Committee is a prime example 2. The agencies purpose was so different from that of the Executive Departments, it simply did not make sense to put it into a Cabinet department. The General Services Administration is one such agency 3. The agencies duties are too sensitive or top-secret to be a part of a cabinet The regulatory commissions as well as the CIA would fall into this category

Common Independent executive agencies The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Peace Corps Independent executive agencies function exactly the same as Cabinet departments

Government Corporations A government owned for-profit corporation within the executive branch, set up by congress, to carry out business-like activities There about 50 Federal government corporations, including the United States Postal Service (USPS) and AMTRAK Government Corporations often provide services that are absolutely necessary like mail courier service, transportation, or electricity production

Independent Regulatory Commissions Independent agencies created by Congress to regulate important American industries. Unlike most other independent executive agencies, the Independent Regulatory Commissions are mostly independent from Presidential authority. There are a total of 11 IRCs IRCs are quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial Meaning they make the rules (quasi-legislative), enforce the rules (executive), and determine if the rules have been broken and what the punishment should be (quasi-executive)

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Licenses and regulates the use of nuclear energy to protect public health, safety, and environment. Sets the rules and standards for nuclear reactors.

Federal Reserve Central Bank of the United States Regulates nations money supply, influences availability of credit, and supervises banking supply Successor to the Bank of the United States (You know that thing that Alexander Hamilton fought so hard to get, Thomas Jefferson hated, and Andrew Jackson ultimately destroyed) Often called “The FED” Although technically part a government entity, the Federal Reserve has almost no federal oversight Janet Yellen