Politics & administration GOVT 2305, Module 14

Bureaucracy and Democracy A challenge of democracy is to make the bureaucracy accountable to the people. How do we make the bureaucracy accountable to the elected officials without the risk that decisions will be made for political reasons?

Role of the president What tools does the president have for influencing the federal bureaucracy?

Presidential Tools The president has the authority to name top administrators, including department secretaries and undersecretaries, agency heads, and regulatory commissioners. Except for members of the independent regulatory commissions, presidents also have the power to dismiss their appointees. The president can use the OMB to evaluate agency performance and screen rules proposed by executive branch agencies. The president can ask Congress to reorganize the bureaucracy and propose agency budgets to Congress.

Role of Congress What tools does Congress have for influencing the federal bureaucracy?

Congressional Tools Congress can . . . abolish an agency, reorganize its structure, change its jurisdiction, cut its budget, audit its expenditures, investigate its performance, refuse to confirm appointees, and overrule its decisions, subject to presidential veto.

Role of interest groups What interest groups care about each of the following? Postal Service? Occupational, Safety, and Health Administration (OSHA)? EPA? Groups lobby bureaucratic agencies. They also lobby Congress to pressure the bureaucracy on their behalf. Sometimes groups file lawsuits to block or reverse an agency's decisions.

BP, the oil company, is associated with what event? Captured agency Critics charge that federal agencies often become captured agencies, that is, agencies that work to benefit the economic interests they regulate rather than serving the public interest. The Gulf oil spill. BP, the oil company, is associated with what event?

Minerals Management Service (MMS) The Minerals Management Service (MMS) was the agency that oversaw offshore drilling before the BP oil spill. A report issued in 2008 found that not only had the agency failed to collect all the royalties owed to the government but that agency executives had accepted gifts from the energy industry, including alcohol and drugs. Several officials were also accused of having sexual relations with energy industry representatives.

Role of bureaucrats Each agency has two sets of administrators—a small group of presidential appointees, typically called political appointees, and a larger group of career civil servants. Nineteen presidential appointees and 284 SES managers lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Five presidential appointees and 20 SES managers head the EEOC.

Bureaucratic Power Bureaucrats form alliances with members of Congress and interest groups.

Bureaucratic skills NASA distributed work on the Space Station to 68 prime contractors and 35 major subcontractors in 22 states, including California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Why did NASA take this approach? The goal was to build support in Congress.

What You Have Learned Why is it a challenge to bring democratic accountability to bureaucracies? What tools does the president have for controlling the bureaucracy? What tools does Congress have for controlling the bureaucracy? What tools do interest groups have for influencing bureaucratic actions? What tools do bureaucrats have for exerting influence?