The Bureaucracy: Controls and Evaluation Who/what controls the bureaucracy? How? What are the limitations of or checks on such controls? What criticisms have been ,made of the bureaucracy and what is their validity?

Controls The following governmental and non-governmental institutions control and/or influence the bureaucracy. For each one, describe/explain the nature of the influence or control and the limitations of such influence or control: The President Congress Interest groups The media The Courts

Presidential Controls Appointment of top level bureaucrats Power to fire top level bureaucrats Power to propose the reorganization of the executive branch Proposal of agency budgets Appointment of Senior Executive Service personnel 9000 senior career officials can be appointed without Senate consent Greater leeway in fifing, transferring,

Checks on Presidential Influence Senate confirmation needed for top personnel President cannot fire the vast majority of bureaucrats Reorganization must go through Congress Agency budgets must go through Congress Senior Executive Service has had little impact on the accountability of the bureaucracy

Congressional Influences Power of the Purse – Congress controls the appropriation of agency budgets Oversight investigations and hearings Can pass laws reorganizing the government (create or abolish agencies and departments) Appointment confirmation Sunset laws that give agencies a limited life and/or require that they justify their existence Rewrite enabling legislation to provide more stringent guidelines and less discretion for agency action

Limits on Congressional Influence Lack of political will to clamp down on the bureaucracy: Members profit politically from the existence of federal programs within their states and districts Easier for Congress to simply pass broadly worded laws and have experts within the bureaucracy fill in the holes Lack of a “legislative veto” Procedure (explained on next slide) declared unconstitutional in INS v. Chadha (1983)

Legislative Veto Explained Assume Congress empowers the EPA to create regulations for the amount of pollutants a power plant can emit Assume further that the regulations are far too stringent for the Republican majority in Congress The “legislative veto” would empower Congress to negate the regulation with a majority vote not subject to a presidential veto Why do you suppose it was declared unconstitutional?

Explanation Congress enabled the agency to act by passing a law which required the president’s signature (or a supermajority overriding a veto) Cancelling a regulation made pursuant to the enabling legislation is the equivalent of passing a new law limiting the agency’s discretion to act Such a new law also requires a president’s signature Accordingly, the legislative veto is an “end run” around the constitutional requirement and therefore not constitutional

Interest Group Influence Lobbying “Revolving door” – many agencies are staffed by people who move back and forth between the public and private sectors The possibility of private sector employment might limit the vigor of regulation Regulated industry as the agency’s “client (sometimes called “agency capture) E.g. Agriculture Department and the dairy industry E.g. FDA and the pharmaceutical industry Agency becomes more invested in helping the industry than regulating it

Interest Group Influence - continued Iron Triangles (subgovernments) a Congressional committee, the relevant agency and a related interest group share the same interests making it hard to reign in the agency or limit a program that the agency administers Issue networks and policy networks Informal groups of people within both the public and private sectors who have common interests in government programs

Media Influence Watchdog function: scrutiny of agency behavior limits agency freedom of action Media’s interest in sponsoring and protecting “whistle blowers” casts negative public attention on the operations of agencies

Judicial Influence Courts may interpret laws and the Constitution to require or forbid certain behavior on the part of government agencies Judicial Remedies: Injunction: an order forbidding a bureaucrat or an agency from taking certain action Writ of mandamus: an order requiring a government official to take some action

Criticisms Following are criticism of the bureaucracy; discuss why you think they exist, what might be a potential remedy, and why remedies are not implemented: Red Tape (the existence of complex rules and procedures that must be followed to get anything done) Agency conflicts (agencies working at cross purposes – e.g. tobacco subsidies and warnings against smoking) Duplication (multiple agencies in charge of the same thing) Imperialism/excessive growth (agencies seem to grow with regard to the benefits of their work or the cost of their programs) Waste (agencies spending more than is reasonable to buy a product or service)

Evaluation Red tape Conflicts and duplication Necessary to insure fairness and impartiality or to establish a standard operating procedure for a large agency To correct red tape would require more regulations – MORE RED TAPE! Conflicts and duplication Results from Congress’ failure to set priorities Members get benefits from creating programs Different constituencies have different goals and priorities; 535 representatives serve many divergent constituencies

Evaluation Imperialism/excessive growth Waste Vague or overly general enabling legislation encourages agencies to take the broadest view possible of their powers Interest groups encourage a broad view of powers The public demands government action Waste Bureaucrats have no financial incentive to keep costs down Red tape increases costs Ironically reducing waste would require more rules and procedures – MORE RED TAPE

Evaluation -2 Read “Bureaucracies Never Die . . .” Consider the questions at the end. Then discuss the following question: Why can’t we get rid of excess bureaucracy?

Evaluation - 3 Read “Bureaucracy and Democracy”. Consider the questions at the end. Then discuss the following question: Are bureaucracies compatible with democracy?