Government Notes The Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy A large, complex organization composed of appointed officials.

I. Organization Cabinet Departments 15, headed by secretaries own budget and staff divided into bureaus Independent Regulatory Commissions FBI, NLRB, FCC, FTC, SEC governed by commissioners, 5-10 members appointed by the president designed to be insulated from politics

C. Government Corporations 1 C. Government Corporations 1. provide a service that could be headed by the private sector 2. typically charge for their services 3. example: the U.S. postal service D. Independent Executive Agencies 1. other agencies that are not listed above 2. administrators typically appointed by president 3. 45-50 agencies exist 4. example: GSA, NSF, NASA

II. The Bureaucrats less visible than the president and Congress members. Citizens tend to know less about them Size 1. more growth in state and local government jobs than in federal government jobs 2. federal government jobs 2%of all civilian jobs 3. fewer than 1 in 7 work in D.C.

C. Effective when they work well 1 C. Effective when they work well 1. way to organize people to perform work 2. as effective as private bureaucracies D. Examples 1. deliver mail 2. issue S.S. and student loan checks 3. run national parks 4. zoos 5. missile technologists

III. Getting hired patronage: hiring and promotion based on politics rather than merit or competence 1. working on campaigns 2. having connections 3. making donations 4. a.k.a. the “spoils system” [Jackson said “to the victors belong the spoils”] *Lincoln had malaria and said “send in the office seekers, I finally have something to give them”

B. Ending patronage 1. an office seeker assassinated Garfield 2 B. Ending patronage 1. an office seeker assassinated Garfield 2. Chester A. Arthur passed the Pendleton Civil Service Act in 1883 which created today’s federal service system 3. civil service systems designed to hire and promote based on merit and nonpartisan government service 4. Hatch Act (1939 + 1993) prohibits civil service employees from actively participating in partisan politics while on duty

C. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is in charge of hiring for most federal agencies D. pay scale jobs assigned General Schedule Rating GS1-GS18 1. Senior Executive Service GS16-GS18 a. high salaries b. president often moves them from one position to another E. Sometimes president seek more control over federal appointees

F. Name-Request Jobs-some job descriptions are written in ways that make one person more likely to get the job G. Firing a bureaucrat 1. those who are not appointed by the president are difficult to fire

IV. Public Policy Implementation A. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) 1. these standard rules save time 2. Routines are essential but when ineffective become “red tape” B. Administrative Discretion 1. authority to select various responses to a given problem 2. street-level bureaucrats are in constant contact with the public a. ex. Police officers, welfare workers, lower-court judges

B. Fragmentation 1. resources and authority for one problem may be distributed among many bureaucratic units a. 15 agencies and 30 statutes regulate food safety b. eggs in the shell-> FDA; eggs cracked and processed -> USDA; meat and poultry-> USDA other food and seafood -> FDA cheese pizza-> FDA pepperoni pizza->USDA

Children’s Book Project Due Friday, February 15, 2019 Create a Children’s book that explains the Bureaucracy so that a child could understand it. You will be graded on the clearness of explaining Bureaucracy, your creativity, your facts, the book format, and having it complete on time.