The Bureaucracy

The Bureaucracy Bureaucracies are large, complex organizations in which employees have very specific job responsibilities and work within a hierarchy of authority. The employees of the departments, agencies, bureaus, and offices of government are known as bureaucrats. The Bureaucracy is considered part of the Executive Office. The bureaucracy of the federal government is the largest in the United States, employing more that 2.8 million people.

WHO ARE THE BUREAUCRATS? The Spoils System is the practice of winning candidates’ rewarding their supporters with government jobs. Made famous by President Andrew Jackson and based on the saying “to the victor the spoils of the enemy.” In the 19th century, nearly every federal job was a patronage job. President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, replaced nearly 40,000 Republican postal employees with Democrats. The Pendleton Act of 1883 was legislation to replace the patronage, or spoils system, with the merit system. The Civil Service is a system or method of appointing government employees on the basis of competitive examinations, rather than by political patronage. The Merit System is a system or policy whereby people are promoted or rewarded on the basis of ability or achievement rather than because of seniority, quotas, patronage or the like.

Bureaus and bureaucrats Departments, Independent Agencies (NASA, SBA,) Government Corporations (TVA, USPS, AMTRAK,) Independent Regulatory Agencies (SEC, FRB) Civil Service; Presidents appoint fewer than 1% of all executive branch positions The primary function of the bureaucracy is policy implementation and policymaking.

Cabinet Departments Department of State http://www.state.gov   Department of the Treasury http://www.treasury.gov   Department of Defense http://www.defenselink.mil   Department of Justice http://www.usdoj.gov   Department of the Interior http://www.doi.gov   Department of Agriculture http://www.usda.gov   Department of Commerce http://www.commerce.gov   Department of Labor http://www.dol.gov   Department of Health and Human Services http://www.hhs.gov Department of Housing and Urban Development http://www.hud.gov Department of Transportation http://www.dot.gov Department of Energy http://www.energy.gov Department of Education http://www.ed.gov Department of Veterans Affairs http://www.va.gov Department of Homeland Security http://www.dhs.gov

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

reasons for growth of the Bureaucracy Science and Technology Business Regulation Social Welfare Ambitious Administrators

Influences on the federal bureaucracy Executive Influence Congressional influences Iron triangles Issue networks The Media