1. 8 The Executive Branch and the Federal Bureaucracy
President Obama and his national security team watch live coverage of the capture of Osama bin Laden.
Rex Features/AP Images

2. What is a Bureaucracy? 8.1 It’s a hierarchical structure
consists of the departments, agencies, and offices within the executive branch
Each department, agency or person performs a very specific function of government
As we'll learn in this section, the size of the federal bureaucracy grew from just a small Cabinet that served President Washington to one that critics often argue is too large, too powerful, too wasteful, and too unaccountable. Many Americans are calling for smaller government, less bureaucracy. Yet many of those same Americans who have a negative opinion about the federal government as a whole are more satisfied with the service they have received from departments or agencies.

3. Roots of the Federal Bureaucracy
8.1
Roots of the Federal Bureaucracy
3 executive departments existed under the article which Washington inherited: Foreign Affairs (State), Treasury & War (Defense).
Congress soon added Office of Attorney General (Justice)
Bureaucracy grew from as demands increased
Jackson promoted postmaster general to cabinet status and filled positions using spoils system
As we'll learn in this section, the size of the federal bureaucracy grew from just a small Cabinet that served President Washington to one that critics often argue is too large, too powerful, too wasteful, and too unaccountable. Many Americans are calling for smaller government, less bureaucracy. Yet many of those same Americans who have a negative opinion about the federal government as a whole are more satisfied with the service they have received from departments or agencies.

4. The Civil War and the Growth of Government
8.1
The Civil War and the Growth of Government
The Civil War left its mark on our country in countless ways. Its impact on the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy is no exception. As the nation geared up for war, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the addition of thousands of new employees to existing departments.
Poor harvests, a casualty of the war, led Lincoln to create the Department of Agriculture in 1862 to ensure enough food was grown to feed the soldiers. Congress also created the Pension Office in 1866 to pay benefits to Union veterans who had fought in the war. These changes set the stage for the addition of future departments and the growth of government.
Civil War changes
Creation of the Department of Agriculture It gained cabinet status years later in 1889 with soil conservation, livestock breeding and planting became important issues
Creation of the Pension Office (for Union vets)
Authorization of thousands more employees
Justice gained cabinet status by 1870
Permanent changes to the bureaucracy

5. From the Spoils System to the Merit System
8.1
From the Spoils System to the Merit System
Over the years the patronage system, in which federal government jobs were given to friends and supporters of successful political candidates, had become the norm. By the time James A. Garfield was president, reformers were calling for changes in the loyalty system, also known as the spoils system.
Garfield's predecessor, Rutherford B. Hayes, had favored the idea of replacing the spoil's system with a merit system, in which federal employment is based on qualifications, test scores, and ability, rather than on loyalty. Congress, however, failed to pass the legislation he proposed. Garfield took up the cause, but was assassinated, ironically, by a frustrated job seeker. Public reaction to Garfield's death led Congress to create the beginnings of the current merit-based civil service system, which now covers 90 percent of federal employees.
Patronage system (spoils system)
Federal jobs given to loyal supporters
Merit system
Jobs given according to ability
Favoured by Rutherford B. Hayes though changes failed to materialize
Garfield (1880), was killed by a job seeker, said his days were filled, “with the personal seeking of people.”
His death led to Pendleton Act/Civil Service Reform Act of 1883
Civil Service system
Current system based on merit

6. Regulating Commerce 8.1 Growth of big business Sixteenth Amendment
Unfair business practices like price fixing led to…
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1887 which became the first…
Independent Regulatory Commission.
Creation of the ICC marked a shift in the focus of the federal bureaucracy from service to regulation.
Employers refused to recognize the rights of employees so…
President Wilson, in 1913, divided Commerce and Labor creating two departments.
Sixteenth Amendment
Federal income tax – huge infusion of funds to support new agencies
Following the Civil War, the nation experienced tremendous growth. Urbanization and Industrialization led to widespread price fixing and other unfair business practices. In particular, exorbitant freight-hauling fees charged by the railroads led Congress to create the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Progressives began calling for more worker protections and a curbing of the big business monopolies. In 1913, it became apparent that one agency could not represent both employers and employees. So President Woodrow Wilson divided the Department of Commerce and Labor. Congress followed a year later with the creation of the Federal Trade Commission to protect small business from monopolies.
Finally, the Sixteenth Amendment gave Congress the authority to levy a federal income tax, which became a revenue source to fund growth in the bureaucracy.

7. The World Wars and the Growth of Government
8.1
The World Wars and the Growth of Government
The stock market crash of 1929 and the resulting Great Depression called for government action. President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with a series of programs and agencies that regulated business practices and other aspects of the national economy.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor launched the U.S. into World War II, and jobs were created to support the war effort. Tax rates went up to pay for the new federal agencies and programs needed during the war, and those rates never went back down. The revenues were used after the war to expand the federal bureaucracy even more to support veterans with schooling under the GI Bill and housing.
Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society, with its focus on creating equal opportunity through the recognition of civil rights and reduction of poverty, created even more government programs.
Franklin D. Roosevelt ( )
Social programs during Depression
World War II veterans benefits
G.I. Bill provided college loans
Housing by reducing mortgage rates
Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Housing and Urban Development
Transportation

8. 8.1 FIGURE 8.1 How many employees work in
the federal executive branch?
The size of the federal executive branch has fluctuated with the needs of the nation. The line graph above tracks these changes from the country’s creation to the twenty-first century. Notice the overall growth marked by periods of decline.
Source: Office of Personnel Management,

9. Formal Organization 8.2 Cabinet departments
15 major administrative units responsible for broad areas of government operations
Independent executive agencies
Have narrower areas of responsibility. These agencies
typically perform services rather than regulatory functions.
NASA and the EPA are examples
Independent regulatory commissions
Exist outside major departments and regulate a specific
economic interest or activity. FCC, NLRB, OSHA, SEC
Government corporations
Businesses that charge a fee for services. USPS, Amtrak
Today, the federal government consists of four different types of organizations: Cabinet departments, independent executive agencies, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations.
Cabinet departments generally are large organizations responsible for a broad section of policy such as education, national defense, and transportation. About 60 percent of the federal workforce are employed in these departments.
Independent executive agencies tend to have narrower responsibilities for a specific policy area, such as the environment.
There are also independent regulatory commissions, which are not under the control of the president or a department. They have a specific policy mission, such as regulating nuclear power, and their members are drawn from both political parties and are appointed in staggered terms over the course of more than one administration.
Government corporations, like the U.S. Postal Service, have independent boards and are supposed to be run like a business.

10. How the Bureaucracy Works Making Policy:
8.3
How the Bureaucracy Works Making Policy:
Administrative Discretion – the ability of bureaucrats to make choices concerning the best way to implement congressional, executive intentions or policies
Rule making
Quasi-legislative process
Regulations have force of law.
Administrative adjudication
Quasi-judicial process in which agencies settle disputes between two parties
German sociologist Max Weber believed bureaucracies were rational ways for complex societies to organize themselves. Such bureaucracies would include a chain of command, division of labor, clear lines of authority, a goal orientation that helped shape the organization's structure, impersonality, in which all employees are treated fairly, and productivity. This is the ideal, of course, but government agencies do try to work this way.
Congress creates the departments and agencies of the bureaucracies, and give them broad guidelines, because it cannot be involved in every detail of government. How agencies carry out Congressional wishes is called implementation.
The relationships and interaction among federal agency workers, interest groups, and key congressional committee staffers has been called the iron triangle of implementation. More recently the complexity of those relationships has changed and they are now called iron networks.
Activity: Ask students if they feel that federal spending provides assistance and services to the greatest number of citizens, across the greatest possible spectrum. Why or why not?
Then ask them to consider the services provided by the government. Which do they think the government should not provide? Why? How would such services be provided instead? How would Weber approach the topic of bureaucracy? Why did he view bureaucracy so positively?

11. 8.3 FIGURE 8.4 What constitutes an iron triangle?
Iron triangles are the relatively stable relationships formed between bureaucratic agencies, congressional committees, and interest groups. Cooperation between these three policy actors may make policymaking in some issue areas, such as veterans' affairs, an insular process confined to a small clientele.

12. 8.4 Table 8.3 How are agencies made accountable?
This table provides an overview of how authority and control are divided among the three branches.

13. Executive Control 8.4 Power to Appoint Delegating Powers
Given the growth in the size of the federal government over the last half-century, presidents have delegated more and more power to the bureaucrats. But that delegation has come with its own challenges. Sometimes, those agencies don't always seem to hear even the words of the highest authority: President John F. Kennedy once complained that to give a directive to the Department of State was like putting the directive in a dead-letter box. Nothing would happen. So presidents have learned how important it is to appoint the right person to head up an agency.
Presidents can also reorganize aspects of agencies, with congressional approval. Finally, presidents can issue executive orders, which direct agencies to follow certain rules or regulations. Such executive orders have the force of law.
Power to Appoint
Delegating Powers
Challenges with agency responsiveness
Reorganizing the Bureaucracy
Needs Congressional approval
Executive Orders
Directions to agencies that have the force of law

14. Congressional Control
8.4
Congressional Control
Congress checks the power of the federal bureaucracy in several important ways. It must confirm the president's nominees for key government bureaucracy posts. Congress also has oversight power and can investigate when it suspects an agency has not implemented its laws properly. Finally, it controls the money by authorizing agencies to spend revenues and then determining a specific allocation of funds to be spent.
To help Congress oversee the bureaucracy's financial affairs, Congress created the General Accounting Office in That office is now known as the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Confirms president's picks for agency heads
Can approve or reject
Oversight and Investigations
Proactive or reactive
Power of the purse
Controls the budget

15. Judicial Control 8.4 Injunctions or orders Requires due process
Compared to the executive and legislative oversight of the bureaucracy, judicial oversight is more subtle but no less important. Federal judges can issue injunctions or orders to a federal bureaucracy even before a rule has been publicized. Due process must be granted to individuals who are affected by rules and regulations. Finally, specialized courts have developed expertise in certain policy areas and are less likely to simply take an agency's word in a case. One such court is the Court of International Trade.
Injunctions or orders
Even before a rule is publicized
Requires due process
Individuals can litigate.
Specialized courts
Have expertise in certain issues