1. U3C7:The Executive Branch at Work
Civics

2. Essential Question
What are the functions of the executive departments and independent agencies?

3. The Federal Bureaucracy
What is a bureaucracy? Any organization having: a clear formal structure, a division of labor, and a set of rules and procedures by which it operates.
Executive Branch consists of 15 executive departments as well as independent executive agencies, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations

4. The Federal Bureaucracy
Executive Departments
(15)
Independent Executive Agencies
(Example: EPA)
Independent Regulatory Commissions (Example: Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
Government Corporations (Example: Amtrak)

5. Executive Departments and Independent Agencies
Executive departments and independent agencies provide key services and regulate important industries for the American people.
Executive dept.: Dept. of Veteran Affairs: assist disabled veterans, help veterans returning from military service transition back to civilian life, honor veterans in life and memorialize them in death.
Independent exec. agencies: Peace Corps, 1961, Kennedy: “ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country

6. Independent Agencies
1. Executive agencies manage an aspect of government
2. Regulatory commissions regulate some aspect of the economy
3. Government corporations are run like businesses but are owned by the government.
Executive Departments
Major units of administration and policy making
Each department oversees a broad area of government responsibility
Congress creates new departments to meet new needs

7. Financing Government
By collecting taxes and borrowing money, the federal government is able to generate the funds it needs to run the nation. The government then assigns these funds to create a federal budget for the upcoming year.

8. Includes taxes, fees, and other nontax sources Spending
Financing Government Go
Government Revenue
Includes taxes, fees, and other nontax sources
Spending
Is either discretionary or mandatory
The Federal Budget
Reflects national priorities and compromise among the three branches
Government
Sets fiscal policy with federal budget and tax laws, sets monetary policy by altering money supply and interest rates