The Bureaucracy STUDENT WORKSHEET
COMPONENTS OF BUREAUCRACY
1. List keywords describing bureaucracy
2. List three examples of bureaucracies:
3. Who was Max Weber?
4. Who shares the authority over the U.S. bureaucracy?
5. Define Department.
6. Define Administration.
7. Define Commission.
8. Define a Corporation.
9. Define staff agencies.
10. Define Line agencies.
11. Define Civil servants.
12. Define bureaucrat.
13. Who do Federal agencies share their role with?
14. List three Federal agencies that work directly with the public.
15. How large is the U.S. Federal bureaucracy compared to European countries?
16. In terms of the public sector, who is the United States is similar to in the Western
Hemisphere?
17. Which governments are larger than the Federal government?
18. Which branch of government accounts for most of the Federal bureaucratic employment?
19. Compare the federal labor force to the general labor force.
20. What does Congress do for the bureaucracy?
21. What are the three major groups of the Federal bureaucracy?
THE EXECUTIVE BUREAUCRACY

1. What is a restriction on cabinet members in the United States?
2. What is a restriction on cabinet members in England?
3. Who may remove members of the Cabinet?
4. Currently, what is the number of Cabinet departments?
5. List six qualifications for nominating a Cabinet secretary
6. How many votes does a Cabinet member need to be approved by the Senate?
7. What is the role of the President’s Cabinet?
8. How are Cabinet loyalties divided?
9. What are the three main areas that the Department of Agriculture promotes and enacts policy?
10. What are the six areas managed by the Department of Commerce?
11. What is the Department of Defense responsible for?
12. Compare the Department of Education to the other departments.
13. What are the military components of the Department of Energy?
14. What is the goal of Department of Health and Human Services?
15. What is the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security?
16. In one sentence, explain why HUD was founded?
17. What does the Department of the Interior manage?
18. What does the Department of Justice have control over?
19. What is the responsibility of the Attorney General?
20. What does ATF stand for?
21. List three functions of the Department of Labor
22. What does the Department of State manage?
23. What does the Department of Transportation administer?
24. List four roles of the Department of Treasury?

25. What is the role of the Veterans Administration?
26. What is the Executive Office of the President?
27. What is the role of the Office of Budget and Management?
28. What is the role of the Office of National Drug Control Policy?
29. What is the role of the United States Trade Representative?
30. What is the role of the Environmental Protection Agency?
31. What are the three types of independent agencies?
AGENCIES
1. What is a Federal agency?
2. What is internal security?
3. What is external security?
4. What do clientele agencies do?
5. What do revenue agencies do?
6. List two revenue agencies.
7. What did the Taxpayer Bill of Rights III do for the taxpayer?
8. What does the Treasury Department manage?
9. What does the Federal Reserve System control?
10. What do regulatory agencies protect?
11. What term describes the Commodity Credit Corporation?
12. How do welfare agencies serve the public?
13. What is an independent agency?
14. Describe an Independent Executive Agencies
15. What is the U.S. Commission on Civil responsible for?
16. What kind of help does the Peace Corps provide?
17. What do Independent Regulatory Commissions regulate?

18. What is “Quasi-legislative?”
19. What is “Quasi-judicial” power?
20. What does the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulate?
21. What does the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulate the safety of?
22. What kinds of communications does the FCC regulate?
23. What does “Freddie Mac” provide?
24. Why does the government have government corporations?
25. In the past, what kind of bureaucracy was the Post Office?
26. Today, what kind of agency is the Post office?
27. What does the USPA have for non-urgent First Class Mail and outbound U.S. international letters?
28. Who does the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provide funding for?
29. What kind of oversight is given to government contractors?
30. What did FASA do for administrators?
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. What problems did America face after the Civil War?
2. What happened to the economy after the civil war?
3. What new services were offered after the Civil War?
4. How much did the Federal bureaucracy grow after the Civil War?
5. Define the “spoils system.”
6. What was America’s “Gilded Age?”
7. What is political patronage?
8. Who was New York’s most famous political boss?
9. What was the issue between Stalwarts, Mugwumps and Half-Breeds?
10. What is the merit system?
11. What reason was given for the assassination of President Garfield.

12. What did The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 establish?
13. Who has the power to regulate commerce between states?
14. What did the Interstate Commerce Commission regulate?
15. What did the Supreme Court say about regulation/
16. What was Upton Sinclair’s book about?
17. Why was the Hatch Act of 1939 passed?
18. Which President helped pass legislation for the Federal Reserve System?
19. What three events helped develop America’s modern bureaucracy?
20. How did FDR re-open banks?
21. What was FDR’s intention for Social Security?
22. What was The Works Progress Administration accused of?
23. What year did GDP make a turn-around?
24. What was the overall trend for GDP from 1900 until 1940?
25. What agency was created during the New Deal to help Americans buy homes?
26. What did the government increase during WWII?
27. Describe the number of federal employees from 1960 to 2004
28. How was Congress able to obtain income taxes?
29. What is the relationship between government revenue and spending
30. Why was the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 passed?
31. Why did the Supreme Court say that government agencies can not fire employees based on their political party?
32. Why did the Supreme Court rule that a Public Defender can not be fired due to political party affiliation?
33. What is wrong with a state enacting a selective hiring freeze?
34. What did the Hatch Act Reform Amendments of 1993 accomplish?

OVERSIGHT
1. What has Congress continued to do with its authority?
2. What is the role of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)?
3. What is the role of the Merit System Protection Board?
4. What can citizens groups do?
5. What is POGO an example of?
6. How does the media help oversee the bureaucracy?
7. Describe the discretionary authority of appointed officials?
8. In 2007, what were the top three priorities of the Federal budget?
9. What are the powers of appointed officials?
10. What is important about subsidies?
11. What does Grant-in-Aid do?
12. What has been the trend of the National School Lunch Program?
13. Describe who is influenced by FDA regulations?
14. How does Congress control presidential offices and commissions?
15. What do Political Action Committees have?
16. In the example of a congressional voting record, which PACs are unimportant to this representative?
17. Define Lobbyist.
18. Who pays the most for lobbyists?
19. What two steps determine an agency’s budget?
20. What does Authorization legislation determine?
21. What does The House Appropriations Committee do?
22. What is special about Trust Funds?
23. What is the long term problem of most entitlement programs?
24. What power does Congress have over the Cabinet departments and their agencies?

25. Define quid pro quo.
26. Why do Department heads care what members of Congress think?
27. What is the function of the GAO?
28. What is the role of the CRS?
29. What was the Congressional Oversight Committees letter to the FDA about and who did it actually represent?
30. Describe a legislative veto.
31. Why was the legislative veto declared unconstitutional?
32. Why does Congress still use legislative veto?
33. How can administrators influence public policy?
34. What was the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 and how was it limited?
BUREAUCRATS AND AGENCY
1. What positions are in the competitive service?
2. What is a Competitive Examination?
3. What is the Rule of Three in the OPM?
4. How can a Federal position become excepted?
5. What are "Schedule C" employees?
6. What is a name-request job?
7. What is another name for name-request job?
8. Who are Non-career executives?
9. Who has taken advantage of the Senior Executive Service?
10. Who makes up the majority of the Federal workforce?
11. How long does it take for a Federal employee to get tenure?
12. How many days advanced notice must a Federal employee be given before being terminated?
13. What does the EEOC protect?

14. Who may file a charge of discrimination?
15. What kinds of grievances brought by Federal employees does the Merit Systems
Protection board decide?
16. What is the difference in the makeup of the civilian and Federal workforce with regards to veterans?
17. What do federal agencies develop to maintain stability?
18. How are Upper and Middle level bureaucrats representative of the American
Public?
19. Define a loosely structured bureaucracy.
20. Define a routinely structure in bureaucracy.
21. What is a mission statement?
22. Compare activist and traditional agencies.
PROBLEMS AND REFORMS
1. Which agencies does Congress mostly control?
2. Which agencies does the President mostly control?
3. What can create problems for an agency’s autonomy?
4. What is an Iron triangle?
5. Why is the concept of the iron triangle problematic?
6. What is an issue network?
7. List the five bureaucratic pathologies.
8. What is red tape? Why is it a problem and why is it necessary?
9. Why are there conflicts?
10. Define duplication.
11. Define waste.
12. Define imperialism.
13. What is “Bureaucratese?”

14. Describe the policies of the three presidential reform commissions before Reagan.
15. What did the Grace Commission find?
16. What did the National Performance review focus on?
17. What does the GAO say will happen to the Federal Budget?
18. What does the Office of Personnel Management predict will happen to the Federal budget?