Defining the Federal Bureaucracy
• How is the Federal Government Organized?
Four types of organizational entities:
Departments
Independent agencies
Independent regulatory commissions
Government corporations
• How Did the Bureaucracy Evolve?
The Framers believed that the bureaucracy
would be relatively small and left most of
the details up to the President and
Congress
Defining the Federal Bureaucracy
• Originally meant fast, effective, and rational
administration
• Over time, has come to mean a large, inefficient
organization clogged with red tape
• Problems
– Today’s jobs are too complex to be divided into
specialized pieces
– Too many leaders at the top creates confusion among
lower-level bureaucrats
– Rules are almost impossible to enforce within a very
large workforce
– Duplication and overlap between units creates
confusion
Leading the Federal Bureaucracy
• About 3,000 presidential appointees head federal
departments and agencies
– 600 subject to Senate confirmation
– 2,400 serve entirely “at the pleasure of the
president”
Becoming a Presidential Appointee
• Selection by White House Presidential
Personnel Office
• White House clearance
• Submission of name to Senate
• Senate review
The Senior Executive Service
• About 7,000 members
– About 6,400 career executives
– About 600 political executives
• Along with the president’s political appointees,
help run federal departments and agencies
The Civil Service
• Federal employees who work for government
through a competitive, not political, selection
process
• Spoils system
• Merit system
– Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
– Merit System Protection Board
Defining the Federal Bureaucracy
• Who Leads the Bureaucracy?
Independent Establishments and
Government Corporations
How the Federal Government is
Organized: Departments
• State (1789)
• Treasury (1789)
• Defense (1947; formerly the
War Department, created in
1789, and the Navy
Department, created in
1798)
• Justice (1789)
• Interior (1849)
• Agriculture (1889)
• Commerce (1913)
• Labor (1913)
• Health and Human Services
(1953 as Health, Education,
and Welfare; reorganized
with Education as a
separate department in
1979)
• Housing and Urban
Development (1965)
• Transportation (1966)
• Energy (1977)
• Education (1979)
• Veterans Affairs (1989)
• Homeland Security (2002)
Leading the Bureaucracy: Becoming a
Presidential Appointee
Federal Agencies and Their Employees
A Profile of Bureaucracy: Government
Employment - Federal, State, & Local
The Face of the Federal Work Force
Working for Government - Civil Service Realities
Myths About Government
• Only about 15 percent of career civilian employees work in
Washington, D.C.
• More than 25 percent work in a defense agency
• 30 percent work for the U.S. Postal Service
• Fewer than 10 percent work for the Social Security
Administration and the Medicare program
• Almost half of federal employees work in the departments
of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and State
• Most workers are white-collar employees
• Federal civil servants “look” more like regular Americans
than do political appointees or members of Congress
Working for Government - Civil Service Realities
Regulating the Civil Service
• The 1939 Hatch Act - Federal statute barring federal
employees from active participation in certain kinds of
politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan
grounds
• 1993 Overhaul
The Role of Government
Employee Unions
Since 1962, federal civilian
employees have had the
right to form unions
About one-third currently
belong to a union
“I’m sorry, dear, but you knew I was a
bureaucrat when you married me.”
Comparative Perspective: Relative Size of Civil Service
Employment and Overall Public Sector Compensation
Nation
Australia
Canada
France
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States
National Government
Employment as a Percentage
of Total Employment
15%
19
25
15
31
14
13
National Government
Salaries as a Percentage
of Gross Domestic Product
8%
19
13
12
16
11
8
SOURCE: Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, 2000, at www.
oecd.org/publications/figures/e_36-37_public_sector.pdf. Data are for 1996-1997.
The Bureaucracy’s Job
•Implementation
•Administrative discretion
•Making Regulations
• All proposed rules must be published in the
Federal Register
• “Notice and Comment” period
• Hearings and testimony (optional)
• Publication and enforcement
• Judicial review
•Spending money
• Uncontrollable spending
• Entitlement program
The Bureaucracy’s Job
•Controlling Spending
•Bureaucratic Budget
Strategies
• Spend it all
• Ask for more
• Put vital programs on
the ‘base’
• Make new programs
appear “incremental”
• Give them something
to cut
• Make cuts hurt
Holding the Bureaucracy Accountable
•Accountability to the three branches
Formal and Informal
Lines of
Communication
Within the Executive
Branch
Holding the Bureaucracy Accountable
•Accountability Through Oversight
All three branches of government have the
power to subject the bureaucracy to oversight
and accountability
•The Problem of Self-Regulation
Does the Bureaucracy Work?
• Bad execution
•
•
•
•
Taxpayer abuse by the IRS
Security breaches
Hurricane Katrina sluggish response
Gulf of Mexico oil spill
We may complain about red tape and waste in
Washington, but we also recognize that our federal
bureaucracy continues to make progress in solving
very difficult problems.
The term “bureaucracy” originally
referred to
a. the cloth covering the flat writing tables of
the French government.
b. the top to bottom ordering of Russian
government officials.
c. a person's clothing bureau with specific
drawers.
d. a selective method of hierarchical hiring.
Which of the following is NOT part of the
four-step process for a presidential
appointee before being sworn into
office?
a. selection as a candidate
b. White House clearance
c. approval by the American Bar
Association
d. Senate confirmation
Measured by the total number of
employees, this department is by far the
largest department.
a. Interior
b. Defense
c. Commerce
d. State
The number of cabinet-level
departments is
a. eight.
b. ten.
c. fifteen.
d. sixteen.
An example of an independent agency
is the
a. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC).
b. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC).
c. National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA).
d. National Labor Relations Board.
Which of the following is NOT a
government corporation?
a. Corporation for Public Broadcasting
b. U.S. Postal Service
c. Amtrak
d. American Airlines
Oversight happens in the federal
government through the ________.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Office of Management and Budget
Congressional Budgeting Office
General Accounting Office
All of the above
Which event(s) led to Americans NOT
trusting the federal bureaucracy?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Hurricane Katrina response
War in Iraq miscalculations
Gulf of Mexico oil spill
All of the above