The Executive Branch and
the Federal Bureaucracy
College Government
The Executive Branch and the Federal
Bureaucracy
 Bureaucracy
 A set of complex hierarchical
departments, agencies, commissions,
and their staffs that exist to help a chief
executive officer carry out his or her
duties
 Bureaucracies may be private
organizations of government.
Origins and Growth of the Federal
Bureaucracy
 1789 only three departments under the Articles of
Confederation
 Foreign Affairs, War, and Treasury
 Washington inherited these.
 Head of each called a “secretary”
 Foreign Affairs renamed Department of State
 1816 to 1861 size increased and demands
increased
 Post Office expanded as country grew
 Major source of jobs (spoils system/patronage)
Civil War and the Growth of
Government
 Civil War spawned need for new government
agencies.
 Department of Agriculture (1862)
 Not given Cabinet-level status until 1889
 Pension Office (1866)
 Department of Justice (1870)
 Spoils system
 The firing of public-office holders of a defeated political
party and their replacement with loyalists of the newly
elected party
 Patronage
 Jobs, grants, or other special favors that are given as
rewards to friends and political allies for their support
From the Spoils System to the
Merit System
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Garfield’s presidency
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Besieged by office-seekers (patronage seekers)
Wished to reform the system
Irony: assassinated by a frustrated job seeker
Reaction to Garfield’s death and increasing criticism of the
spoils system was the Civil Service Reform Act in 1883
Also called the Pendleton Act
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Reform measure that created the Civil Service Commission to
administer a partial merit system
The act classified the federal service by grades to which
appointments were made based on the results of a competitive
examination.
It made it illegal for federal political appointees to be required
to contribute to a particular political party.
Civil service system operated to 1978
New version is the merit system
Regulating the Economy
 Growth of big business, price fixing, and other unfair
business practices after the Civil War stimulated
Congress to create the Interstate Commerce
Commission
 First independent regulatory commission
 An agency created by Congress that is generally concerned
with a specific aspect of the economy
 Theodore Roosevelt
 Department of Commerce and Labor
 Woodrow Wilson
 Divided it into two separate departments
 Encouraged Congress to create the Federal Trade
Commission
 16th Amendment
The Modern Bureaucracy
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Who Are Bureaucrats
 2.7 million federal workers
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1/3 in the U.S. Postal Service
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Appointive policy-making positions (cabinet secretaries, for example)Schedule C
Independent Regulatory Commissioners (appointed by the president)
Low-level, non-policy patronage positions
Tests usually for entry-level positions
Mid-level to upper ranges of federal positions do not normally
require tests.
10 percent of federal workforce not covered by civil service.
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Secretarial assistants to policy makers, for example
Many located in Washington, D.C., but many are spread out throughout
the country (decentralized)
Formal Organization
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Cabinet Departments
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Independent Executive Agencies
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Major administrative units with responsibility for a broad area of
government operations
Indicates a permanent national interest
Businesses established by Congress that perform functions that could
be provided by private businesses
Example: Amtrak, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Governmental units that closely resemble a Cabinet department but
have a narrower area of responsibility and are not part of any Cabinet
Department
Example: Central Intelligence Agency
Independent Regulatory Commissions
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Agencies created by Congress to exist outside the major departments
to regulate a specific economic activity or interest
Example: Federal Reserve Board
Government Workers and Political
Involvement
 Hatch Act
 Law enacted in 1939 to prohibit civil servants
from taking activist roles in partisan campaigns
 Could not make political contributions, work for
a political party or campaign for a particular
candidate
 Federal Employees Political Activities Act
 1993 liberalization of the Hatch Act
 Allowed federal employees to run for office in
nonpartisan elections and to contribute money
to campaigns in partisan elections
How the Bureaucracy Works
 Weber
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Chain of command
Division of labor/specialization
Clear lines of authority
Goal orientation
Impersonality
Productivity
How the Bureaucracy Works
 Implementation
 The process by which a law or policy is put into
operation by the bureaucracy
 Iron triangles
 Relatively stable relationships and patterns of
interaction that occur among an agency, interest
groups, and congressional committees or
subcommittees
 Issue networks
 The loose and informal relationships that exist among a
large number of actors who work in broad policy area
 Interagency Councils: working groups that bring
together representatives of several departments
and agencies to facilitate the coordination of
policy making and implementation
 Increasing complexity of policy domains
 Interagency councils
Making Policy
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Administrative discretion
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The ability of bureaucrats to make choices concerning the best
way to implement congressional intentions
Rule making
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A quasi-legislative administrative process that has the
characteristics of a legislative act
Regulations
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Rules that govern the operation of a particular government
program that have the force of law
1946 Administrative Procedures Act
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Public notice of time, place and nature of rule-making
proceedings provided in the Federal Register
Submission of written arguments
Statutory purpose and basis of rule to be stated
Once rule is written, 30 days must elapse before it takes
effect.
Making Policy
 Administrative adjudication
 A quasi-judicial process in which a
bureaucratic agency settles disputes
between two parties in a manner similar
to the way courts resolve disputes
Making Agencies Accountable
 Executive Control
 Appointments
 Executive orders
 Rules or regulations issued by the president
that have the effect of law
 Congressional Control
 Constitutional powers
 Power of the purse
 General Accounting Office, Congressional Research
Service, and Congressional Budget Office
 Judicial Control
Problems with the Bureaucracy
• Bureaucratic Bloat / Lack of Efficiency
– Lack of profit incentive and the bureaucratic
mindset.
• Does this complaint really hold up?
– Post Office?
– VA?
– Social Security?
– Medicare?
• Michael Parenti’s Perspective
– Red tape.
– Expanding programs easier than cutting.
• Bureaucracies refuse to die.
Bureaucratic Bloat
In the Department of Agriculture
Report on the Dept. of Agriculture by
Rep. Senator Richard Lugar:
• Employs roughly 110,000 people.
• One employee for every 1.9 farmers.
• $1 spent for every dollar delivered.
• 94% of U.S. counties have offices.
• Since 2000, $1.3 billion paid to individuals
who do no farming at all to not grow rice.
Bureaucratic Bloat
In the Department of Agriculture
Backdrop to the 2007-08 debate over
renewing farm subsidies:
• Subsidies:
– Begun in the 1930’s to save family farms
from low prices during the 1930’s.
– Includes direct payments to farmers for
not growing food in order to keep crop
prices up.
– Are now being continued when farm
prices and profits are at an all time historic
high.
Bureaucratic Bloat
In the Department of Agriculture
Backdrop to the 2007-08 debate over renewing
farm subsidies:
• Subsidies:
– Between 1996 and 2008, $177 billion has been
paid to farmers with the top 10% receiving 75% of
the subsidies.
– The top recipient in 2006 was Riceland foods of
Arkansas, which received $7.7 million.
Bureaucratic Bloat
In the Department of Agriculture
The $290 billion 2008 Farm Bill:
– Provides $40 billion over the next 5 years to farmers for
doing nothing more than having grown a subsidized crop in
the past.
– Includes funding of the food stamp program.
– Includes first time funding of $2.2 bil. for CA vegetable
growers.
– Caps aid to wealthy farmers beginning with those making
over $2.5 million a year.
– Cuts off food stamp aid at $17,808 (per couple).
– The largest 10% of beneficiaries still get 60% of the
money.
– Only about 8% of minority farmers receive any aid.
Bureaucratic Bloat
In the Department of Agriculture
The $290 billion 2008 Farm Bill:
– Plus A few Earmarks.
• $170 million to CA fishermen.
• $126 million to Kentucky racehorse owners.
• $3 billion for marketing off fruits and veggies.
• Sale of national forest land to a Vermont ski resort.
Despite being passed by veto-proof majorities
in both Houses, Bush threatened a veto.
Bureaucratic Bloat
In the Department of Agriculture
Congress’s Role: The Farm Bill House Debates:
“Pelosi’s prime motivation in supporting the current farm policy
apparently is to preserve the re-election prospects of
freshman Democrats in rural districts who toppled
Republicans last November. Nine of the freshmen sit on the
House Agricultural committee. Several said they feared any
vote to reform farm programs would endanger their political
prospects.” S.F. Chron. 7/22/07
Bureaucratic Bloat
In the Department of Agriculture
Congress’s Role: The Farm Bill House Debates:
A Democratic amendment to limit subsidies failed as Southern lawmakers
pushed hard to protect unlimited payments for cotton and rice growers.
S.F. Chron. 11/17/07
Problems
Regarding the Federal Bureaucracy
• Bureaucratic Bloat / Lack of Efficiency.
• Horizontal and Vertical Conflict.
• Bureaucrats Acting as Lawmakers.
• The Influence of Special Interests.
Problems
Regarding the Federal Bureaucracy
Bureaucratic Management and Conflict:
The ideal bureaucratic pyramid:
Horizontal = specialization (across)
Vertical = authority (down) and accountability (up)
Issues Regarding the Federal Bureaucracy
• Bureaucratic Management and Conflict
– Horizontal Infighting:
• Conflict between overlapping agencies.
– Examples:
• Establishing For. Policy: State vs. Defense vs. NSC
• Fighting Terrorism: Dept. Justice vs. Defense
• Controlling Emissions: EPA vs. Dep. Of Trans. vs. Dep. Of Energy
New rules for Green House gases proposed by Bush might require concurrence
of the EPA and Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Transportation, as well as
the OMB, and Council on Environmental Quality.
Frank O’Donnell - Clear Air Watch
Issues Regarding the Federal Bureaucracy
• Bureaucratic Management and Conflict.
– Vertical Infighting:
• Top ranking political appointees vs. rank and file civil service.
– Political Appointees: (about 600)
• Hold top, policy making, positions.
• Partisan, often not specialists.
• Temporary.
– The Civil Service: (about 2.8 million)
• Hold middle positions on down. (non-policy making)
• Staffed by qualified professionals
– civil service tests
• Protected by law.
--------> bureaucratic impasse / stonewalling
Bureaucratic Infighting
Vertical Conflict at the EPA
EPA Denial of Green House gas waiver for CA:
“California failed to show the compelling and
extraordinary conditions required to grant a waiver.”
Stephen Johnson - EPA Administrator
However:
Staff universally endorsed it.
Johnson endorsed the waiver until the WH intervened
Staff protests waiver denial and leaks info to press.
Bureaucratic Infighting
Vertical Conflict at the EPA
Easing of Air Pollution Reporting:
Rather than measuring spikes during 3 and 24 hours periods,
levels would be averaged over the course of a year, allowing
spikes to be discounted even though EPA scientists say they
will worsen air visibility.
The EPA proposed changing the way the government
measures air pollution … despite objections by EPA staff.
S.F. Chron. 5.1/16/08
Bureaucratic Infighting
Vertical Conflict at the EPA
When industry (or its administration backers
feel persecuted), it complains to the program
managers, who in turn give us an earful.
Under Clinton, we were usually able to push
back if we had to – we would often win the
day. Yet when the Bush officials took over, my
office was asked to stop enforcing air
pollution laws in favor of “voluntary studies.
Eric Schaefer, and 18 year veteran
on on why he quit the EPA.
Bureaucratic Infighting
Vertical Conflict at the EPA
More than 1/2 of the scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency who
responded to a survey said they have experienced political interference in
their work.
Washington Post 3/24/08
Issues Regarding the Federal Bureaucracy
• Bureaucratic Bloat / Lack of Efficiency
• Management and Control
• Bureaucrats as Lawmakers:
– Bureaucracies write rules and regulations that carry the weight of law.
Because laws are usually general, the bureaucracies have leeway
in writing up the rules regarding how they will be enforced
– Administrative law must be based on statutory law.
– Yet, the power to write administrative law/rules often reshapes
congressional legislation.
Example: Bureaucrats as Lawmakers
In the Dept. of Agriculture
Stopping the Sale of Horse Meat:
Congress amended an agricultural bill to ban the
use of taxpayer funds to inspect horse meat (which
would stop the slaughter of horses since all meat
must be inspected). But the Dept. of Agriculture,
lobbied by the owners of the plants, issued new
rules last month to allow the plants to pay the cost
of the inspections.
S.F. Chron. 4/1/06
Example: Bureaucrats as lawmakers
In the Dept. of Education
Granting Gender Equality:
• Title IX - Ed. Act of 1972: Forbids discrimination
based on gender:
– No one “shall, on the basis of sex, be subjected to
discrimination under any education program or activity
receiving Federal financial assistance.”
– Agencies may issue “rules, regulations or orders
…consistent with achievement of the objectives of the
statute.”
– Why is attempting to provide this controversial?
» The issue of girl’s sports:
Is equality here a fundamental right?
Example: Bureaucrats as Lawmakers
In the Dept. of Education
Granting Gender Equality:
• The “three prong test” established by the Dept. of Ed (Civil
Rights Office). Est. 1979:
#1 = show proportionate numbers
#2 = show expansion of women’s programs
#3 = show program accommodates interests of women
Required multi faceted approach with the burden on school to
prove its case.
• New rule for complying with prong #3 issued in 2005:
Allowed prong #3 to be fulfilled by email survey.
Is this a fair way of showing compliance with Title IX?
Survey methodology: non-responses
Example: Bureaucrats as Lawmakers
In the EPA
Enforcing the Clean Air Act:
• The Clean Air Act of 1970:
– Mandates regulation of pollutants that “may reasonably be
anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”
– Allowed the EPA to establish rules concerning how and when
industries must meet commitments.
• Is CO2 a “pollutant”?
– The EPA: “The causes of global warming remain a subject of
substantial scientific uncertainty.” 2007
(This despite reports of its own scientists.)
– THE EPA: “Even if CO2 does cause global warming it is not a
“pollutant” and thus is not covered by the Clean Air Act.”
Example: Bureaucrats as Lawmakers
In the EPA (cont.)
• Supreme Court Ruling: March 2007
– Demands that the EPA regulate CO2 under the
Clean Air Act of 1970.
• Continued EPA Intransigence:
– The head of the EPA said the EPA “will not be
rushed into deciding whether to regulate emissions
linked to global warming …. as such action needs to
be examined broadly as to other impacts.” (sf chron.
3/24/08)
Bureaucrats as Lawmakers
In the Dept. of Trans
Setting fuel economy standards:
To cut the deal, Democrats made one significant retreat
- they dropped a provision that would have required a
4% annual increase in fuel standards from 2020 to
2030. Instead, they agreed to weaker language saying
federal regulators should increase fuel efficiency each
year to the “maximum feasible” level. The watered down
language appeared to be a nod to President Bush, who
has been seeking more flexibility to allow the
Department of Transportation to set fuel-economy
standards.
Bureaucrats as Lawmakers
In the EPA (Again)
Regulation of Toxics:
The EPA reduced the amount of
information that needs to be disclosed in
Toxic Inventory Reports and by allowing
many companies to use shorter forms.
The EPA estimates that the changes would
save industry $6 million annually, but the
GAO said the change would allow 3,500 to
no longer disclose information. The
change came as a result of pressure from
the White House OMB.