The Federal Bureaucracy:
Administering the Government
Chapter 13
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas.
Norman Thomas
[No] industrial society could
manage the daily operations of
its public affairs without
bureaucratic organizations in
which officials play a major
policymaking role.
Federal Administration: Form,
Personnel, and Activities
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Bureaucratic Principles
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Hierarchical Authority
Job Specialization
Formalized Rules
The Federal Bureaucracy in Americans’ Daily Lives
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roughly 2.5 million employees
The President & Congress get more press but the bureaucracy has
more impact on our daily lives:
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delivers daily mail
maintains national forests
administers social security
regulates stock markets
build dams and generates hydroelectricity
develops the country’s defense systems
Federal Administration: Form,
Personnel, and Activities
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Types of Administrative Organizations
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Cabinet Departments
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Dept. of justice
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Dept. of Agriculture
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EPA, FCC
Created when Congress perceives a need for ongoing control of an economic activity
Legislative, executive, and judicial functions
Government Corporations
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NASA, CIA
Narrow area of responsibility compared to cabinet dept.
Divided into a number of smaller operating units
Exist independently of cabinet depts.
Head is appointed by POTUS
Regulatory Agencies
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U.S. Forest service-“dual-use”- preserves forests for environmental reasons & opens them up
for logging
Independent Agencies
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FBI
US Postal Service
Presidential Commissions
Cabinet (Executive) Departments
Federal Administration: Form,
Personnel, and Activities
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Federal Employment
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2.5 Million civilian employees
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Dept. of Defense has the most
 Plus more than 1.4 million active uniformed service members
Patronage system—designed to improve link between administration
and the people
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Abuses—spoils system
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most fed employees are hired on merit
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GS-1 (lowest) to GS-18 (the highest)
federal employees are underpaid compared to their private sector
counterparts
Merit criteria
GS pay scales
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College graduates usually start out at G-5 $22,000
Unions
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Federal employees can form labor unions but they have limited authority
Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
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prohibits strikes by federal employees
permits the firing of workers who do go on strike
Federal Administration: Form,
Personnel, and Activities
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The Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy Responsibilities
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Policy Implementation (administration)
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executing the policy decisions of the pres., Cong. & the courts
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regulation of industries ,such as meat and poultry
delivery of services as provided by laws
Development of Public Policy
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Rulemaking- deciding how laws will work in practice
Development of the Federal Bureaucracy:
Politics and Administration
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Small Government and the Patronage System
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developed during the Jackson administration
designed to make the admin. of gov. more responsive to citizens
It would tie the administration more closely to the people it
served
Growth in Government and the Merit System
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Civil Service System
Neutral Competence
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Bureaucracy should be staffed by people chosen on the basis of ability
and to do its work fairly on behalf of all citizens
Neutral administration
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Civil servants are not partisan appointees, thus ensuring evenhanded
work
Development of the Federal Bureaucracy:
Politics and Administration
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Big Government and the Executive Leadership
System
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During the New Deal era, the fed bureaucracy grew
substantially in size
The Bureaucracy’s Power
Imperative
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The Agency Point of View
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Career bureaucrats tend to follow their agency's point of view
bureaucrats are specialists and elected officials are generalists
Promoting agency’s goals
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Bureaucrats relay on specialized knowledge, backing of POTUS and Congress,
and the support of clientele groups
Sources of Bureaucratic Power
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Legally, the bureaucracy derives its authority from acts of Congress
The Power of Expertise
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The Power of Clientele Groups
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Career bureaucrats in the Dept. of Commerce and the Federal Trade
Commission are most likely to understand trade issues in the U.S.
SPECIAL INTERESTS THAT BENEFIT DIRECTLY FROM A bureaucratic AGENCY
The Power of Friends in High Places
 Agency goals may conflict with president or Congress, but they still
need agency expertise and competency
Bureaucratic Accountability
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Accountability Through the Presidency
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Reorganization
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encounters opposition from
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the bureaucracy itself
clientele groups
members of Congress
the public
Presidential Appointments
The Executive Budget
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Office of Management and Budget
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the most important part of the Executive Office of the President (EOP)
assigns each agency a budget limit in accordance with the president’s
directives
The Budgetary Process
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Year and a half long; begins with OMB assigning each
agency a budget limit based on presidential directives
Agencies develop detailed budget; president finalizes with
OMB
POTUS sends to Congress
House & Senate budget committees prepare budget
resolution; full House and Senate vote
House and Senate appropriations committees prepare
appropriations bills; full House and Senate vote
President signs or vetoes
Fiscal year begins Oct. 1
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Continuing resolutions???
Federal Budgetary Process
Bureaucratic Accountability
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Accountability Through Congress
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Oversight
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Sunset laws
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GAO- Government Accountability Office
Budget
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Has moved from a limited role of keeping track of agency spending to also
monitoring whether the agency is implementing policies in the way
Congress intended
CBO- Congressional Budget Office
Accountability Through the Courts
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Lawsuits
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African American farmers sued the Dept. of Agriculture for
discrimination in granting federal farm loans
Courts tend to support administrators if their actions are in
line with the law they are administering
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Agencies can apply reasonable interpretation of statutes
Administrators must have flexibility if they are to operate effectively
Bureaucratic Accountability
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Accountability Within the Bureaucracy Itself
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Senior Executive Service (SES)
Administrative law judges
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Handles disputes that involve cases in which an individual believes that he
or she was improperly disadvantaged by a bureaucrat’s decision
Whistle-Blowing
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While employed- it takes “guts”
Post-employment
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Richard Clarke accused George W. Bush of downplaying the terrorist threat
Demographic Representativeness
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If all employees are taken into account, the federal bureaucracy is close to
being representative of the nation’s population
The bureaucracy is not demographically representative at its highest
levels
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about 60% of managerial and professional positions are held by white males
Federal Job Rankings (GS) of Various
Demographic Groups
Reinventing Government
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Bureaucracy today was created in response to problems in the past.
Now suggested to focus on outputs.
Others question the focus on “customers” of the agencies.
Limits on what can be cut from the agencies.
“reinventing teams”- formed under the National Performance Review to
analyze and make recommendations about bureaucratic effectiveness
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Responsiveness, accountability, and efficiency
States in the Nation