The Undefined Branch. Chapter 13 The Federal Bureaucracy. The Federal Bureaucracy has only one task to faithfully execute all the laws

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1 1 Chapter 13 The Federal Bureaucracy The Importance of the Federal Bureaucracy: Disaster Relief The federal government has been providing aid to victims of disaster since 1803 By the 1970s, dozens of federal agencies were active in some form of disaster relief In 1979, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was established Budget cuts following 9/11 Poor response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 Resultant reforms Rapid response to tornado destruction in 2008 The Undefined Branch The Federal Bureaucracy has only one task to faithfully execute all the laws The Framers believed that the bureaucracy would be relatively small and left most of the details up to the president and Congress

2 2 Constitutional Controls Members of Congress may not hold executive branch positions President has complete authority to nominate the senior officers of government President also is in charge of monitoring presidential appointees, and may ask them to resign for any reason Defining Bureaucracy A form of organization that operates through informal, uniform rules and procedures Characteristics (Max Weber) Specialization Centralization Formal Rules Standardization Expertise Accountability Defining 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

3 Four Types of Federal Organizations Departments Independent regulatory commissions Independent agencies Government corporations The Federal Departments Leading the Federal Bureaucracy ~3,000 presidential appointees head federal departments and agencies 600 subject to Senate confirmation 2,400 serve entirely at the pleasure of the president 3

4 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 ~7,000 members ~6,400 career executives ~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 4

5 5 Types of Federal Employees Civil Service Realities 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 Regulating the Civil Service The Hatch Act Federal statute barring federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds

6 Government Employee Unions Since 1962, federal civilian employees have had the right to form unions About one-third currently belong to a union The Job of the Federal Bureaucracy Implementation Administrative discretion Making regulations Federal Register Spending money Uncontrollable spending Entitlement program Uncontrollable Spending in 1962 and

7 7 Presidential Controls Appointment Reorganization Budgeting Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned from office only days after the 2006 elections. His management of the war in Iraq had been widely criticized, and he was blamed for the deep Republican losses in the elections. Congressional Controls Establishing agencies Formulating budgets Appropriating funds Confirming personnel Authorizing new programs Conducting investigations Terminating agencies Shared Controls Oversight Central clearance Vice President Al Gore shows David Letterman how to smash an ashtray under federal rules.

8 8 A History of Great Endeavors 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