The Bureaucracy
Images
• Huge Limestone Buildings
• “Red Tape”
– Endless Lines
– Forms (in triplicate – which, of course,
makes no sense on an electronic world)
– Rules (often inconsistent & nonsensical)
– Frustration and lack of recourse
• Staffed by “bureaucrats”
OUTLINE
• A Definition
• The Roots and Development of the Federal
Bureaucracy
• The Modern Bureaucracy
• Policy Making/Problems Making Policy
• Making Agencies Accountable
“BUREAUCRACY”
There are many definitions of bureaucracy.
The key elements are:
– an hierarchical chain of command (clear lines
of authority from top to bottom)
– division of labor and specialization
– impersonal rules and “merit-based” decision
making
The Roots and Development of
the Federal Bureaucracy
• Constitutionally ambiguous “branch” of
government.
• Neither the President, Congress or Courts have
total control. Each has significant and
overlapping degree of influence over
bureaucratic functions.
Policy Making
• When Congress passes a law that creates
any kind of federal agency, department, or
commission, it delegates some part of its
powers.
• In the law, Congress sets parameters,
guidelines, and then leaves it to the agency
to work out the details.
• How agencies execute congressional wishes
is called “implementation”.
The Roots and Development of
the Federal Bureaucracy
• In 1789, George Washington headed a federal
bureaucracy of three departments:
– State, War, and Treasury.
• The federal government has grown as needs
arose. In general, the government grew most
during national crises and times of war.
– The Civil War
– National Efforts to Regulate the Economy
The Civil War
• The Civil War (1861-65) permanently changed
the nature of the federal bureaucracy.
• Thousands of employees were added in order
to mount the war effort.
• After the Civil War, demands on the
government continued to grow. The
government needed to pay pensions to veterans
and the injured from the war.
Regulating the Economy
• The industrial revolution of the late 1800s
brought big business onto the national
stage.
• While some people called for a laissez-
faire attitude toward the economy, many
others decried the development of big
railroads, price fixing, monopolies, and
unfair business practices and called for
the government to regulate the economy.
The New Deal and WWII
• FDR faced high unemployment and weak
financial markets during the Great Depression.
• In order to face the economic crisis, FDR
created large numbers of federal agencies and
many federal programs (AAA, NRA, CCC).
• WWII (like the Civil War and WWI) also
caused the national government (and then the
state and local governments) to grow
significantly.
The growing bureaucracy does not simply
reflect the growth of the federal government
The Federal Workforce is Growing.
• Republicans campaign for reductions in the size of
the federal government. But…
– Clinton 2000 – 1.7 million federal workers
– Bush 2002 – 1.85 million federal workers
– Bush 2003 – 2.0 million federal worker
– Bush 2005 – 2.4 to 2.7 million federal workers
(depending on how you count PTers)
• And of course the cartoonists have had a field day…
Privatization –
An “Alternative” to Growth
• 2000, 2002, 2004 Election issue
• Government is really growing! When we
“privatize” we may not call them federal
workers but we’re paying them with federal
dollars.
The Modern Bureaucracy
• Governments exist for the public good, not
to generate profit.
• Government leaders are driven by reelection
(and thus accountability) goals while
businesspeople are out to increase their
share prices on Wall Street. Businesses get
money from customers, government gets it
from taxpayers.
President’s Cabinet
www.whitehouse.gov/government/cabinet.html
The Cabinet Departments
• The 15 Cabinet departments are the major
administrative units that have responsibility
for conducting broad areas of government
operation.
• Positions in these departments account for
60% of the federal workforce.
• Departments vary in prestige, power, size,
and access to the president...each is headed by
a “secretary”.
• The tradition of the Cabinet dates back to
the beginnings of the Presidency itself
(drawn from Article II, Section 2 of the
Constitution).
• One of the principal purposes of the Cabinet
is to advise the President on any subject he
may require relating to the duties of their
respective offices.
Who’s a Cabinet Officer?
• The Cabinet includes the Vice President and the heads
of 15 executive departments -- the Secretaries of
Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy,
Health and Human Services, Homeland Security,
Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State,
Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, and the
Attorney General.
• Under President George W. Bush, Cabinet-level rank
also has been accorded to the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, the Director of
National Drug Control Policy; and the U.S. Trade
Representative.
Department of Agriculture Department of the Interior
Secretary Mike Johanns Secretary Dirk Kempthorne
Department of Commerce Department of Justice
Secretary Carlos Gutierrez Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Department of Defense Department of Labor
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Secretary Elaine Chao
Department of Education Department of State
Secretary Margaret Spellings Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Department of Energy Department of Transportation
Secretary Samuel W. Bodman Secretary Mary E. Peters
Department of Health & Human Services Department of the Treasury
Secretary Michael O. Leavitt Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
Department of Homeland Security Department of Veterans Affairs
Secretary Michael Chertoff Secretary Jim Nicholson
Department of Housing & Urban Development
Secretary Alphonso Jackson
Office of Management and Budget United States Trade Representative
Rob Portman Ambassador Susan Schwab
Environmental Protection Agency Office of National Drug Control Policy
Stephen Johnson John Walters
The Vice President White House
Richard B. Cheney Chief of Staff
Joshua B. Bolten
Turnover
• Prior to Bush’s second term, 6 cabinet
members resigned:
– Secretary of State Colin Powell
– Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman
– Education Secretary Rod Paige
– Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
– Attorney General John Ashcroft
– Commerce Secretary Don Evans
• Most president see some turnover among
their advisors.
• Trivia: Franklin Pierce (1953-1857) was the
only President to not have a cabinet member
leave during his time in office.
Department of Homeland Security
• Homeland Security Operations Center
• Transportation and Security Administration
• Customs and Border Protection
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
• U.S. Coast Guard
• U.S. Secret Service
• Office of National Laboratories
• Homeland Security Laboratories
• Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects
Agency
Government Corporations
• Government corporations are businesses
created by Congress to perform functions
that could be performed by private business
but aren't usually because they are not
profitable.
• These corporations include Amtrak and the
Tennessee Valley Authority.
Independent Executive Agencies
• Independent executive agencies have
narrower mandates than a Cabinet
department.
• Some examples include: CIA, NASA and
the EPA.
Independent Regulatory
Commissions
• 12 IRCs exist to regulate a specific economic
activity or interest
• The commissions are independent from Congress
and the President. Once appointed and seated
members cannot be removed without cause.
• They also have staggered terms of office to
ensure that no one party gets to appoint all
members.
• EXAMPLES: National Labor Relations Board or
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Problems Bureaucrats Face
• Politics and program design
• Imprecise and contradictory goals
• Fragmentation and faulty
coordination
• Imprecise measures of success
Reforming the Bureaucracy
• Keep Commission, 1905-1909
• President’s Commission on Economy &
Efficiency, 1910-1913
• Joint Committee on Reorganization, 1921-1924
• President’s Committee on Administrative
Management, 1936-37
• 1st & 2nd Hoover Commission, 1947-49, 1953-55
• Ash Council, 1969-1971
• Carter Reorganization Effort, 1977-1979
• Grace Commission, 1982-1984
• National Performance Review, 1993-1997
Making Agencies Accountable
Is the bureaucracy accountable and if so to whom?
The President has the authority to:
• appoint and remove agency heads
• reorganize the bureaucracy
• make changes in budget proposals
• ignore initiatives from the bureaucracy
• issue executive orders
• reduce an agency's budget
Making Agencies Accountable
Is the bureaucracy accountable and if so to whom?
Congress has the authority to:
• pass legislation that alters an agency's
functions
• abolish existing programs
• investigate bureaucratic activities
• influence presidential appointments
• write legislation to limit bureaucratic
discretion
Making Agencies Accountable
Is the bureaucracy accountable and if so to whom?
The Judiciary has the power to:
• rule on whether the bureaucracy has acted
within the law
• rule on constitutionality
• force respect for the rights of individuals in
bureaucratic/administrative hearings
Accountability to Citizens
• Increased opportunities to petition
• Publicly funded intervenors/ombudspersons
• Monitoring programs
• Advisory committees (w/public members)
• Sunshine provisions (announced & open
meetings)
• Freedom of information laws