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Chapter 13
- 1. Lecture Slides AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY FIFTH EDITION By Bianco Canon Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company
- 2. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION American Politics Today Chapter 13 The Bureaucracy
- 3. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Bureaucracy
- 4. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION What Is the Federal Bureaucracy?: Functions • What do bureaucrats do? – Implement policies established by Congress or the president – Develop programs and policies to achieve goals of laws – When laws are specific, bureaucrats have very little discretion – More commonly, laws provide general guidelines
- 5. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION What Is the Federal Bureaucracy? • Makeup of the federal bureaucracy – Millions of permanent employees (civil servants) – Thousands of short-term workers (political appointees of the president)
- 6. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION What Is the Federal Bureaucracy?: Regulations • Regulations – Government rules that give government control over individuals and corporations by restricting behaviors • Developed via the notice and comment procedure • Very political – Influence most aspects of everyday life • Bureaucrats often have influence on the way government shapes regulations
- 7. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Influences on Bureaucratic Rule Making
- 8. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION What Is the Federal Bureaucracy?: The Experts • Bureaucratic expertise and its consequences – Bureaucrats are experts; in general, more so than members of Congress or the president – Experts help create a state capacity • Criticism of bureaucracies • Too much red tape (also known as standard operating procedures)
- 9. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Bureaucrats Make Mistakes
- 10. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION What Is the Federal Bureaucracy?: Internal Control • Problem of control – Principal-agent game • An agent (group) works for another (the principal) • Agents have information that the principals don’t • How to let agents maximize their expertise while still making sure they do what they should? – Regulatory capture • Bureaucrats work to benefit a small group of individuals/corporations instead of the public
- 11. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION How Americans View the Federal Bureaucracy
- 12. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION History of the American Bureaucracy
- 13. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION History of the American Bureaucracy: Eras • Began with three executive departments and soon subsumed by the spoils system • Three major eras in the history of the bureaucracy – The Progressive Era • Federal civil service – The New Deal – The Great Society
- 14. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Reagan Revolution
- 15. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Executive Branch of the Federal Government
- 16. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Structure of the Department of Agriculture
- 17. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Modern Federal Bureaucracy • Hiring and firing rules regarding bureaucrats affect the amount of oversight to which the bureaucrats are subjected • Bureaucratic structure is often politically driven
- 18. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Employment in Selected Federal Organizations
- 19. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Size of the Federal Budget
- 20. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Bureaucracy: Public Opinion
- 21. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Human Face of the Bureaucracy • Most employees in bureaucracy have strong interest in public service • Civil service jobs differ from private sector – Job level tied to experience and education. – Seniority helps determine promotions. – After three years of satisfactory job performance, a civil servant cannot be fired without cause • Helps remove politics from the bureaucracy
- 22. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Size of the Federal Government: Types of Federal Workers
- 23. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Human Face of the Bureaucracy: Limitations • Limits on political activity – The Hatch Act prohibits federal workers from engaging in organized political activities – Senior White House staffers are exempt from these restrictions – However, they are prevented from using government resources for political purposes
- 24. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Rules of the Bureaucracy
- 25. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Human Face of the Bureaucracy: Political Appointments • Political appointees and the Senior Executive Service – The president appoints about 7,000 political appointees – Some potentially less competent campaign staffers are awarded positions on “turkey farms” – The ability to make political appointments helps the president exercise some control over the bureaucracy
- 26. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Controlling the Bureaucracy • Lawmakers must – Determine how to get the benefits of bureaucratic expertise – Without giving bureaucrats complete control over their own behavior – Reduce or eliminate bureaucratic drift • Limit discretion by giving direct orders • Even if this limits their bureaucratic expertise
- 27. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Controlling the Bureaucracy: Agency Organization • Lawmakers can control bureaucratic decision by – Setting policy goals – Choosing where the agency is located within the government structure • Thereby also controlling who runs the agency
- 28. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Controlling the Bureaucracy: Monitoring • Monitoring – Oversight from Congress – Advance warning • Requires bureaucrats to disclose their proposed actions before they take effect – Investigations • Police patrol oversight: constant monitoring • Fire alarm oversight: Congress responds to complaints about a bureaucratic agency
- 29. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Controlling the Bureaucracy: Violations • Correcting violations – Legislation and executive orders can correct problems. – Correcting problems is most challenging when Congress and the president disagree • This is when agencies often have the most discretion
- 30. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Consequences of Control
- 31. How it works: in theory
- 32. New Acts! Although... maybe not? Actually...yes. Second try. Obama weighs in. Results? Feedback. Third try! Please stand by. How it works: in practice
- 33. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Public Opinion Poll: Q1 Do you generally approve or disapprove of the way the federal bureaucracy is handling its job? a. approve b. disapprove
- 34. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Public Opinion Poll: Q2 Which of the following do you believe is most appropriate to address Americans’ dissatisfaction with the federal bureaucracy? a. devolution of responsibilities to lower levels of government b. increased use of private companies to provide government goods and services
- 35. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Public Opinion Poll: Q3 If television content increases viewers’ fear and subsequent support for security agencies, is that good or bad for the functioning of American democracy? a. good b. bad
- 36. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Additional Information Following this slide, you will find additional slides with photos, figures, and captions from the textbook.
- 37. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Bureaucracy: Controversial Changes
- 38. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Bureaucracy: Financial Sector
- 39. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Bureaucracy: Taxes
- 40. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Bureaucracy: Environment
- 41. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Bureaucracy’s Impact on American Lives
- 42. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Environmental Protection Agency
Editor's Notes
- It’s not hard to understand why Americans have such a strong negative view of American bureaucracy when government agencies fail at basic tasks—as in the case of Flint, Michigan, where national, state, and local authorities failed to prevent lead contamination of the city’s water supply. Flint residents like LeeAnne Walters, pictured here, confronted city and state officials with samples of contaminated water taken from their homes. Is this negative view accurate? How can we trust government to act in our interests given such failures?
- Bureaucrats at different levels make rules, implement rules, and (re-)interpret rules. They are checked by oversight from Congress, the courts, and other bureaucrats (such as special inspectors’ offices and special administrative law courts). Critics believe that bureaucracies are inherently dangerous and have too much power, but the fact is that they are at the heart of our modern, complex system of government.
- It’s interesting to note that when we think of the executive branch, we generally think of the president, the president’s political appointees and policy staff, and perhaps the military. All of that is dwarfed in size by the “civil service,” which performs most of the duties of the federal government on a day-to-day basis.
- Bureaucrats listen to congressional pressure; Congress can overturn statutes that give bureaucrats power and Congress controls their budgets. Very few people participate in the “notice and comment” procedure. They neither notice nor comment! One exception to the overwhelming trend of “people not paying attention” is people whose job it is to pay attention. This means that there is a danger that regulators (bureaucrats) will be “captured” by the industries that they regulate. (One possibility is that they may think they will be able to leave the civil service for a better-paying job in industry.) Federal regulations affect all parts of everyday life. Think about federal regulations for car safety. Fact: Over 30,000 people a year are killed in car accidents. That’s 10 times the number of people who died in the September 11 attacks every single year. Now think about imposing a new safety regulation. It will make cars more expensive. By definition, this hurts poor people the most. But, on the other hand, a new mandatory safety feature might save lives. Is it worth it? This is called “cost-benefit analysis.” This basic formula is applied innumerable times by bureaucrats and fundamentally affects the safety of the world we live in. When we mandate that we have more fuel-efficient cars, we recognize that one way to achieve those standards is to make cars lighter. But lighter cars are generally less safe than heavier cars. Is the loss of safety worth the increase in fuel economy (less pollution)? These are the types of calculations that bureaucrats make every day.
- Federal regulations influence many aspects of everyday life that would not seem likely to be affected by government action. The increase in the number of women’s intercollegiate athletic teams is partly due to regulations that require equal funding for men’s and women’s teams. Pictured here is the University of Connecticut’s 2016 NCAA women’s basketball championship team. @UConnWBB #TitleIX
- The origins of the phrase “red tape” go back to the English practice of binding documents and official papers with red tape. It is an extremely old phrase that apparently dates to the sixteenth century, but the exact origin is obscure. Today, the phrase “red tape” is heavily associated with what economists call “deadweight loss.” That’s when it takes a lot of extra effort to comply with a procedure but no one—neither the citizen nor the government—gains anything from it. The existence of red tape (also known as unnecessary rules) as part of standard operating procedure is one of the reasons that the words bureaucracy and bureaucrat are commonly used in a pejorative way in everyday speech. Political scientists use it in a more value-neutral, nonjudgmental way.
- Despite their policy expertise, bureaucrats still make mistakes. When the Medicare program implemented the Prescription Drug Benefit in 2006, information about the coverage was available on an easy-to-read website, but the agency soon learned that many seniors who needed the information did not know how to use a Web browser.
- The principal-agent game is an important part of understanding bureaucracy. It’s somewhat related to the Juvenalian question, “Who guards the guardians?” One example of principal-agent involves waiters in a restaurant. The owner wants them to work as quickly, efficiently, politely, and knowledgeably as they possibly can. The waiters themselves have their own goals, which might include minimizing effort, getting a few text messages in while on shift, and so on. How can management ensure their agents (the waiters) are acting the way they want? They can tie part of their pay to tips and compel their agents to have similar goals. When Congress passes a law that mandates that regulators write rules to further a goal, Congress is the principal and the bureaucracy is the agent. What problems might arise? What can be done to minimize those problems? When the government hires scientists—for instance, people who have worked in automotive safety and have vast expertise in the field—it is important to remember that they are still people who have opinions; they are not neutral robots! Regulatory capture can be hard to identify. Other times, it can be astonishingly straightforward, as in the 2008 Minerals Management Service scandal, where regulators failed to enforce royalty payments by oil companies and forged documents, and in return were rewarded with sex and illicit drugs by the oil companies. For more, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html?_r=0 or http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94482311
- Many Americans believe the bureaucracy is wasteful and inefficient. Note, however, that the magnitude of negative feelings varies over time. Consider the time frame represented on the graph. What happened during these years that might explain the changes in citizens’ opinions about the government?
- This cartoon of a monument to President Andrew Jackson riding a pig decries his involvement in the spoils system, which allowed politicians to dole out government service jobs in return for political support.
- Progressive Era: 1883 Pendleton Act created civil service Series of regulatory acts in the 1890s, 1900s, and 1910s gave government more power, including the Sherman Antitrust Act, Pure Food and Drug Act, and Meat Inspection Act New Deal: Programs implemented during FDR’s first two terms (1932–1940) vastly expanded government power. Great Society: Another expansion of the size, power, and capacity of federal government under LBJ in the 1960s. Included creation of Medicare and Medicaid and the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. More information on the Progressive Era The intellectual zenith of the period of the burgeoning bureaucracy was the Progressive Era of 1890–1918. This was the era that gave us the idea of a “technocratic mindset,” where policy would be based on well-trained experts’ scientific assessment of what works—not people’s opinions and prejudices. Progressive Era policies and agencies: the Federal Reserve, income tax; prohibition of alcohol The Federal Reserve was thought to profit from its independence from democratic control in deciding the optimal money supply and interest rate. Supposedly, it had solved the inflation problem, the unemployment problem, and given us “the Great Moderation” (e.g., eradicated volatile business cycles). With the financial crisis, it has come under criticism. Prohibition of alcohol was more of a moral crusade than a scientific one. Still, the basic idea was this: if alcohol causes broken families, impoverished families, violence, and disease, wouldn’t the rational thing to do be to ban it? Today, certain liberal states are rethinking the criminalization of marijuana, drawing the analogy to the prohibition of alcohol.
- Under President George W. Bush the federal bureaucracy continued to expand. Programs like No Child Left Behind increased the role of government in society. #NCLB
- The executive branch includes the 15 cabinet offices, as well as several independent agencies, commissions, and government corporations.
- The Department of Agriculture is headed by the secretary of Agriculture and the deputy secretary of Agriculture and includes various assistant secretaries and undersecretaries for specific areas such as natural resources and the environment, farm services, rural development, and food safety.
- For example, Federal Reserve appointees get 14-year terms, thus limiting their oversight. An example of politically driven bureaucratic decision making is the Iraq War. The Office of Special Plans uses raw intelligence data rather than expert interpretations of that data when making the case for war.
- One of the most intense conflicts in American political life is over the size of the federal government. Generally, Republicans say that the size of federal bureaucracy should be reduced, while Democrats tend to favor increasing the size of government programs. However, the size of government has increased steadily over time. Has the size of the bureaucracy gotten out of control? What do the numbers say?
- Many Americans complain about the size of the federal government. However, their complaints do not translate into support for reductions in policy areas or cuts in specific programs that could significantly reduce spending. Based on these data, are there any kinds of proposals for significantly reducing the size of the federal government that might attract widespread support?
- Think about public school teachers (who are government employees) and the requirement that they receive teacher certification. Even a person in a highly technical field (e.g., nuclear engineer) cannot simply go and teach high school calculus. This person must study education first. Critics say this unnecessarily eliminates qualified people from becoming teachers. Critics also say it makes no sense to give teachers civil service protections (tenure). If they’re not successfully educating kids, we should fire them. Defenders say, “Not just anyone can teach; the study of education adds real value.” Furthermore, members of professions don’t live in constant fear of getting fired.
- It is not completely clear which activities are allowed or prohibited by these laws. For example, in spring 2007, Karl Rove, deputy White House chief of staff and a close political adviser to President George W. Bush, had given briefings to senior political appointees on Republican losses in the 2006 midterm elections and plans for the 2008 campaign. During one briefing, the head of the General Services Administration asked how her agency could help elect Republican candidates in 2008. As a senior member of the White House staff, Rove was exempt from the Hatch Act’s prohibitions, but the more junior White House staff involved in the briefings probably were not.
- Federal employees must be careful that their comments to the media comply with Hatch Act restrictions. President Obama’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Julian Castro, shown here at the Common Sense Media Awards in 2016, violated the Hatch Act when he spoke about the 2016 presidential campaign during an interview with journalist Katie Couric.
- One of the problems for a new administration is finding appropriate government jobs for loyal campaign workers and contributors. Agencies that often employ these individuals, despite their lack of qualifications, are known as “turkey farms.” These appointees generally serve without mishap, but the Bush administration’s use of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a turkey farm was cited as one reason for the agency’s inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina.
- Bureaucratic drift doesn’t necessarily have to be nefarious, though is still troubling from a political control perspective. Drift is the action of experts who prioritize their views over those of Congress. It may be (fictional Parks and Recreation character) Ron Swanson refusing to do anything, or it may be an environmentalist working for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who goes beyond what she is ordered to do.
- Lawmakers can also limit who runs the agency. (Can you see how politics creeps back in to the equation?) The Federal Election Commission’s six commissioners (three Republicans, three Democrats) are an example.
- Topic for discussion: what’s the better route for Congress to take in bureaucratic regulation? Police patrol is costly, as it takes up valuable time and resources, but it stops problems before they start. Fire alarm is cost-efficient, but help only arrives after a problem emerged. How would Congress work if it were more inclined to practice police patrol oversight for every bureaucratic agency?
- Many government regulations work as intended. An increase in regulatory attention to environmental protection and cleanup of polluted sites has dramatically improved water quality nationwide, including that of the Hudson River in New York, shown here.
- Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs greatly expanded the power of the federal government and the bureaucracy. As this cartoon shows, these changes were controversial, with some seeing them as moving too much power from Congress to the president and bureaucracy.
- The Senate’s power over the confirmation of senior agency officials is often used as a tool to shape agency policy and operations. Richard Cordray, the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, was nominated after some senators objected to President Obama’s first nominee, Elizabeth Warren, who was a Harvard Law professor at the time.
- After news of an $800,000 General Services Administration (GSA) conference at a Las Vegas resort came to light in 2012, Congress held hearings on the agency’s practices. Here, Representative John Mica (R-FL) criticizes the apparent misuse of taxpayer money.
- Although the term “bureaucracy” may suggest workers sitting behind desks in offices, the agencies of the federal bureaucracy perform a wide range of tasks. Following the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010, the Coast Guard—a government agency—responded to try to put out the fire. #DeepwaterHorizon #BPoilspill #USCG
- The State Department’s backlog of passport applications is a good example of how bureaucrats’ actions (or inactions) can affect the lives and plans of ordinary Americans.
- The Environmental Protection Agency created the Flint Water Advisory Task Force to coordinate federal, state, and local efforts to fix the contamination of Flint’s water supply. Besides changing the implementation of existing regulations, the task force will also investigate the need for new regulations to prevent similar problems from developing in other cities. #FlintWaterCrisis @EPAwater