The federal bureaucracy carries out the day-to-day work of the government as the nation's largest employer, with over 2.7 million employees managing tasks like mail delivery, regulating businesses, collecting taxes, and overseeing national forests. While it provides hierarchical authority, job specialization and formalized rules, the bureaucracy also faces criticisms of being inefficient, wasteful, and overly bureaucratic. The Executive Office of the President oversees executive departments like State, Defense, Justice and others, as well as independent agencies like NASA, Social Security Administration and the Federal Election Commission that operate outside the traditional department structure.

1. Government at Work
The Bureaucracy

2. objective
• describe and explain the role and major
criticisms of the federal bureaucracy.

3. what is the federal
bureaucracy?
• the nation’s largest employer (2.7
million).
• carries out the day-to-day work of the
government.
– mail delivery, regulate businesses, collect
taxes, manage national forests etc.

4. what are the benefits of a
bureaucracy?
• hierarchical authority.
• job specialization.
• formalized rules.

5. criticisms of the federal
bureaucracy
• “red tape.”
• inefficient.
• wasteful.

6. Executive Office of the
President
• The White House Office
• The National Security Council
• Office of Homeland Security
• Office of Management and Budget

7. The Cabinet
• informal advisory body brought together by
the President to serve his needs.
– 15 different departments
– state, treasury, defense, justice, interior,
agriculture, commerce, labor, health and human
services, housing and urban development,
transportation, energy, education, veterans affairs,
homeland security.

8. selecting Cabinet
members
• head of each department is appointed
by the President and confirmed by who?
• influential factors include:
– party
– campaign role
– geography
– women/minorities
– qualifications?

9. Independent agencies
• Set up outside the Cabinet departments.
• Why independent agencies?
– Not a good fit anywhere else (General
Services Administration)
– Protected from partisan and pressure
politics.

10. examples of independent
agencies
• NASA
• Social Security Administration
• Federal Election Commission
• Civil Rights Commission

11. government corporations
• subject to the President’s direction and
control.
• set up by Congress to carry out
business-like activities
• Amtrak, U.S. Postal Service, the FDIC,
the Tennessee Valley Authority etc.
• government regulation vs. private
corporations?