THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY Bureaucracy a large complex organization

THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY

• Bureaucracy: a large, complex organization composed of appointed officials. • Ex. Large corporations (Microsoft) • Ex. Universities • Ex. Government Agency

Weber’s theoretical view: • • • Hierarchical authority structure Task specialization Extensive rules Merit principle Standard operating procedures

Constitutional Basis: • Found in Article II of the Constitution in the reference to the creation of executive departments. • The Constitution permits both the president and Congress to exercise authority over the bureaucracy. • Every senior appointed official has at least 2 masters: one in the executive branch and the other in the legislative.

History of: • 1789 James Madison – bill to create a Dept. of State to assist the new secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson. • Started with only 9 employees • From 1816 to 1861 increased eightfold. - 86% of growth was Post Office

• Civil War was watershed in bureaucratic development. - fighting led to hiring many new officials and creating many new offices. - revealed administrative weakness of fed. gov’t – led to movement of reform for improvement in quality and organization of fed employees - war was followed by period of rapid industrialization and the emergence of a national economy.

• 1861 – 1903 new agencies were created to deal with sectors of economy. - Dept. of Agriculture (1862) - Dept. of Labor (1882) - ICC (1887) – Federal gov’t begins to regulate economy - Dept. of Commerce (1903) • Before ICC, agencies primary role was to serve, not to regulate.

• 1 st attempt at reform was 1871, Congress passed the Civil Service Commission. (failed due to inadequate funding) • Congress passed the Pendleton Act (Civil Service Act of 1883) after President Garfield was shot by a disgruntled office seeker. - set up merit as the criteria for hiring, promoting, and firing federal employees. • Hatch Act (1939) placed legal limitations on federal employees. - cannot run for office; actively campaign for a candidate; may not collect funds, organize rallies, or circulate nominating petitions. - may not join formal unions, but are able to form gov’t unions. Ex. Air Traffic Controllers

• Civil Service Reform Act (1978/Carter) - created Office of Personnel Management and the Merit Systems Protection Board. - replaced the Civil Service Commission

Today’s Bureaucracy • Product of two events: the Depression and New Deal programs, and WWII - features of bureaucracy set as a result of changes in public attitudes and in constitutional interpretation that occurred during these periods. - Gov’t now expected to play an active role in dealing with economic and social problems. - WWII was 1 st time gov’t made heavy use of fed. income tax to finance its activities

• btw 1940 and 1945 tax collections increased from $5 bill. to $44 bill. - 1 st great financial boom for the gov’t. - After war, country believed in large military and that social programs begun before the war should enjoy the heavy funding made possible by wartime taxes. - Permitted the sustained expansion of programs and entrenched a large # of administrators in Washington.

• • The Alphabet Agencies: FTC (1914) FDA (1931) FCC (1934) SEC (1934) EPA (1970) FEC (1975) are quasi legislative – act legislative when issuing regulations • are quasi judicial – act judicial when enforcing penalties for violations of their regulations

Relations with other government branches • • • 1. Although independent, bureaucracies are linked to president by appointment and direction and to Congress through oversight. Power depends on extent to which appointed officials have discretionary authority – the ability to chose courses of action and make policies that are not spelled out in advance by laws. Power has grown enormously – Congress has delegated authority to agencies in 3 areas: Paying subsidies to particular groups and organizations in society (farmers, veterans, scientists, schools, universities, hospitals)

2. Transferring $ from the federal government to state and local governments (grant-inaid programs) 3. Devising and enforcing regulations for various sectors of society and the economy. • Best example of the interrelationship among bureaucracies and the gov’t, is the iron triangle concept.

Congressional oversight: • 1. 2. 3. Congressional supervision takes several forms: No agency may exist, except for a few presidential offices, without congressional approval. No $ may be spent unless it has first been authorized by Congress. May be permanent, fixed for a number of years, or annual. Authorized funds cannot be spent unless they are also appropriated.

Power of Appropriations Committees