Third assignment
For next time, Tocqueville, 690-695
From last time:
Bureaucracy: the complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization that large-scale institutions use to coordinate the work of their personnel.
A hierarchical organization with a division of labor and specialization.
- Cabinet departments (e.g., the Department of Agriculture)
- Independent agencies: agencies that are not part of a Cabinet department but do not have Cabinet status themselves (e.g., EPA).
- Government corporations: government agencies that operate more like businesses (e.g., US Postal Service)
- Independent regulatory commissions: rule-making bodies that technically have some insulation from politics (such as the Federal Election Commission)
Bureaucrats are agents of elected officials who have discretion in how they do their jobs.
Who works for the federal government? (only about 4,000 are political appointees). Note: civilian payroll is only about 5% of federal spending.
After Congress passes law, the bureaucracy drafts rules:
- Federal Register (will come back on Wednesday)
- Code of Federal Regulations.
- Red Tape!
Things that federal bureaucracies do (categories overlap). It's complicated!
- Administer programs that provide cash or subsidies to a category of people (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, TANF, veteran benefits).
- Collect revenue
- Protect national and homeland security
- Enforce crminal law
- Manage and protect environment & natural resources (e.g., Interior, EPA, NOAA)
- Regulate business (FCC, FTC, Antitrust Division)
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