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Ajaypal Gill

Period 3

Mr. Marr

April 9, 2007

1. Charles Guiteau shot President James Garfield because the president would

not offer him a job. To avoid a similar situation, President Chester Arthur

signed the Pendleton Civil Service Act. This Act created the federal Civil

Service.

2. According to Weber, a bureaucracy depends on four certain elements: It has

a hierarchical authority structure, in which power flows form the top down

and responsibility from the bottom up; it uses task specialization, so that

experts instead of amateurs perform technical jobs. Bureaucracies operate

on the merit principle, in which entrance and promotion are awarded on the

basis demonstrated abilities rather than on “who you know.” Bureaucracies

behave with impersonality so that all their clients are treated impartially.

3. Bureaucracies can be seen as either acquisitive or monopolistic. They are

acquisitive because they are busily maximizing their budgets and expanding

their powers. Bureaucratic administrators are committed to the “products”

they “sell” –national security, schooling, public health, higher education,

police protection –and their piece of the government’s total budget pie is a

good measure of how highly their product is valued. They are monopolistic

because they are free from competition, being the sole supplier of some key

good. It can afford to exact high prices and behave inefficiently. In general,

there is no alternative to the local fire department or water supply system.


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Only wealthy people really have an alternative to the local school system, the

Social Security System, or the government-run Medicare for the elderly.

4. All regulation contains these elements: (1) a grant of power and set of

directions from Congress, (2) a set of rules and guidelines by the regulatory

agency itself, and (3) some means of enforcing compliance with

congressional goals and agency regulations.

5. Bureaucracies are quasi-legislative because they have rule-making powers.

Examples of quasi-legislative actions are everywhere. Agencies with

authority over environmental matters may pass rules that restrict the rights

of property owners to alter or build on their land; departments of revenue

may pass rules that affect how much tax a person pays; and local housing

agencies may set and enforce standards on health and safety in housing.

They are also quasi-judicial because they interpret the law and hold hearings.

For example, the Social Security Administration may resolve disputes on

issues concerning Social Security contributions and benefits, but it may not

decide any other issues, even those related to Social Security benefits such

as tax, estate, and probate questions.

6. Bureaucracies often fail in their implementation of polices because of the

following factors: (1) a faulty program design, (2) a broad policy goal lacking

clarity, (3) lack of resources, (4) administrative routines failing necessary

changes to complete its tasks, (5) administrators’ considerable discretion to

behave independently, and (6) fragmentation caused by responsibility for a

policy being dispersed among several units within the bureaucracy.

7. The case, Munn v. Illinois, involved the right of the state Illinois to regulate

the charges and services of a Chicago warehouse. During this time, farmers
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were seething about alleged overcharging by railroads, grain elevator

companies, and other business firms. In 1887 –a decade after Munn –

Congress created the first regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce

Commission (ICC), and charged it with regulating the railroads, their prices,

and their services to farmers; the ICC thus set the precedent for regulatory

policymaking.

8. The Congress and the president utilize various procedures to control

bureaucracies. Presidents try to appoint the right people, give executive

orders, alter budgets, and attempt to reorganize the agency. Congress

approves the president’s appointments, holds hearings, also alters budgets,

and rewrites legislation.

The President and the Congress share two powers to control the

bureaucracy. First of all, the person the president appoints to head the

agency is influenced by the Congress. Putting their people in charge is one

good way for presidents to influence agency policy. When congressional

approval is required, members are doubly influential; offering their opinions

about who should and who shouldn’t be running the agencies. Secondly,

both the President and the Congress can tinker with an agency’s budget.

Through the OMB, the president has an authority over the budget. However,

the Congress does the appropriating for the president’s actions.

The President may independently issueexecutive orders to agencies.

These orders carry the force of law and are used to implement statutes,

treaties, and provisions of the Constitution. He may also try to reorganize an

agency, thought it is often difficult.


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Congress may hold hearings and rewrite legislation to control bureaucrats.

Committees and subcommittees can hold periodic hearings as part of their

oversight job. A flagrant agency abuse of congressional intent typically

goesto the very committee that created a program; the committee thus has

some stake in showing the agency in a favorable light. Sometimes

bureaucracies take advantage of broad legislations, which lack clarity. The

Congress has the ability to rewrite this legislation and make it more detailed.

The Congress and the president utilize various procedures to control

bureaucracies. Presidents try to appoint the right people, give executive

orders, alter budgets, and attempt to reorganize the agency. Congress

approves the president’s appointments, holds hearings, also alters budgets,

and rewrites legislation.

Though the average American citizen cannot control the bureaucracy, the

Congress and the President try to have some hold over it. Whereas the

President can generally take action, Congress most often must approve of it.

Therefore, both houses of government have an influence of controlling the

bureaucracy.

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