Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
13
In
formal
terms,
bureaucracy
is
a
system
of
organization
and
control
that
is
based
on
three
principle:
hierarchical
authority,
job
specialization,
and
formalized
rules
The
president
and
Congress
get
far
more
attention
in
the
news,
but
the
federal
bureaucracy
has
a
more
direct
impact
on
Americans
every
lives
The
leading
administrative
units
are
the
fifth
cabinet
(executive)
departments
which
led
to
critics
to
label
it
a
spoils
systema
device
for
the
awarding
of
government
jobs
to
friends
and
party
hacks
The
administrative
object
of
the
merit
system
is
neutral
competence A
merit-based
bureaucracy
is
competent
in
the
sense
that
employees
are
hired
and
retained
on
the
basis
of
their
skills,
and
its
is
neutral
in
the
sense
that
employees
are
not
partisan
appointees
and
are
expected
to
be
of
service
to
everyone,
not
just
those
who
support
the
incumbent
president
It
has
its
own
biases
and
inefficiencies
Career
bureaucrats
tend
to
place
their
agencies
interest
ahead
of
those
of
other
agencies
and
typically
oppose
efforts
to
trim
their
agencies
programs
The
large
majority
of
federal
employees
have
a
GS
(Graded
Service)
job
ranking
Federal
employees
salaries
increase
with
rank
and
length
of
service
Although
federal
employees
are
underpaid
in
comparison
with
their
counterparts
in
the
private
sector,
they
receive
better
fringe
benefitsincluding
full
health
insurance,
secure
retirement
plans,
and
substantial
vacation
time
and
sick
leavethen
do
most
private-sector
employees
Federal
employees
can
form
labor
unions,
but
their
union
by
law
have
limited
scope;
the
government
has
full
control
of
job
assignments,
compensation,
and
promotion
The
Budgetary
Process
Of
special
importance
to
executive
agencies
is
the
budgetary
process
the
process
through
which
annual
federal
spending
and
revenue
decisions
are
made
The
Constitution
assigns
Congress
the
power
to
tax
and
spend,
but
the
president,
as
chief
executive,
also
has
a
major
role
in
determining
the
budget
The
budgetary
process
involves
give-and-take
between
Congress
and
the
president
as
each
tries
to
influence
how
federal
funding
will
be
distributed
among
various
agencies
and
programs
The
President
and
Agency
Budgets
The
budgetary
process
beings
in
the
executive
branch
when
the
president,
in
constitution
with
the
Office
of
Management
and
Budget
(OMB),
establishes
general
budget
guidelines
Each
agency
is
assigned
a
budget
ceiling
that
it
cannot
exceed
in
developing
its
budget
proposal
The
agencies
receive
their
guidelines
in
the
spring
and
then
work
through
the
summer
to
create
a
detailed
agency
budget,
taking
into
account
their
existing
programs
and
new
proposals
They
then
are
submitted
to
OMB
in
September
for
a
full
review
that
invariably
includes
further
consultation
with
each
agency
and
the
White
House
OMB
then
finalizes
the
agency
budgets
and
combines
them
into
the
presidents
budget
proposal
The
president
does
not
have
any
real
say
over
most
of
the
budget,
about
2/3
of
which
involves
mandatory
spending
The
spending
is
required
by
law,
which
includes
spending
on
In
sum,
administrators
initiate
policy,
develop
it,
evaluate
it,
apply
it,
and
decide
whether
others
are
complying
with
it
The
bureaucracy
does
not
simply
administer
policy,
it
also
makes
policy
They
spend
their
careers
working
in
a
particular
policy
area,
and
many
of
them
have
had
scientific,
technical,
or
other
specialized
training
Elected
officials,
on
the
other
hand,
are
generalists,
none
more
so
that
the
president,
who
must
deal
with
dozens
of
interests
Members
of
Congress
acquire
some
expertise
through
their
committee
work,
but
most
of
them
lack
the
time,
training,
or
inclination
to
become
deeply
knowledgeable
of
the
issues
they
handle
Reorganization
Some
agencies
operate
within
guidelines
that
limit
what
agency
heads
can
do
As
party
polarization
has
increased
in
Washington,
the
presidential
appointment
process
has
become
more
contentious
Presidents
have
increasingly
sought
to
appoint
individuals
who
can
be
trusted
to
advance
the
White
Houses
agenda
while
senators
of
the
opposing
party
have
increasingly
sought
to
block
those
that
they
think
are
overly
partisan
Although
presidents
usually
prevail
in
these
showdowns,
there
are
limits
to
what
they
can
accomplish
through
their
appointees
Presidential
appointees
number
in
the
100s,
and
many
of
them
lack
detailed
knowledge
of
the
agencies
they
head,
making
them
dependent
on
agency
careerists
By
the
time
they
come
to
understand
the
agencys
programs,
many
of
them
leave
OMB:
Budgets,
Regulations,
and
Legislative
Proposals
Of
the
management
tools
available
to
the
president,
few
are
more
direct
than
the
Office
of
Management
and
Budget
Funding
and
policy
are
the
mainstays
of
every
agency
OMBs
role
in
overseeing
the
preparation
of
agency
budgets,
it
acts
as
a
review
board
for
agency
regulations
and
policy
proposals
No
agency
can
issue
a
major
regulation
without
OMBs
verification
that
the
benefits
of
the
regulation
outweigh
its
costs,
and
no
agency
can
propose
legislation
to
Congress
without
OMBs
approval
OMB
operates
from
a
presidential
perspective
A
proposed
regulation
or
bill
that
conflicts
with
the
presidents