Topic: The Job of the Federal Bureaucracy
Learning Objective: LO 12.2: Analyze the bureaucracy’s implementation
options and its effectiveness.
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
101. What are the benefits and drawbacks of providing citizens with enormous
amounts of information about the federal bureaucracy via the Internet?
1. Note the factors that have contributed to increased availability of
information: pressure from interest groups such as OMB Watch and the
Sunlight Foundation and the low cost of information provision via the
Internet.
2. Explain one or more advantages of information availability, such as the
fact that citizens can use such information to monitor the bureaucracy.
3. Explain one or more disadvantages of information availability, such as
the fact that too much information might make it difficult for citizens to
find what they are interested in or to understand the policy process.
Topic: Defining Public Policy
Learning Objective: LO 12.4: Relate politics and public policy, and differentiate
the three types of public policy.
Page Reference: 371
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
102. Define discretion as it applies to federal bureaucracy. Why might Congress grant
bureaucratic agencies broad discretion in the implementation of federal laws?
1. Define discretion as the ability of federal bureaucrats to make choices
concerning the best way to implement congressional or presidential
intentions.
2. Note that agencies typically exercise greater discretion when
implementing laws that contain ambiguity.
3. Explain one or more reasons why Congress might grant agencies broad
discretion, such as when creating policies involving scientific or technical
issues, or when ambiguity aids passage of a bill or allows members of
Congress to avoid blame for potentially unpopular policies.
Topic: The Job of the Federal Bureaucracy
Learning Objective: LO 12.2: Analyze the bureaucracy’s implementation
options and its effectiveness.
427
Page Reference: 365
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
103. What are independent regulatory commissions, and how are they independent?
Why are they removed from presidential and congressional control?
1. Define independent regulatory commissions as units in the executive
branch that make and enforce rules to protect the public interest, such as
the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Communications Commission.
2. Note that that their independence comes from the structure:
commissioners, once appointed, serve long terms and cannot be dismissed
by the president; and these commissions do not report to the president like
independent agencies do.
3. Explain that these agencies are removed from presidential and
congressional control so that they will be insulated from political influence
in decision-making.
Topic: Understanding the Federal Bureaucracy: Constitutional Origins,
Organizations, and Employees
Learning Objective: LO 12.1: Outline the constitutional roots of the federal
bureaucracy, its organizations, and its employees.
Page Reference: 361 – 362
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
104. Define and give an example of a government corporation. Why are some services
provided by government corporations rather than by traditional departments or
agencies?
1. Define a government corporation as a corporation created and funded
by the government to provide some public service.
2. Provide one or more examples, such as Amtrak and the Tennessee
Valley Authority.
3. Explain the main factor that leads the government to create these
corporations: to secure greater freedom of action and flexibility for a
particular program.
Topic: Understanding the Federal Bureaucracy: Constitutional Origins,
Organizations, and Employees
Learning Objective: LO 12.1: Outline the constitutional roots of the federal
bureaucracy, its organizations, and its employees.
428
Page Reference: 362
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
105. Describe the steps involved in the public policy process. Which step in the
process is most difficult and why? How might the process be terminated or
reversed?
1. Describe the process as having eight steps: (1) making assumptions
about the problem, (2) setting the agenda of problems to be addressed, (3)
deciding to act, (4) deciding how much to do, (5) choosing a solution to
the problem, (6) deciding who will deliver the goods or services, (7)
passing a law and making regulations for implementation, and (8) final
implementation as an ongoing policy.
2. Discuss how the choice to move forward in step 3 is the most difficult
because of the complexity of passing a bill, issuing an executive order, or
making a Supreme Court decision.
3. Identify that the process can be terminated at any step along the way,
either by a nondecision that stops the process before final action or by
termination once a policy is already running, and that the process can also
be reversed, such as when a new president comes into office and reverses
the policy direction of the previous one.
Topic: The Public Policy Process
Learning Objective: LO 12.5: Outline the key steps in making public policy, and
assess the different types of policy.
Page Reference: 372 – 380
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Essay Questions
106. In what ways are many citizens dissatisfied with the federal bureaucracy? What
events have affected their opinion, and how has citizen satisfaction changed in
recent years? How can citizens influence the public policy process? Provide
examples. Why is voting not enough? When is citizen action most successful?
1. Identify citizen concern with the performance of the bureaucracy,
particularly after Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf oil spill, and the failure to
detect the 2009 Christmas Day bombing plot.
2. Detail that public confidence in the executive branch has been generally
declining over the last 15 years, and that citizens are unhappy that the
Obama administration has not yet produced its promised overhaul of the
bureaucracy.
3. Explain that citizens can influence regulations, monitor bureaucratic
performance, and prompt needed reforms by supporting interest groups
that lobby for good government, visiting government websites, and
collecting information.
4. Identify that other ways citizens can influence the public policy process
are by voting, writing letters, sending e-mails, confronting legislators at
community meetings, and running for office themselves.
5. Discuss how voting is often hampered by the difficulty of determining
where candidates stand on issues and how voting alone is not sufficient to
convey precise information to policy makers about what citizens want to
see accomplished.
6. Note that citizen action is more successful when it does not just demand
that the government act but also makes a well-developed argument for
change and involves clear ideas for alternative policy.
Topic: Controlling the Federal Bureaucracy; Citizens and Public Policy
Learning Objective: LO 12.3: Assess presidential and congressional tools for
controlling the federal bureaucracy; LO 12.6: Assess ways in which citizens can
influence the public policy process.
Page Reference: 369, 381
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
107. If a cabinet department is not implementing a policy supported by the president,
what tools can the president use to influence the department?
1. Note that it is not uncommon for a department or agency to act contrary
to goals or objectives of the president.
2. Identify the president’s authority with respect to the cabinet secretary:
the president can appoint cabinet secretaries and dismiss them if they are
not fulfilling the president’s goals.
3. Identify the president’s authority with respect to agency budgets: all
agency budget proposals must be submitted through the Office of
Management and Budget. If an agency is not performing as expected, a
president can threaten to cut the agency’s budget.
4. Identify the president’s authority to issue executive orders that directly
impact departments and agencies. These orders carry the force of law.
Topic: Controlling the Federal Bureaucracy
430
Learning Objective: LO 12.3: Assess presidential and congressional tools for
controlling the federal bureaucracy.
Page Reference: 368 – 369
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: Difficult
108. When did federal civil service employees begin joining unions, and how many
belong to them? Compare and contrast federal employee unions with unions in the
private sector. Also describe how political participation differs for federal
employees and employees in the private sector, and explain why.
1. Note that federal civilian employees have had the right to form unions
since 1962 and that approximately one-third of them have joined such
unions.
2. Discuss the similarities between unions in the civil service and private
sector, for example, both negotiate for better personnel policies and
practices, represent employees at grievance and disciplinary proceedings,
and vote in elections.
3. Describe how federal employee unions differ from unions in the private
sector because federal employee unions are not allowed to strike or
bargain over pay and benefits.
4. Detail how federal employees, although they can vote in elections, are
subject to tight regulation under the Hatch Act regarding most other forms
of political participation because they administer so many laws that can
affect election outcomes.
Topic: Understanding the Federal Bureaucracy: Constitutional Origins,
Organizations, and Employees
Learning Objective: LO 12.1: Outline the constitutional roots of the federal
bureaucracy, its organizations, and its employees.
Page Reference: 364 – 365
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
109. Should federal bureaucrats be granted discretion in the implementation of public
policies?
1. Define discretion as the ability of federal bureaucrats to make choices
concerning the best way to implement congressional or presidential
intentions.
2. Explain that agencies are often granted broad discretion, especially
when Congress passes an ambiguous law.
3. Note that bureaucratic discretion may negatively affect democratic
accountability in that civil service employees make important policy
decisions, yet they are not directly accountable to the public via the
electoral process.
4. Explain how bureaucratic discretion may serve public interest,
especially in the case of regulatory commissions that exercise authority
independently of the president and Congress. These agencies, such as the
Federal Reserve Board, may need to be insulated from political pressure to
make decisions that are in the best interests of the public.
5. Take a position on the appropriateness of bureaucratic discretion in light
of these competing perspectives.
Topic: The Job of the Federal Bureaucracy
Learning Objective: LO 12.2: Analyze the bureaucracy’s implementation
options and its effectiveness.
Page Reference: 365 – 367
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
110. Why is voting insufficient as a form of participation for citizens seeking to
influence public policy?
1. Note the various ways that citizens can seek to influence public policy:
voting, joining interest groups, writing letters, sending e-mails,
confronting legislators at community meetings, and running for office
themselves.
2. Identify two primary reasons why voting is insufficient: (1) it does not
convey precise information, and (2) it neglects the complexity of the
policy process and the tendency toward nondecisions.
3. Elaborate on the first reason noted above. While voting is important for
ensuring the responsiveness of government to its citizens, it is a blunt
instrument that does not convey precise information to elected officials. In
contrast, the other methods of participation allow citizens to clearly spell
out what they would like government to do. These other approaches have
shown to be more successful.
4. Elaborate on the second reason noted above. The policy process is
complicated, with the possibility of a nondecision at any stage. To ensure
that proposals move through all eight steps of the policy process, citizens
need to aggressively and frequently convey their preferences to
government officials.
Topic: Citizens and Public Policy
432
Learning Objective: LO 12.6: Assess ways in which citizens can influence the
public policy process.
Page Reference: 381
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
433