2.2 Bureaucracy, Administrative State, and Interest Groups - Lecture Outline

 

The Administrative State

 

Executive Branch and Public Policy

  • HOW THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH IS ORGANIZED. Executive departments and officers are referred to only indirectly in the Constitution; the framers apparently wanted to leave these questions to Congress and the president. The U.S. executive branch is comprised of several different kinds of administrative units. The appointments to these agencies is often known as the Spoils System after a Jacksonian Democrat commented “To the victor goes the Spoils!” The system is form of Patronage as the elected officials may distribute these jobs as rewards for political favors. These agencies provide services to the people and also provide a regulatory system and structure for the economy, environment, and other “systems” that are placed under government control. The First Congress realized how important it was that the president be surrounded by those win whom he had complete trust and confidence.

 

  1. Departmentsare headed by cabinet-level secretaries appointed by the president and approved by the Senate; they are designed to carry out the most essential government functions. 
  2. Independent executive agenciesare federal agencies that are not included in any of the departments and are not corporations or regulatory commissions. They usually perform a single specialized function. 
  3. Government corporationsare agencies that operate in a market setting and are organized much like a business enterprise. They are usually created to perform some essential economic activity that private investors are unwilling or unable to perform. 
  4. Independent regulatory commissionsare responsible for regulating aspects of the economy where it is judged that the free market does not work properly to protect the public interest. They are independent in the sense that they stand outside the departmental structure and are protected against direct presidential or congressional control.
  5. These agencies are created by Congress and transferred to the Executive Branch for administration. Congress has delegated legislative authority to these agencies in the form of “Rule-Making” power used to implement with will of the Congress as implemented by the Executive.
  6. All three branches, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, have authority over the agencies.
  • History of the Administrative State
    1. Cabinet Positions: State, Treasury,War, Attorney General
      1. Cabinet positions are created out of need: Homeland Security.
    2. Early Intervention- the power to regulate.
      • Interstate Commerce Act 1887
        • Creates the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
        • Munn v. Illinois (1877) allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads, and is commonly regarded as a milestone in the growth of federal government regulation
        • Wabash v. Illinois (1886) States may not regualte interstate commerce.
          • Federal Government may regulate commerce within the states.
  1. Progressive Era (1890’s to 1920’s)
    • Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal-
      • Use of federal power to implement a domestic program formed upon three basic ideas: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection.
    • Social Regulation
      • Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
    • Administrative Science
      • Body of Experts in charge of nations decision-making.
    • Woodrow Wilson
      • Federal Trade Commission (1914)
  1. New Deal
    • FDR’s Second Republic
      • A complete reorientation of national government and the Constitution.
      • A transition from a laissez faire society to one of government direction and control
    • Three States to “Control” the nation. Cooperative Federalism The Welfare State
      • Regulatory State-Economic control
      • Redistributive State - move money and materials from where they are produced to where they are neede
      • Patronage State - the distribution of money, jobs, and programs to create a following

Legislative Branch

Executive Branch

Judicial Branch

Creates Agencies

Directs Agencies

Interprets Rules

 

 

 

 

Administrative State

 

 

Regulatory State

Redistribute State

Patonage State

Using “police powers” to control the nation

ICC, FED, NLRB

 

Fiscal and Monetary

Tax and Spend

 

 

WPA

 

 

 
  • Formal Structures of the Administrative State (Bureaucracy)
    1. Cabinet Department: Area of strong national interest
      1. 15 Cabinet Secretaries of Formal Departments covering a wide span of control
        • State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Energy, Education, Veterans’ Affairs, Homeland Security.
      2. Appointed by President and approved by Senate.
  • Client Agencies: serves a specific clientele to promote interests of the group with the workings and policy promotion of the government: Agriculture-farmers
  1. Cabinet Secretaries are rsponsidle directly to the President but are also under the supervision of Congress and are linked to the clients they manage. Cabinet Secretaries are often “pulled” by each of these interests to implement “their” will as the Department make rules and regulations to oversee the area of control.
  1. Government Corporations –Market Failure, Responsibility
    1. These could be provided by private industry but instead are run by the government
    2. TVA, FDIC, Amtrack, US Postal Service
  2. Independent Executive Agencies
    1. Similar to Cabinet agencies but narrow in scope
    2. Provides service rather than regulation
  • NASA, EPA**, CIA
  1. Appointed by President and confirmed by Senate.
  2. EPA is less under the jurisdiction of the President than if it were a full Cabinet Agency. Allows EPA to administer rules for environment rather than President’s wishes (politics?)
  1. Independent Regulatory Agencies
    1. “Agencies created by Congress to act outside of the Cabinet and have the authority to regulate a specific activity or interest.” Congress sought to create commission that could develop expertise and provide continuity ofpolicy with respect to econmic issues because neighter Congress not the courst have the time or specific talents to do so. –The agencies are a body of experts.
    2. Run by a “Board or Commission” with a Chairman
  • Appointed By President, approved by Congress, Cannot be removed by President (Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S. 1935) unless they fail to uphold oaths of duty. “Independent panel of experts as far removed as possible from th immediate political pressure.”
  1. E.C., FTC, Federal Reserve, F.C.C., N.L.R.B., O.S.H.A.

 

 

  • Congressional Acts-Regulating the Agencies
    1. Pendleton Act 1833- Merit System replaces “spoils system.” Federal employees are awarded rank and file jobs based upon merit examinations rather the political patronage.
    2. Administrative Procedures Act 1946- The “Constitution” of the Administrative State. Established legal foundation of the scope and authority of agency rule-making and power.
    3. Executive Reorganization Act 1937- President may reorganize Executive Branch to better meet his needs
    4. Hatch Act 1939-Keeps bureaucracy from becoming political- federal employees may not work for a political candidate.
    5. Federal Employees Political Activities Act 1993 “liberalized” the Hactch Act to allow more political activities by federal employees

 

  • Policy Making- “Quasi-Legislative, Quasi-Judicial Functions”
    1. “When Congress creates any kind of department, commission, or agency, it is delegating its powers to that body. Therefore, the body which is created has the authority to make numerous policy decision which have the effect of law.”
    2. Policy Implementation
      1. Agencies are staffed by “Experts” [Administrative Science} and therefore have the knowledge and authority to make the best policy for our nation.
    3. Administrative Description
      1. The ability of agencies to make decisions on how to best implements the will of Congress. Congress passes a law, but does not state the specifics of the implementation
      2. Rule Making- Quasi-Legislative Adminstrative Process.
        • Regulations are the rules that govern theoperation of all government programs and have the force of law.
          • “Rulemaking is the single most important function performed by the agencies of government.”
        • Administrative Procedures Act of 1946- Constitution of the Bureaucracy. Establishes a “fair” process to create rules and allow public participation. The are published in the Federal Register.
          • Public Notice of time, place, and nature of rule-making process
          • Interested parties have opportunity to “speak to” or “influence” Rules.
          • Statutory purpose of basis of rule must be stated
          • Rules must wait for 30 days before they take effect
          • See Figure 9.6 for Rule Flow Chart
        • Administrative Adjudication- Quasi-Judicial process where the agencies settle disputes
          • Agencies find persons or businesses in violation of rules and then force compliance
          • Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) “interprets” the rules made by the agencies when they are disputed by the public..
          • Federal Trade Commission determines what is an unfair trade practice.
          • Decision may be challenged before an ALJ.
          • ALJ’s decision (or any decision by an agency) is reviewable by a federal judge, primarily the D.C. Circuit Court., and then the Supreme Court.
          • Federal Courts usually “defer” to an agency rule unless the rule is “arbitrary and capricious.”

 

 

  • Policy Control
    1. Iron Triangles, Sub-government, issue networks, policy networks.
    2. Iron Triangles or subgovernemt

  

 

 

 

  1. “Policy-making sub-governments are iron because they are impenetrable to outsiders and largely autonomous. These are sub-government because they operate “below government” and “exclude” the public. This is a symbiotic relationship as each participant gains from the relationship.
  2. “policy decisions made withing these iron triangles foster the interests of the client group and seldom advance a national agenda,”
  • Congress, by practice, defers to the expertise of its committees, and internally the expertise of its subcommittees and staff, Hence, policy is actually driven by the subcommittee staff who write the legislation. (embedded rights) This is power because upon review by a federal judge, its is the written legislation that is enforced. Therefore, a sub-committee staff member IS created enforceable law in America!

 

 

 

 

Social Security Administration

 

 

Sub-committee on Aging

 

American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)

 
  • Application of Iron Triangles
    1. ARP
      • Provides money and votes to members on the House Sub-committee on Aging in return for favorable legislation.
      • Provides research, influence, rule-making participation, and support to Social Security Administration
    2. Social Security Administration
      • Provides favorable rules to AARP
      • Provides constitutes services for members of the Sub-committee on Aging
  • Sub-committee on Aging
    • Provides budget support and continued expansion for Social Security Administration
    • Provides constituent services for members of AARP
    • Chairman of this committee is most likely form Florida or Arizona (think retirement and votes)
  1. Iron Triangles to Issue Networks
    1. Iron Triangles have become “policy or issue networks” because they now incorporate a wider span of participants and actors.
    2. Lobbyists, media consultants, and the courts are now fully involved in policy creation.
  • Interest groups join forces to influence policy
  1. Issue Networks are constantly changing as members with tehcnical expertise or newly interested parties become involved in issue areas.

 

 

  • Making Agencies Accountable (See handout)
    1. Executive Control
    2. Legislative Control
  • Judicial control
  • Politics- How to control the policy process
    1. Capture-Gaining Control
    2. Going Native! –Losing Control
  • Executive Control
    • Executive Orders
    • Appointments
    • Signing Statements
    • Reorganization
  1. Legislative Control
    • Budget and Oversight
      • Police patrol, fire alarm, investigation
        • Police Patrol- proactive
        • Fire Alarm-reactive
      • Legislative Veto (Unconstitutional under INS v. Chada)
      • Congressional Review-allows Congress 60 days to dissaprove newly announced agency regulations.
        • Agency regulation may be nullified by a joint resolution of Congressional disapproval and signed by President
  1. Judicial control

 

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

http://www.reginfo.gov/public/reginfo/Regmap/index.jsp

 

Federal Rule-Making Procedures

PLSC.200.Exam#3.Review.S14.canvas.jpg
 

 

 

Interest Groups, Government and the Policy Process

"Public policy is the result of interactions and dynamics among actors, interests, institutions, and processes. The formation of policy agendas, the enactment of public policies by Congress and the President, and the implementation and interpretation of policies by the bureaucracy and the courts, are all stages in the policy process."

 

Who makes decisions in America? – Individuals v. Groups

Individuals

  1. Mancur Olsen: theorized that “only a separate and ‘selective’ incentive will stimulate a rational individual in a latent group to act in a group-oriented way”; that is, only a benefit reserved strictly for group members will motivate one to join and contribute to the group. This means that individuals will act collectively to provide private goods Links to an external site., but not to provide public goods Links to an external site.. A free rider is an individual who gains a benefit from the group without participating in the group itself.

 

Groups- Why join a group? Benefits. Who controls the policy process and how?

  1. Elite Theory- C. Wright Mills The Power Elite. Decisions in America are made by an overlap of three groups: Corporate Leaders, Military Leaders, and Government Leaders.       The modern theory would also include the Media.
  2. Bureaucratic Theory- Max Weber-German-Structure IS power. Structures have become SO complex that the institutions themselves perpetuate power beyond the scope of individuals.
  3. Interest Group Theory - Organized groups pressure the government in the multiple branches and at multiple levels in order to bring about specific change which is beneficial to the group [Economics: Rent seeking behavior- the government provides a benefit to the group]
  4. Disturbance Theory -is a political postulation by David Truman Links to an external site. that states that interest groups Links to an external site. form primarily in opposition to other interest groups so as to counteract influence in their respective political domains. The theory also states that interest groups form and grow in response to threats
  5. Pluralist Theory-Theodore Lowi- Interest Group Liberalism- The government is so vast that ALL organized groups will receive something for their efforts, yet what is good for the public at large will seldom be the case.
  6. Transaction Theory-public policies are the result of narrowly defined exhanges among political actors.       It is not rational for individuals to form groups (Olsen) and therefore, the groups that do mobilize will represent elites.
  1. Population Ecology Theory- Organizational ecology(the population ecology of organizations) is a theoretical and empirical approach in the social sciences Links to an external site. that is especially used in organizational studies Links to an external site.. Organizational ecology utilizes insights from biology Links to an external site., economics Links to an external site., and sociology Links to an external site., and employs statistical analysis to try and understand the conditions under which organizations emerge, grow, and die
  2. If groups compete for governmental resources, and you do not…what do you get?

 

Types of Interest Groups

  1. Public Interest Groups-
    1. organizations that seek a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectivley and materially benefit the membership or activists of the organizations.
      1. Progressive Era
    2. Economic Interest Groups
      1. Groups that organize to protect particular economic interests or make a profit or obtain economic benefits for their members.
      2. These groups find that they MUST participate in the political arena to produce a favorable outcome for their members.
    3. Governmental Units
      1. State and Local governments lobby the federal government for benefits
      2. Big Seven Intergovernmental Associations
    4. Political Action Committees
      1. Political Finance extension of organized interests. PACs do not have members but use financial resources to influence political decisions
      2. Non-profit 527 groups do have members

 

Evolution of Organized Interests

James Madison In Federalist #10 he addresses the question of how to guard against "factions Links to an external site.," or groups of citizens, with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community. In today's discourse the term advocacy group Links to an external site. or special interest group often carries the same denotation. Madison argued that a strong, large republic would be a better guard against those dangers than smaller republics—for instance, the individual states. Factions are present in all political systems and they struggle for influence and power among themselves to control the political process.

 

  • National Groups 1830-1889
    1. Anti-Slavery or Abolitionists Movement-
      1. Remove slavery from the United States
    2. Women’s Temperance Movement
      1. Outlaw alcohol
    3. The Grange or Populists Movement
      1. Educate and influence Congress to enact legislation to help farmers.
    4. Post Civil War
      1. Business/Economic Interests organize to influence laws to promote profit
        • Standard Oil
        • Sugar, Steel, and Oil Trusts
        • Railroads-Central Pacific Railroad
          • Lobbyist –sent to Congress become clerk to committees of BOTH houses that oversee regulation of railroad industry. CPR given large land grants to build Transcontinental Railroad.
        • Trusts, Monopolies, Partnerships, and Conglomerates seek to control government
        • Machine Politics
  • Progressive Era (1890-1920)- was a period of social activism and reform. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political machines and bosses. Many (but not all) Progressives supportedprohibition Links to an external site. in order to destroy the political power of local bosses based in saloons Links to an external site.. At the same time, women's suffrage Links to an external site. was promoted to bring a "purer" female vote into the arena. Many people led efforts to reform local government, education, medicine, finance, insurance, industry, railroads, churches, and many other areas. Progressives transformed, professionalized and made "scientific" the social sciences, especially as history, economics, and political science, as the day of the amateur author gave way to the research professor who published in the new scholarly journals and presses. 
    1. Groups formed in response to the gains of business in the previous era. These actions causes business to organize even more
      1. Organized Labor
        • AFL-CIO
          • Clayton Act-right to organize and strike
          • Business and Trade Organizations
            • National Association of Manufacturers
  1. Trade Associations
    • Formed in response to the Clayton Act
      • Worked to limit the impact or government restrictions
      • Lobbied Congress to promote pro-business legislation
    • Post New Deal- Interest Group State (1960’s -70’s)
      1. Public Interest Groups- response to distrust of government- post Vietnam
        1. ACLU-Individual Rights
        2. NAACP- Minority Rights
  • AARP- Elder Rights
  1. Government watchdog groups
    • Common Cause
    • Public Citizen-Ralph Nadar
  2. These were considered “liberal” activist groups.
  1. Conservative Organization
    1. Moral Majority-Jerry Falwell
      • Reagan 1980’s election
    2. Christian Coalition
      • Newt Gingrich Congress 1994
  • National Rifle Association

 

 

Lobbying

“Lobying is the process by which interest groups attempt to assert their influence on the policy-making process.”

 

  • Lobbying Congress
    1. Iron Triangles
      1. Work with Congressional Leadership
      2. Committee Chairs
    2. Political Action Committees
      1. Make campaign contributions to key decision-makers
  • Lobby the Executive
    1. Groups attempt to influence the formulation and implementation of policy
    2. Influce President or key staff
  • Lobby the Judicial
    1. Sponsor individual or group in litigation
      1. ACLU pays for and represents client in SC
    2. File Amicus Curaie
    3. Influence the Solicitor General to take a case.
    4. Influence Judicial Appointments to the bench
      1. Interest Groups helped to oust Robert Bork- verb: Borked
  • Election Activities
    1. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement
      1. Emilies List “Early Money is Like Yeast”
        • Provides seed money to recruited female candidates
      2. WISH
        • Women in the House and Senate
      3. Get Out the Vote
      4. Campaign Funding
        1. Political Action Committees

 

 

Public Policy and the Policy Process

Policy Process

  1. Problem Recognition –“Houston, We have a problem!”
  2. Agenda setting
    1. Agenda set of problems which policy makers believe should receive attention
  1. Systematic agenda-sets of problems that ALL governments have (discussion agenda)
  2. Governmental or institutional agenda- problems that Members of Congress believe should receive official attention. A Congressional agenda will receive attention
    1. President sets major agenda items for Congress
    2. Interest groups bring agendas to the attention of President and Congress-Agenda setting.
    3. Crisis- Bring Agenda to National Level- World Trade Center.
    4. Policy Entrepreneurs- Individuals who get agenda upon the national state-Ralph Nadar- Unsafe at Any Speed, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.
    5. Political Change. Reagan Revolution brought on the Conservative agenda.
    6. Media- Coverage will establish Public’s priority for change
    7. Agenda setting is a competitive process as Congress cannot take on all issues. “The group who struggles the best, will get its issue on the congressional docket.”
  1. Policy Formation
    1. What should be done?
    2. Shaped by “Political Actors” individuals who want a certain outcome.
  1. White House Staff, Members of Congress, Think Tanks, Interest Groups.
  1. Policy Adoption
    1. A legal acceptance of the policy- Congress or the White House
  1. Coalition Building is often needed for success
  1. Budgeting
    1. Budget IS policy.
  1. Policy can be successful with proper funding or killed with inadequate funding.
  1. Policy Implementation
    1. The process of carrying out public policy
    2. Administrative Agencies will create “Rules and Standards” to implement the will of Congress, the White House, or the Supreme Court.
    3. Typology of Implementation
  1. Authorative Technique
    1. Rules, laws, and code are established with the power of enforcement
    2. Title IX
  2. Incentive Technique
    1. Economic incentives to act in the wishes of the policy objective.
    2. Car Allowance  Rebate System, (CARS) Cash for Clunckers
  • Capacity Technique
    1. Educate the population to make the choice they already know is right
  1. Hortatory Technique
    1. Implement policy by appealing to people’s sense of “better instincts”
    2. Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No to Drugs.”
  1. Policy Evaluation
    1. Is the policy working?
    2. GAO, OMB, Interest Group, Congressional Committee

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