1. Government at Work
The Bureaucracy

2. objective
• describe and explain the role and major
criticisms of the federal bureaucracy.

3. what is the federal
bureaucracy?
• the nation’s largest employer (2.7
million).
• carries out the day-to-day work of the
government.
– mail delivery, regulate businesses, collect
taxes, manage national forests etc.

4. what are the benefits of a
bureaucracy?
• hierarchical authority.
• job specialization.
• formalized rules.

5. criticisms of the federal
bureaucracy
• “red tape.”
• inefficient.
• wasteful.

6. Executive Office of the
President
• The White House Office
• The National Security Council
• Office of Homeland Security
• Office of Management and Budget

7. The Cabinet
• informal advisory body brought together by
the President to serve his needs.
– 15 different departments
– state, treasury, defense, justice, interior,
agriculture, commerce, labor, health and human
services, housing and urban development,
transportation, energy, education, veterans affairs,
homeland security.

8. selecting Cabinet
members
• head of each department is appointed
by the President and confirmed by who?
• influential factors include:
– party
– campaign role
– geography
– women/minorities
– qualifications?

9. Independent agencies
• Set up outside the Cabinet departments.
• Why independent agencies?
– Not a good fit anywhere else (General
Services Administration)
– Protected from partisan and pressure
politics.

10. examples of independent
agencies
• NASA
• Social Security Administration
• Federal Election Commission
• Civil Rights Commission

11. government corporations
• subject to the President’s direction and
control.
• set up by Congress to carry out
business-like activities
• Amtrak, U.S. Postal Service, the FDIC,
the Tennessee Valley Authority etc.
• government regulation vs. private
corporations?