Chapter 7: The Executive Branch: Bureaucracy in a Democracy



Chapter 7: The Executive Branch: Bureaucracy in a Democracy

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. On March 1, 2003, twenty-two federal agencies with responsibilities for combating international terrorism in the United States were transferred to the

|a. |Department of Defense. |

|b. |National Security Administration. |

|c. |Department of Homeland Security. |

|d. |Federal Emergency Management Administration. |

2. By all accounts, the reorganization of the executive branch of the United States after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 marked the most dramatic reform of the federal bureaucracy since the

|a. |New Deal programs of the 1930s. |

|b. |Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. |

|c. |National Performance Review in the mid 1990s. |

|d. |establishment of the Department of Defense in 1947. |

3. The actual offices, tasks, and principles of organization that are employed in the most formal and sustained administration are called

|a. |polity. |

|b. |regime. |

|c. |delegacy. |

|d. |bureaucracy. |

4. The core of bureaucracy is

|a. |flexibility. |

|b. |division of labor. |

|c. |representative power. |

|d. |generalized functions. |

5. As bureaucracies develop, these organizations often approximate the shape of a

|a. |circle. |

|b. |square. |

|c. |pyramid. |

|d. |rectangle. |

6. The primary task of bureaucracy is

|a. |systems analysis. |

|b. |coordination. |

|c. |implementation. |

|d. |public relations. |

7. The effort of departments and agencies to translate laws into specific bureaucratic routines is called

|a. |rulemaking. |

|b. |effectuation. |

|c. |adjudication. |

|d. |implementation. |

8. A quasi-legislative administrative process that produces regulations by government agencies is

|a. |rulemaking. |

|b. |effectuation. |

|c. |adjudication. |

|d. |implementation. |

9. Once the rules for a federal public agency are approved, they

|a. |have the force of law. |

|b. |establish minimum standards for state-level regulation. |

|c. |serve as guidelines for the behavior of public employees. |

|d. |serve as guidelines for the behavior of regulated industries. |

10. The application of rules and precedents to specific cases to settle disputes with regulated parties is

|a. |oversight. |

|b. |rulemaking. |

|c. |administrative evil. |

|d. |administrative adjudication. |

11. What legislation was passed in 1966 to give ordinary citizens the right of access to agency files and agency data to determine whether derogatory information exists in the file about citizens themselves, and to learn about what the agency is doing in general?

|a. |Open Records Act |

|b. |Public Accessibility Act |

|c. |Freedom of Information Act |

|d. |Sunshine in Government Resolution |

12. The Department of Agriculture is an example of

|a. |a bureau. |

|b. |a cabinet department. |

|c. |an independent agency. |

|d. |a government corporation. |

13. In the United States, the head of a cabinet level department is usually called a

|a. |general. |

|b. |minister. |

|c. |secretary. |

|d. |chief advisor. |

14. The highest level of responsibility for specialized programs generally rests

|a. |at the bureau level. |

|b. |at the cabinet level. |

|c. |with the judicial officer. |

|d. |with the general counsel. |

15. The Forest Service is an example of

|a. |a cabinet department. |

|b. |a bureau-level agency. |

|c. |an independent agency. |

|d. |a government corporation. |

16. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is most accurately classified as

|a. |a cabinet department. |

|b. |an independent agency. |

|c. |a government corporation. |

|d. |an independent regulatory commission. |

17. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is most accurately classified as

|a. |a cabinet department. |

|b. |an independent agency. |

|c. |a government corporation. |

|d. |an independent regulatory commission. |

18. The United States Post Office is most accurately classified as

|a. |a cabinet department. |

|b. |an independent agency. |

|c. |a government corporation. |

|d. |an independent regulatory commission. |

19. In 1887, Congress established as the first regulatory agency the

|a. |Transportation Administration. |

|b. |Interstate Commerce Commission. |

|c. |Railroad Trust and Oversight Authority. |

|d. |Industry Safety and Accountability Board. |

20. The Federal Communications Commission is most accurately classified as

|a. |a cabinet department. |

|b. |an independent agency. |

|c. |a government corporation. |

|d. |an independent regulatory commission. |

21. The Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Labor, and Commerce are most accurately classified together as

|a. |welfare agencies. |

|b. |revenue agencies. |

|c. |clientele agencies. |

|d. |regulatory agencies. |

22. The primary task of the State Department is

|a. |research. |

|b. |diplomacy. |

|c. |military planning. |

|d. |state and local relations. |

23. The creation of the Department of Defense by legislation from 1947 to 1949 was an effort to unify the War Department with the

|a. |State Department. |

|b. |Navy Department. |

|c. |Central Intelligence Agency.` |

|d. |Department of Homeland Security. |

24. The American national government initially became involved in the regulation of economic and social affairs in the

|a. |late eighteenth century. |

|b. |late nineteenth century. |

|c. |late twentieth century. |

|d. |early twenty-first century. |

25. Most of the federal regulatory agencies date back to their initial creation in the

|a. |1890s. |

|b. |1930s. |

|c. |1960s. |

|d. |1990s. |

26. Rules made by regulatory agencies and commissions are referred to as

|a. |statutory law. |

|b. |civil ordinances. |

|c. |administrative legislation. |

|d. |bureaucratic adjudication. |

27. Policies having to do with taxing and spending are generally referred to as

|a. |fiscal. |

|b. |welfare. |

|c. |monetary. |

|d. |pecuniary. |

28. Policies having to do with banks, credit, and currency are generally referred to as

|a. |fiscal. |

|b. |welfare. |

|c. |monetary. |

|d. |pecuniary. |

29. Administration of fiscal policy is primarily performed in the

|a. |Treasury Department. |

|b. |Federal Reserve System. |

|c. |Office of Management and Budget. |

|d. |Securities and Exchange Commission. |

30. The federal agency responsible for printing American currency is the

|a. |Treasury Department. |

|b. |Federal Reserve System. |

|c. |Internal Revenue Service. |

|d. |Securities and Exchange Commission. |

31. The federal agency that has authority over the credit rates and lending activities of the nation’s most important banks is the

|a. |Treasury Department. |

|b. |Federal Reserve System. |

|c. |Internal Revenue Service. |

|d. |Securities and Exchange Commission. |

32. The largest federal welfare agency is the

|a. |Department of Agriculture. |

|b. |Social Security Administration. |

|c. |Office of Medicare and Medicaid. |

|d. |Department of Health and Human Services. |

33. The agency that administers the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program is the

|a. |Department of Agriculture. |

|b. |Social Security Administration. |

|c. |Department of Health and Human Services. |

|d. |Department of Housing and Urban Development. |

34. The federal agency responsible for the Food Stamp Program is the

|a. |Postal Service. |

|b. |Department of Agriculture. |

|c. |Food and Drug Administration. |

|d. |Department of Health and Human Services. |

35. Programs that require applicants to demonstrate that their total annual cash earnings fall below an

officially defined poverty line before they are eligible to receive public assistance are considered to be

|a. |means-tested. |

|b. |needs-certified. |

|c. |indigence-verified. |

|d. |subsistence-confirmed. |

36. The economist William Niskanen stipulates that, for the purposes of modeling bureaucratic behavior, a bureau chief or department head be thought of as a maximizer of his or her

|a. |time. |

|b. |leisure. |

|c. |budget. |

|d. |office politics. |

37. The frequent phenomenon of bureaucratic implementation that produces policy more to the liking of the bureaucracy than originally legislated, but not so much as to trigger a political reaction from elected officials is called

|a. |coalitional drift. |

|b. |bureaucratic drift. |

|c. |administrative evil. |

|d. |administrative retargeting. |

38. The most powerful before-the-fact political weapon for controlling the bureaucracy is the

|a. |sunset provision. |

|b. |procedural control. |

|c. |appointment process. |

|d. |appropriations process. |

39. The first president with a college degree in business was

|a. |Ronald Reagan. |

|b. |George W. Bush. |

|c. |John F. Kennedy. |

|d. |Woodrow Wilson. |

40. President Bill Clinton inaugurated one of the most systematic efforts “to change the way government does business” with an effort that was heavily influenced by the theories of management consultants who prized decentralization, customer responsiveness, and employee initiative. This attempt to infuse new practices into government was known as the

|a. |National Productivity Plan. |

|b. |Federal Program Evaluation. |

|c. |National Performance Review. |

|d. |Federal Accountability Project. |

41. The effort by Congress through hearings, investigations, and other techniques to exercise control over the activities of bureaucratic agencies in the executive branch is called

|a. |oversight. |

|b. |regulation. |

|c. |invigilation. |

|d. |superintendence. |

42. In the U.S. House of Representatives, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence reviews the performance of the Central Intelligence Agency in helping to prevent international terrorism. This review is known as

|a. |oversight. |

|b. |regulation. |

|c. |invigilation. |

|d. |superintendence. |

43. Congressional activities such as (1) the use of public hearings to discuss agency budgets and past decisions, (2) congressional casework, and (3) communications between congressional staff and agency staffs are examples of

|a. |oversight. |

|b. |regulation. |

|c. |invigilation. |

|d. |superintendence. |

44. Congress has created for itself three quite large agencies whose obligations are to engage in constant research on problems taking place in the executive branch: the

|a. |National Performance Office, Library of Congress, and the |

| |Congressional Budget Office. |

|b. |Government Accounting Office, Library of Congress, and the |

| |Office of Management and Budget. |

|c. |National Performance Review, Library of Congress, and the |

| |Congressional Oversight Committee. |

|d. |Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research |

| |Service, and the Congressional Budget Office. |

45. Matthew McCubbins and Thomas Schwartz distinguish between two types of oversight:

|a. |radar and satellite. |

|b. |principal and agentic. |

|c. |unimodal and bimodal. |

|d. |police patrol and fire alarm. |

46. Downsizing the federal bureaucracy by delegating the implementation of programs to state and local governments is called

|a. |devolution. |

|b. |outsourcing. |

|c. |agentic shift. |

|d. |capitalization. |

47. A formerly public activity that is picked up under contract by a business outside of government is called

|a. |rightsizing. |

|b. |downsizing. |

|c. |privatization. |

|d. |capitalization. |

48. An example of a government department agency that is both an agency for the maintenance of the Union and a fiscal agency is the

|a. |Treasury Department. |

|b. |Federal Reserve System. |

|c. |Congressional Budget Office. |

|d. |Securities and Exchange Commission. |

49. The federal agency that has authority over the credit rates and lending activities of the nation’s most important banks is the

|a. |Treasury Department. |

|b. |Federal Reserve System. |

|c. |Internal Revenue Service. |

|d. |Securities and Exchange Commission. |

50. The largest economic sector (accounting for onefifth of the U.S. total domestic output) is

|a. |health. |

|b. |agriculture. |

|c. |manufacturing. |

|d. |transportation. |

Essay:

The United States Congress and the President together have the power to enact federal law. Federal bureaucratic agencies have the responsibility to execute federal law. However, in the carrying out of these laws, federal agencies have policy-making discretion.

a. Explain two reasons why Congress gives federal agencies policy-making discretion in executing federal laws.

b. Choose one of the bureaucratic agencies listed below. Identify the policy area over which it exercises policy-making discretion AND give one specific example of how it exercises that discretion.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Federal Reserve Board

c. Describe two ways in which Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent.

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