Deck 13: The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government

Question 1

Amtrak is an example of a(n)

A)cabinet department.
B)government corporation.
C)independent agency.
D)regulatory agency.
E)presidential commission.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following statements does NOT correctly describe the typical independent agency?

A)It has a more narrow area of responsibility than that of cabinet departments.
B)Its head is appointed by an independent commission.
C)It is divided into a number of smaller operating units.
D)It exists independently of cabinet departments.
E)Its head is appointed by the president.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The Department of ________ was founded in 1889.

A)Health and Human Services
B)State
C)Labor
D)Homeland Security
E)Agriculture

Answer 3

E

Question 4

As distinct from the patronage system,the merit system for managing the bureaucracy

A)allows the president to appoint top officials of executive agencies,thus making the bureaucracy more responsive to election outcomes.
B)provides for presidential leadership of the bureaucracy,thus giving it greater coordination and direction.
C)provides for a neutral administration in the sense that civil servants are not partisan appointees,thus ensuring evenhanded work.
D)provides that all programs will be evaluated regularly to determine whether they merit continued funding.
E)All of these answers are correct.

Question 5

Whenever Congress has a perceived need for ongoing control of an economic activity,it has tended to create a

A)regulatory agency.
B)cabinet department.
C)presidential commission.
D)government corporation.
E)blue ribbon panel.

Question 6

The cabinet department with the largest number of full-time civilian employees is the Department of

A)State.
B)Defense.
C)Labor.
D)Health and Human Services.
E)Education.

Question 7

When it was developed during the Jackson administration,the patronage system was designed to

A)provide jobs to merit appointees.
B)tie the administration more closely to the people it served.
C)increase congressional control of the bureaucracy.
D)increase judicial control of the bureaucracy.
E)provide jobs to lawyers.

Question 8

In the late 1800s,rapid economic growth placed new demands on the federal government and led it to

A)create new federal departments built around economic interests.
B)establish the Senior Executive Service.
C)reorganize the cabinet in order to make it the center of economic policy making.
D)both create new federal departments built around economic interests,and establish the Senior Executive Service.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 9

Which of the following is a principle of bureaucratic organization?

A)hierarchical authority
B)job specialization
C)formalized rules
D)hierarchical authority,job specialization,and formalized rules
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 10

Modern bureaucracy in America is BEST characterized in terms of

A)inefficiency,inflexibility,and red tape.
B)hierarchy,specialization,and rules.
C)honesty,efficiency,and patronage.
D)corruption,incompetence,and spoils.
E)waste,red tape,and lack of rules.

Question 11

The number of employees in the federal bureaucracy is about ________.

A)10 million
B)2.5 million
C)5 million
D)700,000
E)1 million

Question 12

Compared to the president and Congress,the bureaucracy

A)is held in higher esteem by the public.
B)is authorized by a constitutional amendment rather than by the original Constitution.
C)has a more direct impact on the daily lives of Americans.
D)has changed very little during the nation's history.
E)is more easily controlled by the voters.

Question 13

Most federal employees are hired on the basis of

A)merit criteria.
B)patronage.
C)previous job experience in the private sector.
D)the personal preferences of immediate supervisors.
E)a lottery system.

Question 14

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)are

A)all agencies within cabinet departments.
B)all independent agencies.
C)respectively,an independent agency,an agency within a cabinet department,and a regulatory agency.
D)two cabinet departments and a regulatory agency.
E)respectively,an agency within a cabinet department,an independent agency,and a regulatory agency.

Question 15

In promoting their agency's goals,bureaucrats rely on

A)their expert knowledge.
B)the backing of the president and Congress.
C)the support of clientele groups.
D)all of these: their expert knowledge;the backing of the president and Congress;and the support of clientele groups.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 16

The Department of ________ was created in 2002.

A)Transportation
B)Energy
C)Education
D)Veterans Affairs
E)Homeland Security

Question 17

Which federal agency was lax in requiring the proper safety procedures that could have prevented the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

A)Environmental Protection Agency
B)Department of Labor
C)Department of Transportation
D)Minerals Management Service
E)Executive Office of the President

Question 18

Which of the following agencies or departments is likely to have strong allies from a group of particular states in Congress?

A)the Department of Defense
B)the Central Intelligence Agency
C)the Environmental Protection Agency
D)the Department of Agriculture
E)the Federal Trade Commission

Question 19

Regulatory agencies have

A)administrative,legislative,and judicial functions.
B)legislative and executive functions,but no judicial functions.
C)adjudicative and law enforcement functions.
D)multilateral,law enforcement,and executive functions.
E)All of these answers are correct.

Question 20

Federal regulatory agencies have responsibility primarily in the area of

A)economic policy.
B)social welfare policy.
C)foreign and defense policy.
D)law enforcement policy.
E)environmental policy.

Question 21

The ________ established a merit system for certain federal positions.

A)Morrill Act
B)Hatch Act
C)Pendleton Act
D)Taft-Hartley Act
E)National Performance Review

Question 22

What happens to the president's budget if it is approved by a vote of the House and Senate?

A)It is reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.
B)It has reached its final approval and is implemented.
C)It is sent to the president to sign or veto.
D)It is given to the president for any further executive changes to be added.
E)It is referred to the House and Senate appropriations committees for implementation.

Question 23

What "multiple-use" policy is the U.S.Forest Service tasked with?

A)preserving forests for recreation,and protecting endangered species
B)preserving forests in response to environmental concerns,and coordinating with the National Park Service for creating park lands
C)serving both the interests of lumber sellers and mining interests
D)opening up forests both for logging and promoting clean air
E)preserving forests for environmental reasons,and opening them up for logging

Question 24

At the start of the annual budget cycle,the OMB assigns each agency a budget limit based on

A)the president's directives.
B)its own projections of what is affordable.
C)the Justice Department's instructions.
D)Congressional guidelines.
E)the guidelines of the Commerce Department.

Question 25

Bureaucrats tend to follow

A)the wishes of the president.
B)the wishes of Congress.
C)their own agency's point of view.
D)the expectations of the general public.
E)the wishes of federal judges.

Question 26

The importance of clientele groups was especially clear in 1995 when House Speaker Newt Gingrich threatened to "zero out" funding for the

A)Social Security System.
B)Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
C)Department of Agriculture.
D)drug education program administered by Health and Human Services.
E)U.S.Postal Service.

Question 27

Federal civil service employees cannot legally

A)be fired from their jobs.
B)go on strike.
C)belong to a union.
D)be restricted in their election activities.
E)contribute to political campaigns.

Question 28

Which of the following steps in the federal budgetary process occurs EARLIEST?

A)agencies work on their budgets
B)president consults with OMB on agency instructions
C)Congress completes work on appropriations bills
D)Congress adopts a budget resolution
E)president submits budget proposals to Congress

Question 29

Upon reaching Congress,what first happens to the president's budget proposal?

A)It is subjected to floor debate.
B)It goes to the House and Senate budget committees.
C)It is reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.
D)It is marked up by the full Senate before moving to the House.
E)It is referred to the House and Senate appropriations committees.

Question 30

Regarding the educational background of bureaucrats,high-ranking civil servants in continental Europe,compared to American bureaucrats,tend to have a college major specializing in

A)natural sciences and engineering.
B)law.
C)social sciences and the humanities.
D)business management.
E)journalism.

Question 31

________ is/are most likely to understand trade issues in the United States.

A)The president
B)Members of the Senate
C)Career bureaucrats in the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission
D)Members of the House
E)Federal mediators

Question 32

The special interests that benefit directly from a bureaucratic agency's programs are called

A)clientele groups.
B)pressure groups.
C)entitlement groups.
D)programmatic groups.
E)recipient groups.

Question 33

The administrative concept of neutral competence holds that the bureaucracy should

A)be staffed by people chosen on the basis of ability and do its work fairly on behalf of all citizens.
B)stay out of conflicts between Congress and the president.
C)be structured on the basis of the principles of specialization,hierarchy,and formal rules.
D)not allow in-fighting between agencies.
E)be staffed by partisan presidents.

Question 34

What is the congressional equivalent of the Office of Management and Budget?

A)House Appropriations Committee
B)Senate Appropriations Committee
C)Congressional Budget Office
D)House Sergeant at Arms
E)General Accounting Office

Question 35

Which of the following is true of federal employees and labor unions?

A)Federal employees are prohibited from forming labor unions.
B)Federal employees can form labor unions,but their unions by law have limited authority.
C)There are no restrictions on the creation and powers of labor unions by federal employees.
D)Among federal employees,only employees of government corporations can legally form labor unions.
E)Federal employees can form labor unions but are not allowed to participate in collective bargaining.

Question 36

The federal government's fiscal year starts on

A)January 1.
B)March 1.
C)April 15.
D)July 1.
E)October 1.

Question 37

Bureaucrats are ________ and elected officials are ________.

A)generalists;specialists
B)generalists;generalists
C)specialists;generalists
D)specialists;specialists
E)popular;unpopular

Question 38

Policy implementation refers to the bureaucratic function of

A)carrying out decisions made by Congress,the president,and the courts.
B)regulating the distribution of funds to individuals and corporations.
C)delegating legislative authority to smaller operating units of the bureaucracy.
D)both regulating the distribution of funds to individuals and corporations,and delegating legislative authority to smaller operating units of the bureaucracy.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 39

Which of the following steps in the federal budgetary process occurs LATEST?

A)agencies work on their budgets
B)president consults with OMB on agency instructions
C)Congress completes work on appropriations bills
D)Congress adopts a budget resolution
E)president submits budget proposals to Congress

Question 40

The federal bureaucracy today is

A)extremely wasteful and unresponsive to the public it serves.
B)an ineffective institution in comparison with bureaucracies of democracies with unitary systems.
C)more responsive to the public at large than to the particular interests that depend on its various programs.
D)a mix of the patronage and merit systems.
E)mostly dominated by patronage politics.

Question 41

Which of the following is true of the federal government's demographic representativeness?

A)Because the federal government has reduced efforts to specifically promote women and minorities,the proportion of white males that hold top administration positions has increased in recent years.
B)If all employees are taken into account,the federal bureaucracy comes reasonably close to being representative of the nation's population.
C)Women and minorities are better represented in Congress and the judiciary than they are among the top ranks of administrators.
D)The concept of a demographically representative civil service was first endorsed by President Reagan in 1984.
E)There has been much more improvement in the representation of minorities in the civil service than in the representation of women.

Question 42

The typical presidential appointee spends about ____________ on the job before leaving for other employment.

A)six months
B)one year
C)two years
D)three years
E)four years

Question 43

An administrative law judge

A)usually works in any agency that needs her or his services.
B)runs trials,but all decisions are made by juries.
C)can gather evidence and take testimony.
D)issues only advisory opinions.
E)seeks to protect federal agencies,not individual citizens.

Question 44

The president can hire about _____ full-time partisan employees to help him or her implement the presidential agenda.

A)60
B)150
C)400
D)600
E)2,000

Question 45

Which of the following was the most recent broad initiative aimed at making the bureaucracy more responsive?

A)the Brownlow Commission
B)the National Performance Review
C)the Hoover Commission
D)the Volcker Commission
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 46

Identify four of the five major types of organizations within the federal bureaucracy,and give examples of each.

Question 47

The National Performance Review addressed which of the following issues about the bureaucracy?

A)responsiveness
B)accountability
C)efficiency
D)all of these issues: responsiveness,accountability,and efficiency
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 48

What were the "reinventing teams"?

A)teams appointed by Congress to propose budget cuts to the federal bureaucracy
B)groups of executive officials that were under the influence of "agency capture"
C)Congressional committees designed to find ways to reduce the size of the national bureaucracy
D)teams that were formed under the National Performance Review to analyze and make recommendations about bureaucratic effectiveness
E)teams appointed by Congress to decide which branches of the federal bureaucracy could be eliminated

Question 49

The Senior Executive Service was established in ____ and consists of about _____ career civil servants.

A)1887;800
B)1911;800
C)1933;1,300
D)1961: 1,300
E)1978;7,000

Question 50

When an individual believes that he or she was improperly disadvantaged by a bureaucrat's decision and contests the decision,the dispute is usually handled by

A)an administrative law judge.
B)a congressional oversight committee.
C)a federal appeals court.
D)a departmental or agency adjudication office.
E)the Supreme Court.

Question 51

Legally,the bureaucracy derives general authority for its programs from

A)acts of Congress.
B)federalism.
C)regulatory rulings.
D)court rulings.
E)the will of the people.

Question 52

How has the Government Accountability Office's role changed?

A)It has acquired wide judicial and adjudication powers to deal with inter-agency disputes.
B)It has changed from a presidential-executive support agency to largely a congressional support agency.
C)It has been given broader powers over time to actually grant additional funds or take away funds directly from agencies.
D)It has had its broad powers limited from general oversight down to keeping track of agency spending.
E)It has moved from a limited role of keeping track of agency spending to also monitoring whether the agency is implementing policies in the way Congress intended.

Question 53

Congress oversees the bureaucracy by using

A)sunset provisions.
B)the Government Accounting Office.
C)oversight hearings.
D)all of these: sunset provisions,the Government Accounting Office,and oversight hearings.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 54

In terms of holding the bureaucracy accountable,the MOST important unit within the Executive Office of the President is the

A)Office of Policy Development.
B)Office of Management and Budget.
C)Council of Economic Advisors.
D)White House Office.
E)Office of the Vice President.

Question 55

The courts have tended to support administrators as long as their agencies

A)choose rules that save money.
B)can apply a reasonable interpretation of a statute.
C)follow what the president demands of them.
D)have adequate funding.
E)don't come into conflict with state governments.

Question 56

About three in every five managerial and professional positions in the federal bureaucracy are held by

A)women.
B)white males.
C)African Americans.
D)Latino Americans.
E)Asian Americans.
Essay Questions

Question 57

Which group saw the LARGEST percentage increase of GS 13-15 jobs between 1982 and 2011?

A)Blacks
B)Hispanics
C)women
D)white men
E)All of these groups had about the same percentage increase.

Question 58

Discuss the historical process by which the federal bureaucracy grew from its original size to its present size.

Question 59

The Senior Executive Service (SES)

A)is composed of civil employees that can be fired more easily than normal career civil servants.
B)was designed to combat abuse of the patronage system.
C)is composed of civil employees that can be assigned by the president to any position within the bureaucracy.
D)has been more successful in practice than its proponents anticipated.
E)assigns most of its senior executives to work within a different agency than the one in which they originally worked.

Question 60

Studies have found that the U.S.federal bureaucracy

A)becomes far less effective as it grows over time.
B)is much less accountable than the bureaucracies of European democracies.
C)compares favorably in performance to government bureaucracies elsewhere.
D)is one of the least representative of minorities compared to others worldwide.
E)falls far short of the effectiveness of most foreign bureaucracies.

Question 61

Discuss three major sources of bureaucratic power.

Question 62

Identify the major ways that the bureaucracy is held accountable by Congress.

Question 63

The two main systems of bureaucratic employment are the patronage and merit systems.Describe their respective goals and the major problems associated with each system.

Question 64

What is the "agency point of view"? Why is it important?

Question 65

What is the federal bureaucracy's main function?

Question 66

Identify the major ways that the bureaucracy is held accountable by the president.