Deck 14: Bureaucracy in a Democracy

Question 1

Civil servants were given legal protection against being fired without a show of cause in order to

A) meet the Constitution's strict requirements for the treatment of public employees.
B) force the bureaucracy to respond more to political pressures from parties,interest groups,and elected officials.
C) cleanse bureaucracy of political interference while upgrading performance.
D) end the abuses of the merit system.
E) enhance the public's trust in bureaucracy.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Public bureaucracies are powerful because

A) they are not subject to control by the president or Congress.
B) their actions cannot be overturned or challenged by courts.
C) they have the power of both "the purse" and "the sword."
D) legislatures,chief executives,and the people delegate vast power to them to make sure a particular job is done.
E) every one of their employees is appointed for life.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following statements about annual federal outlays is most accurate?

A) Federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product has remained at essentially the same level every year since 1960.
B) Federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product has decreased significantly every year since 1960.
C) Federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product has increased significantly every year since 1960.
D) Federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product has experienced significant ups and downs over time.
E) Federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product has only increased once since 1960.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following is not a major role of bureaucracy?

A) implementing laws
B) enforcing laws
C) issuing rules
D) promoting the public welfare
E) passing laws

Question 5

Which of the following is an independent agency?

A) United States Postal Service
B) Department of Agriculture
C) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
D) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
E) Forest Service

Question 6

Which of the following statements about administrative rule making is false?

A) All federal rules must be published in the Federal Register.
B) Both houses of Congress must formally approve all federal rules.
C) All federal rules must undergo a period of public comment.
D) All federal rules must prepare "environmental impact statements."
E) The length of time to develop an administrative rule from proposal to actual publication in the Federal Register increased between the 1970s and 1980s.

Question 7

Bureaucracy,literally translated,means

A) rule by offices and desks.
B) control of the anonymous.
C) governance by experts.
D) next window please.
E) government by the people.

Question 8

Which of the following was forced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission to recall several car models after identifying problems with their gas pedal accelerators?

A) Ford
B) Honda
C) Toyota
D) GM
E) Lexus

Question 9

The attempt of bureaucracies to translate laws into specific rules and actions is called

A) adjudication.
B) regulation.
C) deregulation.
D) implementation.
E) rule making.

Question 10

By the 1980s,the average length of time it took to develop and implement an administrative rule was

A) two weeks.
B) one month.
C) thirty-five to forty months.
D) four years.
E) six months.

Question 11

What is the origin of most federal bureaus?

A) Congress passes laws creating and funding most federal bureaus.
B) The Cabinet secretaries create most federal bureaus out of administrative necessity and convenience.
C) Most federal bureaus are created by executive agreement.
D) Most federal bureaus are created by the Constitution's Article II powers.
E) Most federal bureaus are created by executive order of the president.

Question 12

What is an independent agency?

A) an agency that was not created by a law passed by Congress
B) an agency whose budget comes from outside funding
C) an agency that is not part of any Cabinet department
D) an agency that is not part of the government
E) an agency entirely created by the president,independent of congressional action

Question 13

Since the 1950s,compared with the entire workforce,the number of federal employees has

A) increased sharply.
B) increased slightly.
C) gradually declined.
D) decreased sharply.
E) stayed the same.

Question 14

At its peak in ______,the federal bureaucracy had ______ employees,not including military personnel.

A) 1936;6 million
B) 1968;3 million
C) 1982;1 million
D) 1996;8 million
E) 1994;2 million

Question 15

The head of a department is called the

A) secretary.
B) agency supervisor.
C) service administrator.
D) chief executive officer.
E) director.

Question 16

Which of the following statements about the merit system is not true?

A) Every member and official of a government agency has been appointed as part of the merit system.
B) The merit system establishes competitive exams for jobs.
C) The merit system gives bureaucrats job protection.
D) The merit system in federal employment originated in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1883.
E) The merit system stipulates that appointees to public office must be qualified for the job to which they are appointed.

Question 17

Before the Civil Service Act of 1883,how were government appointments handled?

A) Appointments were made on the basis of merit.
B) Appointments were made on the basis of seniority.
C) Appointments were made to political supporters as part of a spoils system.
D) The Civil Service Act of 1883 created the first federal bureaucracy.
E) The president or his staff appointed all civil servants.

Question 18

The largest subunits of the federal executive branch are called

A) agencies.
B) units.
C) departments.
D) states.
E) collectives.

Question 19

Who stated,in his 1996 State of the Union address,that "the era of big government is over"?

A) George H.W.Bush
B) Bill Clinton
C) George W.Bush
D) Ronald Reagan
E) Al Gore

Question 20

The Civil Service Act of 1883 attempted to pattern government hiring after practices found in

A) business.
B) the Catholic Church.
C) Congress.
D) local government.
E) the military.

Question 21

A bureau charged with putting restrictions and obligations on individuals or corporations in the private sector is called a ______ agency.

A) redistributive
B) police
C) regulatory
D) fiscal
E) clientele

Question 22

Which of the following is not a type of federal agency?

A) public welfare
B) internal national security
C) state and local oversight
D) economic maintenance
E) external national security

Question 23

The controversy over the Patriot Act reveals the complications of balancing

A) national security with the civil liberties of individuals.
B) the flexibility of the president with the oversight of state governors.
C) the needs of domestic security with the commitments of international treaties.
D) the goals of diplomacy with the needs of bureaucratic expertise.
E) the authority of the president with the power of Congress.

Question 24

Which of the following agencies' primary task is not the strengthening of the economy?

A) Transportation
B) Commerce
C) Internal Revenue Service
D) Interior
E) Energy

Question 25

The response to the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded terror-level warning system reveals

A) that cost-cutting measures often fail to pass Congress.
B) that bureaucratic agencies,like politicians,must pay attention to public opinion.
C) the great influence fear of terrorism has on the American people.
D) the intractable power of the iron triangle.
E) that people have a difficult time taking government very seriously.

Question 26

What has been one of the greatest difficulties in establishing the new Department of Homeland Security?

A) adjusting to the many different bureaucratic cultures now part of a single operation
B) finding a competent and willing department secretary
C) getting congressional approval for the new department
D) defending against the three challenges to the constitutionality of the department
E) getting the American people to take seriously the color-coded terrorism warning levels

Question 27

Which of the following is a government corporation?

A) the National Park Service
B) the U.S.Postal Service
C) the Department of Defense
D) the Federal Bureau of Investigation
E) the Department of Agriculture

Question 28

Which of the following interest groups is generally considered the most powerful group today?

A) AARP
B) AFL-CIO
C) NAACP
D) LULAC
E) NRA

Question 29

Which of the following is the best description of an iron triangle?

A) the stable relationship between a bureaucratic agency,a clientele group,and a legislative committee
B) the inability to reform federal rules without help from the House of Representatives,the Senate,and the president
C) the domination of a few large companies in the regulation of iron mining and smelting
D) the breakdown in the separation of powers between Congress,the federal judiciary,and the president
E) the stable relationship between a bureaucratic agency,a legislative committee,and the president

Question 30

Which statement about regulatory agencies is correct?

A) Since the 1990s,approximately ten new regulatory agencies have been created by Congress.
B) No new regulatory programs have been established since the 1970s.
C) The last new regulatory agency was created in 1945.
D) In 1996,the last federal regulatory agency was terminated by Congress.
E) Since the 1960s,all new regulatory agencies have been placed outside existing departments and are not responsible to the president.

Question 31

The National Park Service is

A) part of the Department of the Interior.
B) part of the Department of Agriculture.
C) part of the Department of Energy.
D) an independent agency.
E) a government corporation.

Question 32

Which of the following is not part of the Justice Department?

A) the Civil Rights division
B) the Antitrust division
C) the Internal Revenue Service
D) Criminal division
E) Tax division

Question 33

Ronald Reagan's inability to dismantle the Department of Education reflects the power of

A) the merit system.
B) iron triangles.
C) the Federal Register.
D) devolution.
E) separation of powers.

Question 34

The first regulatory agency was the ______,created by Congress in ______.

A) U.S.Post Office;1791
B) Interstate Commerce Commission;1887
C) Federal Communications Commission;1934
D) Environmental Protection Agency;1970
E) Federal Trade Commission;1914

Question 35

The first regulatory agencies established by Congress were

A) in the Department of Commerce.
B) independent regulatory commissions.
C) government corporations.
D) in the Labor Department.
E) within the Environmental Protection Agency.

Question 36

Which of the following agencies was abolished following the creation of the Department of Homeland Security?

A) the Federal Emergency Management Agency
B) the Coast Guard
C) the Immigration and Naturalization Service
D) the National Security Agency
E) the Central Intelligence Agency

Question 37

Which of the following is not a federal department entrusted with providing national security?

A) Defense
B) State
C) Police
D) Justice
E) Homeland Security

Question 38

What is a government corporation?

A) Each department in the executive branch is legally registered as a corporation.
B) It is an agency that performs and charges for services usually provided by the private sector.
C) It is a private company,publicly traded,whose sole investor is the federal government.
D) It is a government agency that is charged by Congress to make a profit.
E) It is a government agency that is run primarily by business executives from the private sector.

Question 39

According to the text,which of the following is not a department responsible for promoting the public welfare?

A) Department of Health and Human Services
B) Department of State
C) Department of the Interior
D) Department of Veterans Affairs
E) National Park Service

Question 40

The USA PATRIOT Act

A) stated Congress's approval of the invasion of Afghanistan.
B) allows the attorney general to detain any foreigner suspected of posing a threat to internal security.
C) grants authority over immigration cases to the Defense Department.
D) gave the Justice Department jurisdiction over all prisoners taken in Afghanistan.
E) restricted the government's ability to use wiretaps and issue search warrants.

Question 41

Which of the following is a good example of a revenue agency?

A) the Federal Reserve System
B) the Agricultural Extension Service
C) the U.S.Customs Service
D) the Securities and Exchange Commission
E) the U.S.Department of Revenue

Question 42

According to the text,what would be the most likely outcome if the federal government were to cease all economic regulation?

A) The marketplace would work more efficiently and quickly.
B) The marketplace would favor the more numerous workers rather than the corporate interests.
C) The marketplace would fall into chaos.
D) The marketplace would globalize more quickly.
E) The marketplace would stabilize.

Question 43

The creation of the U.S.Northern Command was important because

A) it was the first time the Department of Defense had taken such an action without presidential approval.
B) it ultimately led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
C) it unified,for the first time in American history,the Air Force,the Navy Department,and the War Department.
D) it breached the long-standing line between domestic law enforcement and foreign military operations for the first time.
E) it was the first time the Department of Defense had taken such an action without congressional approval.

Question 44

The greatest number of federal government professionals working abroad are under the authority of the Department of

A) State.
B) Defense.
C) Homeland Security.
D) Commerce.
E) the Exterior.

Question 45

The use of taxing and spending powers to shape the economy is part of ______ policy.

A) fiscal
B) monetary
C) regulatory
D) distributive
E) redistributive

Question 46

In order to change the level of national economic activity and defend the value of the dollar in international trade,the federal government

A) frequently requests voluntary contributions to the Treasury Department from businesses and private individuals.
B) imposes tariffs on all goods imported to the United States.
C) enforces spending cuts on state government agencies.
D) manipulates interest rates.
E) lowers the amount of money that states can legally collect from sales and income taxes.

Question 47

What was the chief bureaucratic flaw identified by the 9/11 Commission?

A) The CIA director lacked adequate access to the president.
B) There was a lack of communication between the domestic and foreign security agencies.
C) The Federal Aviation Administration was not properly monitoring all inbound airplanes on 9/11.
D) Diplomacy with the Taliban and other sponsors of terrorism had broken down in the mid-1990s.
E) The government did not act swiftly enough after the attack in order to prevent further casualties.

Question 48

Congress was attempting to strike a balance between the need for secrecy in national security and the right of individuals to know what their government is doing when it passed the ______ Act.

A) Sedition
B) Morill
C) Freedom of Information
D) Secrecy in Government
E) USA PATRIOT

Question 49

Which of the following statements best describes the trend in government secrecy since 2001?

A) There is no way for the public to know how many classified documents there are in any given year because the government keeps this information secret.
B) There has been no change in the number of classified documents since 2001.
C) The number of classified documents has increased substantially since 2001,but the pages of material that have been declassified has increased sharply as well.
D) The number of classified documents has increased substantially since 2001 while the pages of material that have been declassified has declined sharply.
E) The number of classified documents has decreased substantially since 2001 while the number of pages of material that have been declassified has increased sharply.

Question 50

Which of the following is not a clientele agency?

A) the Internal Revenue Service
B) the Department of Veterans Affairs
C) the Department of Education
D) the Social Security Administration
E) the Department of Agriculture

Question 51

Which of the following was a way in which President Obama attempted to uphold his campaign promise to reduce government secrecy?

A) making sure that every bill that was passed by Congress during his first term was put up on the White House website to be viewed by the public for at least five days before holding a vote
B) invoking the state secrets privilege to prevent lawsuits related to warrantless wiretapping and torture from going to trial
C) issuing an executive order designed to promote more rapid declassification of secret documents
D) repealing the USA PATRIOT Act
E) releasing a report by the Health and Human Services Department that indicated the health care reform law would actually increase the cost of health care and impose higher costs on consumers,even though this would make it harder for Congress to pass the bill

Question 52

Who has authority to set interest rates and lending activities for the nation's banks?

A) the Federal Reserve System
B) the Secretary of the Treasury
C) the Internal Revenue Service
D) the Securities and Exchange Commission
E) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Question 53

The Freedom of Information Act is designed to

A) lead to quicker filing of habeas corpus petitions.
B) make more national security documents available to the public.
C) prevent inefficiency and waste in government management.
D) expand the freedom of speech granted to government employees.
E) allow the government to acquire any information about a person to aid in a government investigation.

Question 54

How are ambassadors chosen?

A) They are part of the federal bureaucracy's merit system.
B) They are selected by the president,often as patronage for large campaign donations.
C) They are selected by the secretary of state.
D) They are elected to four-year terms of office by the nation to which they will be ambassador.
E) They are appointed by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Question 55

Which of the following statements about the Federal Reserve System (the Fed)is correct?

A) The Fed was established by George Washington and Alexander Hamilton in 1793.
B) Congress created the Fed in 1913.
C) The Fed was established in 1933,during the famous "Hundred Days" of the New Deal.
D) Richard Nixon established the Fed in 1969 as an attempt to gain more White House control over monetary policy.
E) The Fed was established by Herbert Hoover as a weak attempt at warding off the Great Depression.

Question 56

The ______ is the center of military policy and management.

A) Joint Chiefs of Staff
B) National Security Agency
C) Central Intelligence Agency
D) Department of Homeland Security
E) Department of Defense

Question 57

______ is the primary mission of the State Department.

A) Military protection
B) Diplomacy
C) International aid
D) Transnational commerce
E) National security

Question 58

The politics of the IRS are interesting because

A) it is the one government agency that does not have to obey court orders.
B) the IRS is the most popular agency in all of government,and this popularity leads almost all Americans to comply with the agency's rules.
C) Congress,the president,and the Treasury Department have little to no influence over the taxation decisions made by the IRS.
D) influence over tax decisions regarding exemptions is spread broadly throughout the fifty states and is not concentrated in any one area or among any one group.
E) contrary to popular perceptions,key tax decisions regarding exemptions are made by Congress,the president,and the Treasury Department rather than by the IRS itself.

Question 59

______ policy concerns banks,credit,and currency.

A) Fiscal
B) Monetary
C) Welfare
D) Regulatory
E) Distributive

Question 60

Which of the following is not a task of the Treasury Department?

A) printing currency
B) managing the U.S.national debt
C) setting interest rates
D) administering fiscal policy
E) ensuring deposits individuals make at federally qualifying banks

Question 61

Which statement is the definition of privatization?

A) a way to shrink the federal budget by selling government services or property in the private sector
B) a way to reduce government costs by relocating government programs to private groups or corporations
C) a way to reduce big government by doing without some of the programs it once provided
D) a way to increase the government's role by purchasing private companies
E) a way to reduce government costs by lowering the amount of benefits paid out to private citizens

Question 62

Which of the following is not a key strategy used to promote bureaucratic reform?

A) reinventing government
B) termination
C) devolution
D) regulation
E) privatization

Question 63

During the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W.Bush,how many federal agencies or programs were terminated?

A) 0
B) 10
C) 26
D) 137
E) 52

Question 64

Which of the following is not a way in which Congress can exercise oversight?

A) individual constituency case work
B) committee hearings and investigations
C) budgeting process
D) government agencies such as the GAO and the CBO
E) having members of Congress work part-time for a particular agency that is struggling to meet the demands Congress has placed on it

Question 65

Devolution describes a process through which

A) Congress gives up some of its power to the executive branch.
B) the federal government is downsized by delegating the implementation of programs to state and local governments.
C) state and local governments are downsized by delegating the implementation of programs to the federal government.
D) the United States delegates some of its power to the UN.
E) the federal government is downsized by completely cutting wasteful programs.

Question 66

The "virtual fourth branch of government" refers to

A) political parties.
B) state governments.
C) the bureaucracy.
D) interest groups.
E) government contracting.

Question 67

The most visible indication of oversight is the

A) use of a unanimous Supreme Court opinion by the lower federal courts to generate public support for a particular policy.
B) use of the nullification power by the states to declare an act of the federal government unconstitutional.
C) use of public hearings before congressional committees and subcommittees.
D) budget deficit.
E) using the Congressional Budget Office to report on how much particular legislation is going to cost the American taxpayer.

Question 68

One drawback of devolution is that

A) the standards associated with particular programs become increasingly rigid and hard to enforce.
B) the standards associated with particular programs become increasingly variable between states.
C) Congress is removed completely from the United States' foreign policy process.
D) programs become much more difficult to budget.
E) states have a much harder time implementing programs than the federal government does.

Question 69

What was the government trying to accomplish when it called for the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act to create an additional database that would record contractors who have legal or contract violations?

A) provide adequate government oversight for an increasingly expanding force of independent contractors
B) create a national database to make it easier for the government to collect tax revenues from government contractors
C) create a national database to make sure that government contractors do not have any conflicts of interest with high-ranking public officials
D) create a better system so that the government can find contractors to perform government jobs more quickly
E) increase the number of contractors available to work for the government

Question 70

Executive privilege refers to

A) the fact that the Senate never votes against presidential appointments to the executive branch.
B) the increasing power of the executive branch in determining fiscal policy.
C) the claim that confidential communications between a president and close advisers should not be revealed without the consent of the president.
D) the right of presidents to eliminate government agencies without the approval of Congress.
E) the authority of members of the executive branch to formulate specific rules when implementing vague legislation.

Question 71

Which of the following statements best describes how recent administrations have approached the issue of bureaucratic reform?

A) Republican administrations have aimed to make the existing bureaucracy work more effectively while Democratic administrations have sought to reduce bureaucracy by contracting out government work to private companies.
B) Democratic administrations have aimed to make the existing bureaucracy work more effectively while Republican administrations have sought to reduce bureaucracy by contracting out government work to private companies.
C) Both Democratic and Republican administrations have rejected the idea of reducing bureaucracy and have aimed to make existing bureaucracy work more effectively.
D) Both Democratic and Republican administrations have given up on trying to make the existing bureaucracy function more effectively and,instead,sought to reduce bureaucracy by contracting out government work to private companies.
E) Both Democrats and Republicans have avoided any attempts to reform government bureaucracy.

Question 72

What was the mission of the National Performance Review?

A) to reorganize the federal bureaucracy to make it more efficient,more accountable,and less wasteful
B) to review each administrative agency every four years to determine whether it is necessary
C) to analyze the job performance of federal employees
D) to make recommendations to Congress on government reforms
E) to review whether or not the government is spending more money than it brings in

Question 73

Which of the following is the most constitutionally essential way to make the bureaucracy responsible?

A) more efficient executive management
B) further devolution
C) congressional oversight
D) more administrative courts
E) more government regulation

Question 74

The most significant example of devolution in recent decades has been in the area of

A) homeland security.
B) crime enforcement.
C) education.
D) welfare policy.
E) health care.

Question 75

Which president's approach to the managerial presidency featured a deep belief in the importance of scientific expertise in government service?

A) Barack Obama
B) George W.Bush
C) George H.W.Bush
D) Ronald Reagan
E) Bill Clinton

Question 76

Which president was most concerned with managing and reorganizing the executive bureaucracy?

A) Richard Nixon
B) Jimmy Carter
C) Ronald Reagan
D) Bill Clinton
E) Woodrow Wilson

Question 77

Which of the following statements best characterizes the government's spending on federal contracts in recent years?

A) The amount of spending on federal contracts has remained the same since 2000.
B) The amount of spending on federal contracts has decreased steadily since 2000.
C) The amount of spending on federal contracts has increased steadily since 2000.
D) The amount spent on federal contracts declined between 2000 and 2005 but has dramatically increased since 2005.
E) The amount spent on federal contracts increased between 2000 and 2005 but has dramatically decreased since 2005.

Question 78

Making permanent cuts in existing agencies is often difficult because

A) most agencies have a supportive constituency that will fight to reinstate any cuts that are made.
B) the Constitution prevents cuts to federal agencies lasting longer than five years.
C) every permanent cut to a federal agency must be reviewed by the Supreme Court before it can be put into effect.
D) federal law requires that the government cut every agency equally.
E) the vast majority of agencies have been given permanent "budgetary immunity" from the president that protects them from cuts.

Question 79

The concept of oversight refers to the effort made by

A) Congress to make executive agencies accountable for their actions.
B) the president to make Congress accountable for its actions.
C) the courts to make the legislative and executive branches responsible for their actions.
D) the states to make the federal government responsible for its actions.
E) the people to make federal government responsible for its actions.

Question 80

When the federal government passes authority to administer a program down to state or local governments,it is called

A) deregulation.
B) devolution.
C) termination.
D) privatization.
E) implementation.