HUSTON-AP US GOVT CHAP 9
Terms
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- AAA
- Agricultural Adjustment Act I 1933- New Deal, to provide government support for farm prices and to regulate farm production to ensure market-competitive prices. Upheld by Supreme Court
- accountability of executive agencies
- Cabinet departments: headed by cabinet members called secretaties and are responsible to the president and, unofficialy those affected by their department. Independent executive agency heads are responsible to ther president. However, Congress reviews all actions through oversight committee investigations, hearings, and power of the purse, but Judiciary has the ultimate authority to review administrative actions
- administrative adjudication
- A quasi-judicial process in which a bureaucratic agency settles disputes between two parties in a manner similar to the way courts resolves disputes
- administrative discretion
- The ability of bureucrats to make choices concerning the best way to implement congressional intentions
- Adrew Jackson spoils system
- Origination of the Spoils system: firing of public-office holders of a defeated political party and their replacement with loyalists of the newly elected party
- alphabetocracy
- Description of the bucercatric agencies abrievations
- bureaucracy
- A set of complex hierarchical departments, agencies, commissions and their staffs that exist to help a chief executive officer carry out his or her duty to the law
- civil service system
- System created by civil service laws by which many appointments to the federal bureaucracy are made
- clientele agencies
- Executive departments directed by law to foster and promote the interests of a specific segment or group in the U.S. population such as the Department of Education
- congressional control & oversight
- Congress can create or abolish departments or agencies. Police patrol oversigt is proactive and allows Congress to set its own agenda, ire alarm oversight is reactive and involves a congressional response to a complaint. Oversees the beauracracy.
- Department of Homeland Security
- Cabinet department created after September 11, 2001, to coordinate domestic U.S. security efforts against terrorism. With Executive Order 13228, George W. Bush tasked the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate the executive branch's efforts to "detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from the terrorist attacks against the United States." Its first Secretary was Tom Ridge.
- departments
- Major administrative units with responsibility for a broad area of government operations. Departmental status usually indicates a permanent national interest in that particular governmental function, such as defense, commerce, or agriculture. The departments vary in size, prestige, and power.
- Elian Gonzales case
- A young boy adrift in the ocean after his mother died attempting to flee Cuba pulled at the hearts of many Americans in the beginning of 2000. Much of the action in this case took place in the courts and the media, but it was the federal employees in the Immigration and Naturalization Services along with the Department of Justice officials who eventually determined the outcome. Elian ultimately had to return to his father rather than have been granted asylum in the United States and allowed to live with his relatives in Miami.
- EPA
- The Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970 by Congress after Nixon greatly urged its establishment. It is an independent agency that reports directly to the president. The EPA has the responsibility of water pollution, air pollution, solid waste management, radiation control, and hazardous and toxic substance control. It is the largest regulatory agency in the nation. Its activities can be grouped under the responsibilities of research, rule making, and enforcement. The EPA rules will be supported by ample evidence, and rules are necessary so that certain standards or goals can be implemented. State pollution control agencies under the supervision of the EPA do must of the actual enforcement work. The EPA has experienced three major eras in political life; the first era extended through the 1970s where the EPA's budget grew, the number of employees increased, its legislative authority expanded, and pollution control standards were sought. The second era began with the Reagan administration in 1981 and lasted through 1983. The Reagan administration was opposed to its goals were put at high-level positions. The third era began in late 1983 and continues to the present. The budget and personnel levels increased and enforcement activity has been strengthened. Yet a balance must be found between environmental protection and the economic costs of such protection.
- FTC
- The Federal Trade Commison created to protect small businesses and the public from unfair competition, especially from big business.
- government corporation
- Businessess established by Congress that perform functions that could be provided by private businesses (such as the U.S. Postal Service).
- GS grades
- The different levels of payment made to federal employees.
- Hatch Act
- Law enacted in 1939 to prohibit civil servants from taking activist roles in partisan campaigns. This act prohibited federal employees from making contributions, working for a particular party, or campaigning for a particular candidate.
- ICC
- Interstate Commerece Commission: created by Congress in response to the exorbitant rates being charged by railroad companies.
- implementation
- The process by which a law or policy is put into operation by the bureaucracy.
- independent executive agency
- Governmental units that closely resemble a Cabinet department but have a narrower area of responsibility (such as the CIA) and are not part of any Cabinet department.
- independent regulatory commission
- An agency created by Congress that is generally concerned with a specific aspect of the economy.
- interagency councils
- working groups that facilitate coordination of policy making and implementation
- iron triangles
- stable patterns of interaction between agency, interest group, congressional committees
- issue networks
- informal relationships between people in different large policy areas
- judicial control of bureaucracy
- less direct than CongressÂ’ or the presidentÂ’s powers; can issue injunctions and rulings; can choose whether or not (and if so, to what degree) to listen to agencies
- Max Weber, on bureaucracy
- Belief that bureaucracies were a rational way for complex societies to organize themselves when characterized by 6 certain features: 1) a chain of command in which authority flows from top to bottom 2) a division of labor where work is apportioned among specialized workers for increased productivity 3) clearly established lines of authority among workers and their superiors 4) goal orientation 5) impersonality and employee treatment based on merit, without discrimination 6) productivity and evaluation
- merit system
- A system by which federal civil service jobs are classified into levels to which appointments are made based on performance and competitive examinations.
- NASA
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration used primarily for research rather than included in the Department of Defense.
- NIRA
- The National Industrial Recovery Act that was passed as a part of FDR's New Deal as an unprecedented attempt to regulate industry.
- NLRB
- The National Labor Relations Board that serves as an independent regulatory commissions agency created by Congress to exist outside of the major departments to regulate specific economic activity or interest.
- OSHA
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration. One of the Independant agencies and Governmental Corporations. Created to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health.
- patronage
- Jobs, grants, or other special favors that are given to as rewards to friends amd political allies for their support.
- Pendleton Act
- Reform measure that created the Civil Service Comission to administer a partial merit system. The act classified the Ferderal services by grades, to which appointments were made based on the results of a competitive examination. It made it illegal for federal political appointees to be required to contribute to a particular party.
- power of the purse
- Those with the money are the ones with the power.
- regulations
- Rules that govern the operation of a particular government program and has the force of law.
- rule making
- A quasi-legislative administrative process that has the characteristics of a legislative act.
- SEC
- An independent regulatory commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission was created by the Securties Exchange Act in order to regulate stock exchanges, enforce the Securities Act, and reduce the number of stocks bought on the margin (with borrowed money).
- special district
- A local government that is responisble for a particular function, such as K-12 education, water, sewerage, or parks.
- TVA
- Tennessee Valley Authority: a company that provides electricity at reduced rates to millions of Americans in the Appalachian region of the south east, generally a low income area that had failed to retract private utility companies to provide service there
- US Postal Service
- an independent federal agency that provides mail processing and delivery service for individuals and businesses in the United States