Deck 14: The Bureaucracy

Question 1

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an example of a(n) __________.

A) independent agency
B) regulatory commission
C) endowment
D) process agency
E) constitutional agency

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A president's _________ is a set of key advisers who are responsible for the areas under their jurisdiction.

A) administration
B) board of directors
C) cabinet
D) commission
E) committee

Answer 2

C

Question 3

_______ can be defined as executive branch departments, agencies, boards, and commissions that carry out the responsibilities of the federal government.

A) Congress
B) Federalism
C) Bureaucracy
D) Policy making
E) Interest groups

Answer 3

C

Question 4

All bureaucratic agencies share all of the following components EXCEPT _______.

A) extra-national powers
B) mission
C) hierarchical decision-making process
D) expertise
E) bureaucratic culture

Question 5

The _________ is responsible for investigating transportation-related accidents; despite its authority in these investigations and its members' knowledge of safe transportation practices, this group does not have the power to issue federal regulations.

A) Federal Market Commission
B) Office of Management and Budget
C) Securities and Exchange Commission
D) Congressional Budget office
E) National Transportation Safety Board

Question 6

Guidelines issued by federal agencies for administering federal programs and implementing federal law are referred to as

A) appropriations.
B) bills.
C) regulations.
D) signing statements.
E) executive orders.

Question 7

The foundations of the bureaucracy, while not explicitly stated, can be found in _______ of the Constitution.

A) Article I
B) Article II
C) Article III
D) Article IV
E) the supremacy clause

Question 8

The _________ has final authority over the entire federal budget, and each agency and department must submit its proposed budget to this group for approval before it is included in the president's official proposed budget.

A) Congressional Budget Office
B) Federal Budget Board
C) Office of Inspector General
D) Office of Management and Budget
E) Securities and Exchange Commission

Question 9

The main job of the bureaucracy is to _________, which is seen as an extension of how the president executes laws.

A) enforce the laws
B) enforce the rules
C) enforce Supreme Court decisions
D) enforce congressional orders
E) enforce presidential laws

Question 10

Of all the components of American government, the _________ is the most likely to have a direct impact on the lives of its citizens.

A) bureaucracy
B) House of Representatives
C) president
D) Senate
E) Supreme Court

Question 11

The job of the ______ is to oversee implementation, provide advice to the president about issues under the department's control, and develop an annual budget for the department

A) secretary
B) executive whip
C) lobbyist
D) Congress
E) Supreme Court

Question 12

The official published record of all executive branch rules, regulations, and orders is referred to as the

A) Administrative Register.
B) Congressional Record.
C) Executive Record.
D) Federal Register.
E) Official Record.

Question 13

_________, gives the president broad powers to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."

A) Article II, Section 1
B) Article II, Section 2
C) Article II, Section 3
D) Article II, Section 4
E) Article II, Section 5

Question 14

The jobs of federal employees vary widely, including all of the following EXCEPT ___________.

A) national park ranger
B) border patrol officer
C) TSA officer
D) college professor
E) Justice Department lawyer

Question 15

In the late nineteenth century, the German sociologist _________ described bureaucracies as highly rational organizations that enabled large numbers of people to get difficult jobs done efficiently.

A) Franz Oppenheimer
B) Jürgen Habermas
C) Karl Marx
D) Max Weber
E) Theodor W. Adorno

Question 16

The growth of the federal bureaucracy can be linked to ______.

A) the growth of a global economy
B) the growth of the United States
C) the growth of industrialization
D) the growth of railroads
E) the growth of space exploration

Question 17

Most cabinet members are _________ as they are heads of cabinet departments and chief advisers to the president on the issues under their jurisdiction.

A) cabinet
B) cabinet secretaries
C) administration
D) commission
E) committee

Question 18

Because it oversees Medicare and Medicaid, ____________ must implement the new programs associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

A) the bureaucracy
B) Congress
C) the Dept. of Health and Human Services
D) the Dept. of Domestic Affairs
E) the EPA

Question 19

The formal responsibility for policy implementation falls to the bureaucracy in what is commonly called the

A) civil service.
B) federal board.
C) federal commission.
D) regulatory process.
E) spoils system.

Question 20

What do you call a type of federal organization that uses funds specifically allocated to promote a public good or service?

A) independent agency
B) issue network
C) national endowment
D) public service corporation
E) public service commission

Question 21

In 1849, Congress created the _________, consolidating under its direction several organizations that regulated the sale and development of federal lands and the management of Indian affairs.

A) Bureau of Indian Affairs
B) Department of the Interior
C) Department of State
D) Department of Treasury
E) all of these

Question 22

The splitting of the departments of Commerce and Labor into two separate departments in 1903 was done due to ________.

A) issues surrounding child safety and worker standards
B) issues surrounding the Great Depression
C) issues surrounding WWI
D) issues surrounding the temperance movement
E) issues surrounding desegregating the workforce

Question 23

Federal agencies serve as gateways for the federal government to respond to citizens' needs in all of the following ways EXCEPT__________.

A) product labeling
B) air travel
C) food inspection
D) licensure
E) the stock market

Question 24

In setting up his administration, President Andrew Jackson established a _____________, in which he only appointed employees who pledged loyalty to him.

A) give-and-take system
B) closed cabinet
C) Democratic union
D) patronage system
E) monopoly

Question 25

As a direct response to the energy crisis of the early 1970s, the Department of _________ was created in 1977 to promote fuel conservation as well as the development of alternatives to fossil fuels, including nuclear, ethanol, and solar power.

A) Alternative Fuels
B) Conservation
C) Energy
D) Power
E) Transportation

Question 26

One counteracting force to the drawbacks of bureaucratic culture and its tendency to block cooperation among agencies is

A) bureaucratic reputation.
B) analytical reputation.
C) bureaucracy.
D) alternative fuels.
E) media.

Question 27

The statement, "Every organization has a culture, that is, a persistent, patterned way of thinking about the central tasks of human relationships within an organization," describes this central component of a bureaucracy.

A) bureaucratic expertise
B) bureaucratic culture
C) bureaucratic  policy
D) bureaucratic mission
E) bureaucratic purpose

Question 28

Fundamental to the core of the federal bureaucracy is the presumption that the people who hold bureaucratic positions have

A) authority.
B) connections.
C) expertise.
D) loyalty.
E) resources.

Question 29

Each federal agency has a(n) _________ that defines its role and responsibilities within the federal bureaucracy.

A) authorization
B) charter
C) law
D) mission
E) regulation

Question 30

In response to the assassination of President Garfield, Congress passed the _________, which established a merit- and performance-based system for federal employment.

A) Merit System Act
B) Pendleton Act
C) Bryce Act
D) Dawes Act
E) Rathje Act

Question 31

How did Obama respond to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

A) He issued an executive order to investigate the failure.
B) He instituted a temporary ban on all offshore drilling projects.
C) He addressed the nation to explain how the government was responding to the crisis.
D) He put greater safeguards on permit approval and safety guidelines.
E) He did all of these.

Question 32

The first departments created by Congress include all of the following EXCEPT _________.

A) the Justice Department
B) the State Department
C) the Treasury Department
D) the War Department
E) the post office

Question 33

The Civil Service is designed to protect employees from ___________.

A) taxes
B) job loss
C) partisanship
D) government
E) unemployment

Question 34

Federal employees appointed by the president with the explicit task of carrying out his political and partisan agenda are known as

A) political appointees.
B) merit system appointees.
C) Pendleton Act employees.
D) civil service employees.
E) career civil servants.

Question 35

Organization that was created by the Pendleton Act to administer entrance exams for the federal civil service and set standards for promotion based on merit is known as the

A) career civil service.
B) political appointees system.
C) Civil Service Commission.
D) merit system.
E) civil service.

Question 36

The system of employment under which the employees are chosen and promoted based on merit is known as

A) civil service system.
B) merit system.
C) political appointment system.
D) career civil servants system.
E) bureaucratic agency.

Question 37

The example of the organizational structure of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) describes the _________ of bureaucracies.

A) expertise of bureaucrats
B) mission statement
C) hierarchy of authority
D) policy-making process
E) iron triangle

Question 38

In 1870, the Office of the Attorney General, first set up in 1793, was transformed into the Department of _________, which employed lawyers to handle the legal business of the nation and managed all prosecutions and suits in which the United States had an interest.

A) the Attorney General
B) Interior
C) Justice
D) Legal Affairs
E) State

Question 39

Federal employees who are hired through a merit-based system to implement federal programs and who are expected to be neutral in their political affiliations are known as

A) AmeriCorps.
B) political appointees.
C) career civil servants.
D) being in the merit system.
E) members of a cabinet.

Question 40

Following a decade of interstate highway building, Congress created the Department of _______.

A) Interior
B) Transportation
C) Highway Safety
D) Interstate Commerce
E) Intrastate Commerce

Question 41

The career nature of the civil service, allows for built-in protections against ________.

A) media pressure
B) political pressure
C) public pressure
D) outside pressure
E) international pressure

Question 42

Congressional committees can use their jurisdiction to request testimony from ______ and _______ to explain the way they implement programs.

A) agency; military officials
B) agency; cabinet officials
C) cabinet officials; federal judges
D) governors; agency officials
E) cabinet officials; governors

Question 43

Senior management personnel in the federal government appointed by the president are called ______________.

A) Senior Management Service
B) Senior Civil Manager Service
C) Senior Executive Service
D) Senior Congressional Service
E) Senior Adviser Service

Question 44

One of the reasons that the bureaucratic process is slow is that they seek information from all of the following groups EXCEPT________.

A) Congress
B) industries being regulated
C) businesses being regulated
D) White House officials
E) average citizens with a stake in the issue

Question 45

In 1966, the _________ Act established a procedure by which ordinary citizens can request documents and reports from the federal government directly by paying a nominal fee, so long as the documents are not classified.

A) Freedom of Information
B) Government in the Sunshine
C) Hatch
D) Pendleton
E) Public Disclosure

Question 46

President Obama's administration has had the greatest number of ___________ ever among cabinet appointees.

A) African Americans
B) Asian Americans
C) Latinos/Hispanics
D) women
E) first-generation citizens

Question 47

In response to the mistrust of the federal government that grew out of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, in 1976, Congress enacted the _________ Act, which tried to increase transparency by requiring that government agencies hold open forums to allow the public to comment on their decisions, regulations, and performance.

A) Freedom of Information
B) Government in the Sunshine
C) Hatch
D) Pendleton
E) Public Disclosure

Question 48

To encourage more candid disclosure of wrongdoing in federal agencies, Congress passed the __________ in 1989.

A) Securities and Exchange Commission
B) Whistleblower Protection Act
C) Administrative Relief Act
D) Pendleton Act
E) Public Disclosure Act

Question 49

Each federal agency has an _________ that is responsible for monitoring the activities of the agency's employees.

A) Office of Review
B) Office of Whistleblowing
C) Office of Integrity
D) Office of Inspector General
E) Office of Internal Security

Question 50

To encourage cooperation between political appointees and civil servants, and to make sure that each was held accountable for decision making, President Carter proposed the _________ Act of 1978. This act created the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to oversee both categories of federal employees.

A) Administrative Procedures
B) Civil Service Reform
C) Government in the Sunshine
D) Hatch
E) Pendleton

Question 51

The government can justify the slowness of the decision-making process on the grounds that it _______________.

A) lacks the authority to move quickly
B) values transparency more than efficiency
C) considers many points of view
D) has hundreds of policies in queue
E) gets slowed by partisan differences among the political parties

Question 52

Due to the nature of bureaucracy, there is very little oversight from the __________ about the performance of agencies.

A) public
B) Congress
C) White House
D) Supreme Court
E) states

Question 53

Typically, the courts intervene when there is a dispute between Congress and the executive branch over _________________.

A) the morality of a law
B) the implementation
C) the interpretation of a law
D) the fairness of a law
E) the practicality of a law

Question 54

A serious failure of bureaucracy took place when ____________ were put on very long waiting lists to see doctors, thus delaying or denying their care and resulting in at least 40 deaths.

A) Latinos
B) African Americans
C) veterans
D) Obamacare patients
E) Medicaid patients

Question 55

In  Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council , the Court ruled that the EPA _________.

A) can adjust regulations
B) can't adjust regulations
C) has free reign to implement all policies
D) does not have free reign to implement all policies
E) can regulate anything that impacts the environment

Question 56

President Clinton was the first Democrat since the New Deal to suggest that some government services are better served by _________.

A) government contractors
B) public contractors
C) civil servants
D) private contractors
E) elected contractors

Question 57

Federal employees appointed by the president to oversee civil service employees are called ________.

A) Schedule appointees
B) Class C appointees
C) Schedule B appointees
D) Schedule D appointees
E) Schedule C appointees

Question 58

When a drug is submitted to the FDA for approval, the agency forms a panel to review the potential effects of the drug. This is an example of a bureaucratic agency engaging in the act of __________.

A) efficiency
B) oversight
C) appropriation
D) policy making
E) transparency

Question 59

The Office of Personnel Management oversees both ______ and ______ types of federal employees.

A) political; civil
B) civil; elected
C) elected; political
D) political; state
E) state; civil

Question 60

Employees who report mismanagement, corruption, or illegal activity within their agencies are referred to as

A) moles.
B) scabs.
C) spies.
D) traitors.
E) whistleblowers.

Question 61

What is civil service? How does it differ from political appointments?

Question 62

Explain the costs and benefits of the privatization of federal services.

Question 63

Explain how the Constitution provides a basis for bureaucratic power.

Question 64

State the advantages and disadvantages of the hierarchical decision-making process.

Question 65

Describe what it means to be a whistleblower.

Question 66

Why was the Post Office so important in the early days of the United States?

Question 67

Explain the role of the Senior Executive Service.

Question 68

Explain the growth of the use of private-sector contract workers.

Question 69

Explain ways the legislative and judicial branches can check the bureaucracy.

Question 70

Describe what regulatory agencies do.

Question 71

What made the bureaucracy grow? Is it too big?

Question 72

Analyze why bureaucratic expertise is fundamental to the core of the federal bureaucracy.

Question 73

Explain how the missions of a bureaucracy shape its goals.

Question 74

Discuss the cabinet-level departments and the roles of the cabinet secretaries.

Question 75

Explain the function of independent agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.

Question 76

How did the merit-based civil service improve the job performance of federal employees?

Question 77

Discuss the expansion of executive branch departments.

Question 78

Describe the bureaucratic culture.

Question 79

Explain the hierarchical decision-making process used in federal organizations.

Question 80

Define bureaucracy .