Deck 14: Bureaucracy in a Democracy

Question 1

ARPANET was a(n)

A) Cold War era networked for sharing national security information between the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency.
B) independent agency of the federal government during the 1990s that regulated and taxed Internet service providers (ISPs).
C) program managed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in the 1950s, which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit.
D) decentralized, highly redundant communications network created by the federal government in the 1950s and 1960s.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Line agencies are

A) departments, bureaus, or independent agencies whose primary mission is to regulate economic activity.
B) government agencies that perform a market-oriented public service and raise revenues to fund their activities.
C) agencies that are not part of any cabinet department and not subject to congressional oversight.
D) bureau-level agencies that deal directly with the public.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

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

A) 1936; 6 million
B) 1968; 3 million
C) 1996; 8 million
D) 2005; 10 million

Answer 3

B

Question 4

An independent agency is an executive branch organization that

A) is part of a cabinet-level department.
B) charges fees to consumers but carries out governmental responsibilities.
C) is established by Congress, but not part of a cabinet-level department.
D) is established by the president without congressional approval.

Question 5

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

Question 6

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

Question 7

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

A) 2 weeks
B) 6 months
C) 35-40 months
D) 4 years

Question 8

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

A) conform to the Supreme Court's decision in Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha.
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) enhance the public's trust in bureaucracy.

Question 9

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.

Question 10

There are approximately ________ military personnel currently in the United States.

A) 100,000
B) 600,000
C) 900,000
D) 1.3 million

Question 11

The Internet was created by

A) Apple.
B) International Business Machines (IBM).
C) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
D) the U.S. Department of Defense.

Question 12

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.

Question 13

Approximately ________ percent of the nation's employed workforce is an employee of a state or local government.

A) 1
B) 5
C) 15
D) 33

Question 14

________ is when bureaucrats attempt to translate laws into specific rules and actions.

A) Adjudication
B) Regulation
C) Deregulation
D) Implementation

Question 15

Before the Civil Service Act of 1883, government appointments were made

A) on the basis of merit.
B) on the basis of seniority.
C) to political supporters as part of a spoils system.
D) by leaders of Congress.

Question 16

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 were explicitly described in Article II of the Constitution.
D) Most federal bureaus are created by executive order of the president.

Question 17

Which of the following executive agencies was created by Congress in the aftermath of the financial crisis that began in 2008?

A) Federal Reserve Board
B) Department of Housing and Urban Development
C) Council of Economic Advisers
D) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Question 18

Which of the following is an independent agency?

A) U.S. Postal Service
B) Department of Agriculture
C) Environmental Protection Agency
D) Forest Service

Question 19

Bureaucracy literally means ________.

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

Question 20

Environmental impact statements are

A) amendments made to bills being debated in the House and Senate Environmental Protection committees.
B) decrees issued by the president about climate change.
C) policies written and implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency.
D) reports demonstrating that a proposed rule or agency action will not have an unacceptably large negative impact on the human or physical environment.

Question 21

The first regulatory agencies Congress established were ________.

A) in the Department of Commerce
B) independent regulatory commissions
C) government corporations
D) in the Labor Department

Question 22

The National Security Archive is a

A) private organization that makes extensive use of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain information about the activities of national security agencies.
B) bureau-level agency in the Department of Homeland Security that classifies the security clearance requirements of all government documents.
C) part of the National Security Agency that classifies the security clearance requirements of all government documents.
D) private organization that the federal government contracts to provide backup copies for all national security documents.

Question 23

An iron triangle is the

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

Question 24

The number of state and local government employees has

A) remained relatively unchanged since 1950.
B) declined since 1950.
C) increased since 1950.
D) always been less than the number of federal government employees.

Question 25

Which of the following is a government corporation?

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

Question 26

The Department of Health and Human Services

A) administers the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program.
B) has no influence over Medicare or Medicaid.
C) is under the direct administrative control of the National Institutes of Health.
D) administers Social Security.

Question 27

________ is the primary mission of the State Department.

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

Question 28

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

A) State
B) Defense
C) Commerce
D) Homeland Security

Question 29

The controversy over the Patriot Act reveals the complications of balancing ________ with the ________.

A) national security; civil liberties of individuals
B) the flexibility of the president; oversight of state governors
C) the needs of domestic security; commitments of international treaties
D) the goals of diplomacy; needs of bureaucratic expertise

Question 30

The ________ oversees the Coast Guard, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A) U.S. Marine Corps
B) secretary of defense
C) U.S. Army
D) Department of Homeland Security

Question 31

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.

Question 32

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

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

Question 33

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

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

Question 34

Which of the following statements about administrative rule making is NOT true?

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.

Question 35

While the responsibility for making fiscal policy lies with ________, the administration of fiscal policy occurs primarily in the ________.

A) the president: Federal Reserve Board
B) the president: Treasury Department
C) Congress: Treasury Department
D) Congress: Department of Commerce

Question 36

The director of national intelligence is important because he or she is

A) the highest-ranking official in the Department of Homeland Security.
B) the only official in the United States that has access to every top secret government file.
C) responsible for coordinating the efforts of intelligence agencies and issuing a national security report to the media each morning.
D) responsible for coordinating the efforts of intelligence agencies and reporting directly to the president each morning.

Question 37

U.S. attorneys are

A) selected at random from a pool of qualified federal prosecutors.
B) assigned on a case-by-case basis by the Supreme Court.
C) hired by the Department of Justice after a series of civil service examinations.
D) appointed by the president.

Question 38

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

A) Federal Reserve System
B) secretary of the Treasury
C) Internal Revenue Service
D) Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Question 39

Which of the following best describes the number of U.S. attorneys?

A) There are two U.S. attorneys in each of the 94 judicial districts.
B) There are two U.S. attorneys in each of the 50 judicial districts.
C) There is one U.S. attorney in each of the 94 federal judicial districts.
D) There is one U.S. attorney in each of the 50 federal judicial districts.

Question 40

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.

Question 41

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

A) Federal Reserve System
B) Agricultural Extension Service
C) U.S. Customs Service
D) Securities and Exchange Commission

Question 42

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.

Question 43

By 2000, the National Performance Review had succeeded in ________ the federal workforce by approximately ________ jobs.

A) cutting; 270,000
B) cutting; 425,000
C) increasing; 270,000
D) increasing; 425,000

Question 44

________ occurs when the federal government passes authority to administer a program to state or local governments.

A) Deregulation
B) Devolution
C) Privatization
D) Implementation

Question 45

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 federal government is downsized by completely cutting wasteful programs.

Question 46

The result of the National Performance Review was that the size of the federal workforce

A) was reduced by about 60 percent.
B) was reduced by about 35 percent.
C) was reduced by about 10 percent.
D) did not really change at all.

Question 47

The national security documents leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed that the

A) National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting private data such as phone calls, email messages, and web browser history on millions of Americans and foreign nationals.
B) Bush administration misrepresented intelligence information about nuclear weapons in order to justify the 2003 Iraq War.
C) September 11, 2001, attacks could have been prevented with better information sharing between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the National Security Council (NSC).
D) CIA was violating international law by using "enhanced interrogation techniques" against suspected terrorists.

Question 48

The Obama administration's campaign to make government more transparent

A) was jeopardized by Edward Snowden's leak of sensitive national security documents in 2013.
B) resulted in the termination of the National Security Agency's global surveillance operations.
C) resulted in the passage of the Freedom of Information Act.
D) resulted in the repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act.

Question 49

Virtually all military hardware is produced

A) by the Department of Defense.
B) on a privatized basis by private contractors.
C) by state and local governments.
D) by the State Department.

Question 50

The Financial Stability Oversight Council was created by

A) President Roosevelt in 1939 to reduce unemployment and increase public-sector job opportunities.
B) President Obama and Congress in 2010 to identify systemwide risks to the financial sector.
C) Congress in 1965 to counter the growing influence of the Office of Management and Budget.
D) President Reagan in 1980 to study the causes of inflation and make policy recommendations to reduce it.

Question 51

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.

Question 52

What was the chief bureaucratic flaw identified by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States?

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 September 11, 2001.
D) Diplomacy with the Taliban and other sponsors of terrorism had broken down in the mid-1990s.

Question 53

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.

Question 54

The "virtual fourth branch of government" refers to ________.

A) political parties
B) state governments
C) interest groups
D) government contracting

Question 55

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

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

Question 56

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

A) the merit system
B) iron triangles
C) devolution
D) the mass media

Question 57

If federal governmental officials were to cease all economic regulation, the marketplace most likely would

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

Question 58

The National Park Service is ________.

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

Question 59

Privatization is a way to

A) shrink the federal budget by selling government services or property in the private sector.
B) reduce government costs by relocating government programs to private groups or corporations.
C) reduce big government by doing without some of the programs it once provided.
D) increase the government's role by purchasing private companies.

Question 60

Which of the following most accurately describes the politics of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)?

A) 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.
B) Congress, the president, and the Treasury Department have little to no influence over the taxation decisions made by the IRS.
C) Influence over tax decisions regarding exemptions is spread broadly throughout the 50 states and is not concentrated in any one area or among any one group.
D) Key tax decisions regarding exemptions are made by Congress, the president, and the Treasury Department rather than by the IRS itself.

Question 61

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was significant because it

A) ended the "spoils system."
B) was the first major revamping of the federal civil service since its creation in 1883.
C) reinstated the "spoils system."
D) cut the federal workforce by 20 percent.

Question 62

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 U.S. foreign policy process.
D) states have a much harder time implementing programs than the federal government does.

Question 63

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 significantly overall since 2000, but for the first time in 13 years, spending on outside contractors declined in 2011.
D) The amount spent on federal contracts declined between 2000 and 2005, but has dramatically increased since 2005.

Question 64

Since 2000, spending on government contracts has

A) increased, while spending by contractors on lobbying and campaign contributions also has increased.
B) remained constant due to a congressional law that limits federal spending on government contracts to $200 billion per year.
C) decreased, while spending by contractors on lobbying and campaign contributions has also decreased.
D) decreased, while spending by contractors on lobbying and campaign contributions has increased.

Question 65

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) size of the total national debt.

Question 66

Individual members of Congress can discover questions of public responsibility when engaged in ________.

A) a filibuster
B) constituent casework
C) activities related to the work of a conference committee
D) a party caucus

Question 67

In 1937, the Committee on Administrative Management claimed that "the president needs help" because

A) President Roosevelt had serious health problems related to polio and could not fulfill all of the constitutional responsibilities of the presidency.
B) President Roosevelt needed to devote all of his energy to guiding the American military's efforts in World War II and he could not effectively manage the federal bureaucracy.
C) the "spoils system" had filled the executive branch with Republicans who were refusing to enact key parts of President Roosevelt's agenda.
D) the national government had grown rapidly during the preceding 25 years, but the structures and procedures necessary to manage the burgeoning executive branch had not yet been established.

Question 68

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) Ronald Reagan
D) Bill Clinton

Question 69

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.

Question 70

Which of the following is an agency created by Congress to assist in overseeing the federal bureaucracy?

A) Congressional Budget Office
B) Congressional Office on Legislative Affairs
C) Office of Management and Budget
D) Congressional Oversight Office

Question 71

Which of the following statements is accurate?

A) Most bureaucrats in America work in Washington, D.C.
B) Most bureaucrats work in the U.S. Department of Education.
C) Most federal employees work outside of Washington, D.C.
D) The Environmental Protection Agency is the largest independent agency.

Question 72

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

A) 0
B) 10
C) 156
D) 849

Question 73

The phrase "blended workforce" refers to

A) a recruitment and hiring policy implemented by the federal government in order to increase racial and ethnic diversity within the federal workforce.
B) the federal government's policy of replacing 10 percent of all employees with automated technology by 2020.
C) the fact that most federal employees now have appointments in two or more separate cabinet-level departments.
D) the fact that contract employees now work side by side with government employees in most areas of government activity.

Question 74

Which of the following ways to make the bureaucracy responsible has the most constitutional backing?

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

Question 75

In 2015, President Obama issued an executive order that required federal contractors to

A) provide health care benefits for all of their employees.
B) report all undocumented immigrants in their employment to the Department of Homeland Security.
C) reduce their lobbying expenditures to 10 percent of the amount of their government contract.
D) pay a $10.10 minimum wage and to provide paid sick leave for their employees.

Question 76

"Zero-based budgeting" was a

A) method of budgeting that dictated funding for federal agencies could never be cut unless the federal government was running a budget deficit.
B) method of budgeting from the bottom up, whereby each agency was required to rejustify its entire mission rather than merely its next year's increase.
C) method of budgeting in which each federal agency would receive a 0 percent increase each year.
D) phrase used by President Bill Clinton in his attempts to persuade the public that there was very little basis for cutting the funding of most federal programs.

Question 77

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

Question 78

The mission of the National Performance Review was to

A) reorganize the federal bureaucracy to make it more efficient, more accountable, and less wasteful.
B) review each administrative agency every four years to determine whether it is necessary.
C) analyze the job performance of federal employees.
D) make recommendations to Congress on government reforms.

Question 79

Which of the following statements about congressional oversight of the bureaucracy is most accurate?

A) The number of oversight hearings has decreased over time as the bureaucracy has expanded.
B) While the number of oversight hearings has increased over time as the bureaucracy has expanded, the extent of oversight does depend somewhat on which party controls the White House.
C) The number of oversight hearings has remained constant over time, despite the fact that bureaucracy has expanded.
D) Oversight has been eliminated as a result of a 2012 Supreme Court decision.

Question 80

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

A) adequate government oversight for an increasingly expanding force of independent contractors
B) an easier way for the government to collect tax revenues from government contractors
C) a safeguard against government contractors with conflicts of interest with high-ranking public officials
D) a better system for the government to find contractors to perform government jobs more quickly