Chapter Thirteen
The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government
Multiple Choice
1. A principle of bureaucratic organization is
a. hierarchical authority.
b. job specialization.
c. formalized rules.
d. All of the answers are correct.
e. None of the answers are correct.
Answer: d
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2. 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 immediate 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.
Answer: c
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3. 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.
Answer: a
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4. All of the following statements correctly describe the typical independent agency except
a. it has a narrower area of responsibility than 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 employees are mostly hired through the civil service system.
Answer: b
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5. 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. all regulatory agencies.
d. all cabinet departments
e. respectively, an agency within a cabinet department, an independent agency, and a regulatory agency.
Answer: e
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6. 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.
Answer: a
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7. The civil service system was created through the
a. Morrill Act.
b. Hatch Act.
c. Pendleton Act.
d. Taft-Hartley Act.
e. National Performance Review.
Answer: c
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8. 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.
Answer: a
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9. Federal civil service employees cannot legally
a. be fired from their jobs.
b. go on strike.
c. belong to a union.
d. be completely restricted in their election activities.
e. contribute to political campaigns.
Answer: b
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10. Policy implementation refers to the bureaucratic function of
a. executing the authoritative decisions of 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. All of the answers are correct.
e. None of the answers are correct.
Answer: a
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11. The functions of the bureaucratic agencies include all of the following except
a. regulation of industries, such as meat and poultry.
b. development of public policy.
c. delivery of services as provided by laws.
d. formal approval of those nominated by the president to head the agencies.
e. implementation of public policy.
Answer: d
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12. As distinct from the patronage and executive leadership 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 the answers are correct.
Answer: c
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13. When it was developed during the Jackson administration, the patronage system was designed to
a. provide jobs to merit appointees.
b. make the administration of government more responsive to ordinary citizens.
c. increase congressional control of the bureaucracy.
d. increase judicial control of the bureaucracy.
e. provide jobs to lawyers.
Answer: b
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14. In response to economic demands that were a result of rapid industrialization, Congress in the late 1800s began to
a. create new federal departments built around economic interests.
b. establish the executive management system.
c. reorganize the cabinet in order to make it the center of economic policy making.
d. All of the answers are correct.
e. None of the answers are correct.
Answer: a
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15. During the New Deal, the federal bureaucracy
a. increased slightly in size.
b. increased sharply in size.
c. stayed roughly the same size but was granted a great deal more funding for its programs.
d. stayed roughly the same size but was granted a great deal more authority to regulate national economic activity.
e. was reorganized to reduce the number of federal agencies.
Answer: b
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16. 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 partisans appointed by the president.
Answer: a
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17. 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.
Answer: c
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18. The chief goal of the executive leadership system is
a. the shifting of power from Congress to the president.
b. improved coordination through the presidency of the bureaucracy’s programs and agencies.
c. the establishment of partisanship as the basis for the administration of policy.
d. a better system for training top bureaucrats.
e. the shifting of power from Congress to the federal courts.
Answer: b
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19. 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, merit, and executive leadership systems.
e. mostly dominated by patronage politics.
Answer: d
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20. About 60 percent of top positions in the federal bureaucracy are held by
a. women.
b. white males.
c. African Americans.
d. Latino Americans.
e. Asian Americans.
Answer: b
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21. Bureaucrats are ________ and elected officials are ________.
a. generalists; specialists
b. generalists; generalists
c. specialists; generalists
d. specialists; specialists
e. popular; unpopular
Answer: c
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22. 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.
Answer: a
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23. The assassination of President ________ did much to end the spoils system of distributing government jobs.
a. Abraham Lincoln
b. James Garfield
c. William McKinley
d. John F. Kennedy
e. Chester Arthur
Answer: b
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24. A president’s proposal to reorganize a part of the bureaucracy can encounter opposition from
a. the bureaucracy itself.
b. clientele groups.
c. members of Congress.
d. public opinion.
e. All of the answers are correct.
Answer: e
Page: 390
25. It can be said of regulatory commissions that
a. the broad discretion these commissions have over regulatory policy means that a change in their membership can have a significant impact.
b. the commissioners pursue independent and impartial policies, regardless of political pressure from Democrats or Republicans in Congress.
c. unlike presidential appointees in other areas, regulatory heads choose which civil servants will work in their agencies, and thus have the full loyalty of career bureaucrats.
d. unlike presidential appointees in other areas, the president can hire and fire the heads of regulatory commissions whenever she/he chooses.
e. All of the answers are correct.
Answer: a
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26. 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.
Answer: b
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27. Congress generally
a. tries to monitor the bureaucracy closely.
b. allows the bureaucracy to define broad policy goals.
c. sets broad policy and then allows the bureaucracy discretion in implementing it.
d. trusts the president to manage the bureaucracy, thereby relieving itself of the need to oversee the bureaucracy’s activities.
e. holds continuous hearings to ensure bureaucratic accountability.
Answer: c
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28. Legally, the bureaucracy derives the general authority for its programs from
a. acts of Congress.
b. federalism.
c. regulatory rulings.
d. court rulings.
e. the will of the people.
Answer: a
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29. In 2004, ________ accused President George W. Bush of downplaying the terrorist threat and being preoccupied with Iraq in the period leading up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
a. Condoleeza Rice
b. Donald Rumsfeld
c. Colin Powell
d. John Ashcroft
e. Richard Clarke
Answer: e
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30. ________ was created in 2002.
a. The Department of Transportation
b. The Department of Energy
c. The Department of Education
d. The Department of Veterans Affairs
e. The Department of Homeland Security
Answer: e
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31. In the future, bureaucratic accountability is likely to
a. decrease in importance because of increased gridlock between Congress and the president.
b. maintain the same level of importance it has today.
c. increase in importance because policy issues will grow ever more complex and therefore government will become even more dependent on the bureaucracy.
d. become a contentious issue in public opinion polls.
e. be completely irrelevant.
Answer: c
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32. 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.
Answer: b
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33. Compared with U.S. bureaucrats, European 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.
Answer: b
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34. The courts have tended to support administrators as long as their agencies
a. choose rules that save money.
b. 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.
Answer: b
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35. A longstanding question about the bureaucracy involves the issue of
a. responsiveness.
b. accountability.
c. efficiency.
d. effectiveness.
e. All of the answers are correct.
Answer: e
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36. Congress oversees the bureaucracy through
a. sunset laws.
b. the Government Accountability Office.
c. the Congressional Budget Office.
d. committee hearings.
e. All of the answers are correct.
Answer: e
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37. When Andrew Jackson became president, he changed the system of staffing the bureaucracy that earlier presidents had used. These earlier presidents
a. all believed in the civil service system.
b. all believed in the patronage system.
c. all believed that distinguished men should be entrusted with the management of the national government.
d. all believed in whistle-blowing.
e. all believed in a representative bureaucracy.
Answer: c
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38. ________ is/are most likely to have the most substantial understanding of trade issues.
a. The president
b. Members of the Senate
c. Top bureaucrats in the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission
d. Members of the House
e. State governors
Answer: c
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39. The chief way that administrative agencies exercise real power is through
a. rule making, or deciding how a law will operate in practice.
b. judicial interpretation, or mandating the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of a new statute.
c. hiring and firing government personnel in the name of efficiency and effectiveness.
d. testifying before Congress on the merits or demerits of a proposed regulation or law.
e. None of the answers are correct.
Answer: a
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40. The power of clientele groups was evident 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.
Answer: b
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41. The Postal Service and AMTRAK are examples of
a. cabinet departments.
b. government corporations.
c. independent agencies.
d. regulatory agencies.
e. presidential commissions.
Answer: b
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42. Street-level bureaucracy refers to the discretion used by lower level officials in the
a. initiation of policy.
b. development of policy.
c. carrying out of programs.
d. evaluation of programs.
e. responding to whistleblowers.
Answer: c
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43. The modern civil service system is based on
a. informal standards of personal merit.
b. codified classifications and prerequisite experience or competitive testing.
c. rewards for partisan activity.
d. presidential selection from a field of qualified applicants.
e. a lottery system.
Answer: b
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44. Bureaucracy 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.
Answer: b
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45. 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 interests that benefit from the agency’s programs.
d. All of the answers are correct.
e. None of the answers are correct.
Answer: d
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46. ________ were created in 1789 during the administration of George Washington.
a. The Departments of State, Interior, and Agriculture
b. The Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Energy
c. The Departments of Justice, Commerce, and Transportation
d. The Departments of State, Treasury, and War (Defense)
e. The Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Education
Answer: d
467. The National Performance Review was directed at
a. reducing red tape.
b. eliminating non-essential government services.
c. empowering administrators.
d. All of the answers are correct.
e. None of the answers are correct.
Answer: d
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478. Which of the following programs now run by the federal bureaucracy could reasonably be reassigned to states and localities if Congress should decide it wanted to shift some policy responsibilities to the states and localities?
a. national defense
b. currency
c. U.S. Postal Service
d. All of the answers are correct.
e. None of the answers are correct.
Answer: e
Page: 398
Essay/Short Answer
1. Identify four of the five major types of organizations within the federal bureaucracy and give examples of each.
Answer: The five major types of organizations within the federal bureaucracy are the cabinet department, independent agency, regulatory agency, government corporation, and presidential commission. Examples of cabinet departments are the Department of Defense, Department of State, and the Department of Treasury. The CIA and NASA are examples of independent agencies. Regulatory agencies include OSHA, the EPA, and the SEC. The Postal Service and AMTRAK are government corporations. Presidential commissions include the Commission on Civil Rights and the Commission on Fine Arts.
2. The three systems of bureaucratic management are the patronage, merit, and executive-management systems. Describe their respective goals and the major problems associated with each system.