Presidency & Bureaucracy

Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support

Law requiring people to take a civil service exam for certain government jobs

The extent to which appointed bureaucrats can choose courses of action and make policies that are not spelled out in advance by laws.

Appointment of officials based on selection criteria devised by the employing agency and OPM

hiring people into government jobs on the basis of their qualifications

The office in charge of hiring for most agencies of the federal government, using elaborate rules in the process.

recognized that many high level positions in the civil service have important policy making responsibilities and that the president and his cabinet officers ought to have more flexibility in recruiting, assigning, and paying such people.

A federal law prohibiting government employees from active participation in partisan politics.

Created the Office of Special Counsel to investigate complaints from bureaucrats that were punished after reporting to Congress about waste, fraud, or abuse in their agencies

A close relationship between an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group

A formal declaration by a legislative committee that a certain amount of funding may be available to an agency. Some authorizations terminate in a year; others are renewable automatically without further congressional action.

a proposed law to authorize spending money

The authority of Congress to block a presidential action after it has taken place. The Supreme Court has held that Congress does not have this power

1966 law that allows citizens to obtain copies of most public records

a committee's investigation of the executive and of government agencies to ensure they are acting as Congress intends

The body of law created by administrative agencies (in the form of rules, regulations, orders, and decisions) in order to carry out their duties and responsibilities.

complex bureaucratic rules and procedures that must be followed to get something done