Question

As you watch episodes 15, 16, & 17, answer the corresponding questions for each section.
Crash Course #15 ~ Bureaucracy Basics
1. In the United States, what specific important functions do bureaucracies fulfill? (There are three given.)
2. What are the new “rules” created by the bureaucracies called?
3. How are civil servants different from political appointees such as cabinet department heads?
4. Who makes the bureaucracies?
Crash Course #16 ~ Types of Bureaucracies
5. What is the first type of bureaucracy discussed? Of these, which three do we hear about the most in the news?
6. List some of the “independent regulatory commissions” discussed in the video. What do they do?
7. Which federal agency is responsible for collecting revenue for the United States government?
8. Ultimately, who gives the federal agencies power and money?
Crash Course #17 ~ Controlling Bureaucracies
9. Give some examples of “before-the-fact controls” discussed in the video.
~ Continued on the Back ~
10. The main way Congress uses “after-the-fact controls” is to use their legislative oversight powers by holding hearings.
What two historic examples are given during this segment?
11. What is “devolution”?
12. According to the video, why is it difficult to scale back the federal bureaucracy?

Answer 1

Crash Course #15 ~ Bureaucracy Basics
1. Three important functions: implement laws and public policy, make new rules/regulations to fill in details of statutes, and adjudicate/enforce rules (administrative adjudication of disputes).
2. Those new “rules” are called regulations (or administrative rules).
3. Civil servants are career employees hired on merit and meant to be nonpartisan and protected from political removal; political appointees (like cabinet secretaries) are chosen by the president (and confirmed by the Senate), serve at the president’s pleasure, and are explicitly political.
4. Congress creates and authorizes most bureaucracies by statute (the president oversees and staffs them, but their legal existence and funding come from Congress).

Crash Course #16 ~ Types of Bureaucracies
5. The first type discussed is the cabinet departments. The ones we hear about most in the news are typically Defense, Justice, and Treasury (other frequently mentioned ones include State and Homeland Security).
6. Independent regulatory commissions mentioned include examples like the Federal Reserve, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They regulate specific sectors/industries, write and enforce rules, and adjudicate disputes to protect the public interest.
7. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the federal agency responsible for collecting revenue.
8. Ultimately Congress (through laws and appropriations) gives federal agencies their legal authority and money.

Crash Course #17 ~ Controlling Bureaucracies
9. Examples of before-the-fact controls: Congress’s power to create/define agencies and set statutory limits, authorization and appropriations (budgeting), presidential controls such as appointments and executive orders, and OMB review of agency budgets and regulations before they take effect.
10. The two historic examples of congressional oversight hearings given in the episode were the Church Committee’s investigations of intelligence abuses (1970s) and the Iran–Contra hearings (1980s).
11. Devolution is the transfer of responsibility for certain programs or functions from the federal government down to state or local governments.
12. It’s difficult to scale back the federal bureaucracy because agencies develop constituencies (clients, interest groups, contractors), build expertise and institutional momentum, their services are often valuable to voters, and cutting them is politically costly; plus legal/administrative constraints and the diffusion of responsibility make rollback complicated.