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Departments
Usually the largest organization in government with the largest mission; the highest rank in the federal hierarchy
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Independent Regulatory Commissions
A government agency or commission with regulatory power whose independence from the Prez is protected by Congress
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Independent Agencies
A government entity that is independent of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches
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Government Corporations
a government agency that operates like a business corporation, created to secure greater freedom of action and flexibility for a particular program
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Senior Executive Service
Established by Congress in 1978 as a flexible, mobile corps of senior career executives who work closely with presidential appointees to manage government; members of the civil service
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Civil Service
Federal employees who work for government through a competitive, not political selection process
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Spoils System
a system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends
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Pendleteon Act of 1833
created an independent Civil Service Commission based on a merit system
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Merit System
a system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage
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Office of Personnel Management
an agency that administers civil service laws, rules and regulations
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Merit Systems Protection Board
independent agency that oversees and protects merit in the federal government personnel system
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Hatch Act
Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities- A federal statute barring federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds
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Implementation
the process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending/converting a law into action
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Administrative Discretion
authority given by Congress to the federal bureaucracy to use reasonable judgment in implementing the laws
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Administrative Procedure Act
all rules from the Bureaucracy must be published in the Federal Register
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Federal Register
the official record of what the federal bureaucracy does
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Uncontrollable Spending
the portion of the federal budget that is spent on previously enacted programs, such as Social Security, that the president and Congress are unwilling to cut
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Entitlement program
programs such as unemployment insurance, disaster relief, disability payments, Social Security, college loans, medicare that provide benefits to all eligible citizens
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Oversight
legislative or executive review of a particular government program or organization. Can be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of routine review
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Central Clearance System
review of all executive branch testimony, reports and draft legislation by the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that each communication to Congress is in accordance with the presidentÂ’s program
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Police patrol oversight
two branches watch the bureaucracy through a routine pattern of key reports and budget monitoring
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Fire alarm oversight
two branches wait for citizens, interest groups, or the press to find am ajor problem and pull the alarm; medioa using the Freedom of Information Act
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Freedom of Information Act
anyone can access documents from the bureaucracy
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Whistle-blowers
people who pull the fire alarm
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