Policymaking
Unelected members of the executive branch who carry out laws passed by Congress.
What are bureaucrats?
The number of executive departments in the cabinet.
What is 15?
Term for sector of workforce staffed by unelected government bureaucrats.
What is civil service?
The person who introduces the federal budget.
What is the president?
The type of budget spending that doesn't require yearly reauthorization by Congress.
What is mandatory spending?
How the Federal Reserve controls the amount of money in circulation
What is monetary policy?
The FCC is an example of this kind of government organization.
What is independent regulatory commission?
A system in which jobs and promotions are awarded for political reasons rather than for merit or competence.
What is the patronage system or spoils system?
The largest source of revenue for the federal budget.
What is personal income tax?
A financial instrument which the government promises to pay back with interest.
What is a bond?
How the government spends/budgets money
What is fiscal policy?
The USPS, Amtrak, and PBS are examples of this.
What is a government corporation?
This law created a federal civil service system to ensure that government employment would be based on open, competitive examinations and merit.
What is the 1883 Pendleton Civil Service Act?
The federal fiscal year starts on this date every year.
What is October 1st?
When Congress makes sure bureaucrats are implementing laws correctly.
What is oversight?
The stage of the policy process in which policies are carried out, or putting new law into action.
What is policy implementation?
NASA is an example of one of these.
What is an independent executive agency?
One reason why critics sought to replace the spoils system.
What is government corruption; bureaucracy was staffed by inexperienced workers; bureaucracy was inefficient? (any one of these answers would work)
Passed by Congress, it's the blueprint for how the federal government spends money every year; the president doesn't sign it.
What is the budget resolution?
One way the Federal Reserve can reduce the amount of money in circulation.
What is selling bonds; raising interest rates; raising reserve requirement? (any one of these would qualify)
Name for unofficial alliance between congressional committees, interest groups, and executive agencies/departments; outsiders are usually unable gain access.
What is iron triangle?
The executive department that handles programs such as Social Security.
What is the Department of Health and Human Services?
An agency of the United States government that conducts competitive exams, places applicants in jobs, and maintains the administrative functions of the civil service.
What is the Office of Personnel Management?
The congressional committee (there's one in both the House of Representatives and Senate) primarily responsible for creating spending bills.
What is Appropriations Committee?
An important U.S. Supreme Court case about the government's power to create regulatory agencies.
What is Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States (1935)?