William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

460 Chapter 13 | The Bureaucracy

in lobbying bureaucrats to revise the proposal. The agency then issues a final

regulation that incorporates changes based on the comments. This final regulation

is also published in the Federal Register and then put into effect. The process is time-

consuming. The ongoing work of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop

regulations on the use of drone aircraft began with a congressional mandate issued

in 2012. In 2015, the FAA issued a regulation requiring all but the smallest drones to

be registered with the agency, but it is still developing rules to govern larger package-

delivery drones that must fly over populated areas. Many regulations can take even

longer to craft from beginning to end.

This process of devising or modifying regulations is often political. Members of

Congress and the president usually have strong opinions about how new regulations

should look—and even when they don’t, they may still get involved on behalf of a

constituent or an interest group. Bureaucrats take account of these pressures from

elected officials for two reasons: (1) the bureaucrats’ policy-making power may derive

from a statute that members of Congress could overturn; and (2) bureaucrats need

congressional support to get larger budgets and to expand their agency’s mission. Thus,

despite bureaucrats’ power to develop and implement policies, their agencies’ budgets,

appointed leaders, and overall missions are subject to elected officials’ oversight.

Many regulations are issued each year. In recent years, the Federal Register has run

to more than 20,000 pages containing thousands of new regulations a year.^3 Although

nearly all government agencies issue regulations, most come from a few agencies,

including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which regulates commerce; the

Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates media companies that

create content as well as telecommunications companies that transmit information;

and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates drugs, medical

products, food, and cosmetics.

The nine most terrifying words

in the English language are: I’m

from the government, and I’m

here to help.

—President Ronald Reagan

Federal regulations affect most aspects of everyday life. They influence the gas

mileage of cars sold in the United States, the materials used to build roads, and the

price of gasoline. They determine the amounts that doctors can charge senior citizens

for medical procedures; the hours that medical residents can work; the criteria used to

determine who gets a heart, lung, or kidney transplant; and the allowable emissions

Federal regulations influence many

aspects of everyday life that would

seem unlikely to be affected by

government actions. The increase in

the number of women’s intercollegiate

athletic teams is partly due to

regulations that require equal funding

for men’s and women’s teams. Pictured

here is Notre Dame University’s

2018 NCAA women’s basketball

championship team.

Full_14_APT_64431_ch13_454-487.indd 460 16/11/18 1:43 PM