chAPTeR eleven • The BuReAucRAcy 267
Issue Network
A group of individuals or
organizations—which may
consist of legislators and
legislative staff members,
interest group leaders,
bureaucrats, scholars and
other experts, and media
representatives—that
supports a particular policy
position on a given issue.ever. Although iron triangles still exist, often they are inadequate as descriptions of how
policy is made today. Frequently, different interest groups concerned about a certain
area of policy have conflicting demands, which makes agency decision making difficult.
Additionally, during periods of divided government, departments are pressured by the
president to take one approach and by Congress to take another.
Many scholars now use the term issue network to describe the policymaking process.
An issue network consists of individuals or organizations that support a particular policy
position on the environment, taxation, consumer safety, or some other issue. Typically,
an issue network includes legislators and/or their staff members, interest group leaders,
bureaucrats, scholars and other experts, and representatives from the media. Members of
a particular issue network work together to influence the president, members of Congress,
administrative agencies, and the courts to affect public policy on a specific issue. Each
policy issue may involve conflicting positions taken by two or more issue networks.congressional control of the Bureaucracy
Many political pundits doubt whether Congress can meaningfully control the federal
bureaucracy. These commentators forget that Congress specifies in an agency’s enabling
legislation the powers of the agency and the parameters within which it can operate.
Additionally, Congress has “the power of the purse” and theoretically could refuse to
authorize or appropriate funds for a particular agency (see the discussion of the budget-
ing process in Chapter 9). Whether Congress would actually take such a drastic measure
would depend on the circumstances. It is clear, however, that Congress does have the legal
authority to decide whether or not to fund administrative agencies.
Congress also can exercise oversight over agencies. Congressional committees con-
duct investigations and hold hearings to oversee an agency’s actions, reviewing them to
ensure compliance with congressional intentions. The agency’s officers and employees can
be ordered to testify before a committee about the details of various actions. Through
the questions and comments of members of the House or Senate during the hearings,
Congress indicates its positions on specific programs and issues.
Congress can ask the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate particu-
lar agency actions as well. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also conducts oversight
studies. The results of a GAO or CBO study may encourage Congress to hold further
hearings or make changes in the law. Even if a law is not changed explicitly by Congress,
however, the views expressed in any investigations and hearings are taken seriously by
agency officials, who often act on those views.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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