334 CHAPTER 11|THE BUREAUCRACY
grants for college students, special education, preschools, construction of elemen-
tary and secondary schools, mass transit programs in many cities, health care for
seniors and poor people, job training and urban renewal, enhanced voting rights
and civil rights for minorities, environmental protection, and funding for the arts
and cultural activities.^31
The Great Society programs had mixed success. Voting rights and civil rights
reforms ended the “separate but equal” system of social order in southern states
and dramatically increased political participation by African Americans.^32 At the
same time, many antipoverty programs were dismal failures. Poverty rates among
most groups remained relatively constant, and other indicators, such as the rate of
teen pregnancies, actua lly increased.^33 In retrospect, the people who designed and
implemented these programs did not realize the complexities of the problems they
were trying to address.^34 Despite these shortcomings, the expansion of the federal
government during the New Deal and Great Society has remained in place over the
last generation.THE REAGAN REVOLUTION
The election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980, along with a Republi-
can takeover of the Senate and signifi cant Republican gains in the House of Rep-
resentatives, created an opportunity for conservatives to roll back the size and
scope of the federal government. However, after eight years of Reagan in offi ce
followed by four years of George H. W. Bush, and Republican control of Congress
during most of Democrat Bill Clinton’s presidency as well as during most of the
presidency of Republican George W. Bush, the growth of the federal government
did not slow. Few programs were eliminated, and the federal budget steadily
increased.^35
Conservative presidents and members of Congress have enacted programs
and regulations that increased the impact of government on society. For exam-
ple, George W. Bush’s administration added the No Child Left Behind education
reforms, which imposed many new requirements on local schools; the Medicare
Prescription Drug Benefi t, which was the biggest new health care program since
the 1960s; the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, which increased fi nancial reporting require-
ments for corporations; and a host of other regulations, from specifi cations on
backyard play sets to inspections of baggage on commercial aircraft.^36 The trend
toward increased federal regulation continued in the Obama administration,
especially with health care and fi nancial industry reforms enacted in Obama’s
fi rst term.The Modern Federal Bureaucracy
The size and scope of the modern federal bureaucracy refl ect the expansion of the
federal government over the last half-century and its increased role in citizens’
lives. The bureaucracy’s structure also refl ects ongoing attempts by presidents,
members of Congress, and others to control bureaucratic actions in line with their
policy goals.DESCRIBE THE SIZE AND
STRUCTURE OF THE
EXECUTIVE BRANCH TODAYUNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH,
the federal bureaucracy continued
to expand. Programs like No Child
Left Behind increased the role of
government in society.