Download 1999 FRQ #3

By John Tummino
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
YES, Congress is effective in providing
oversight of the bureaucracy.
NO, Congress is not effective in providing
oversight of the bureaucracy.
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
“Supervision: management by overseeing the
performance or operation of a person or
group”
Taken from wordnetweb.princeton.edu
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YES
Budget control, reauthorization of agencies,
setting guidelines for new agencies, committee
hearings, power to organize/reorganize
agency, “sunset” overview (fed. agencies must
justify their existence to taxpayers and
Congress or face elimination), Congressional
support agencies (CBO), iron triangles
(Congress + bureaucracy + interest groups),
and influence over selection of leadership
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
NO
Political ramifications, oversight is intensive
labor, lack of technical expertise, logrolling,
lack of budget control, enabling legislation is
vague, interests groups encourage Congress to
overlook effective administration, failure to use
powers, iron triangle, firing administrators is
difficult