Essay 16

There are several reasons why congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws. The main reason is because certain federal agencies have the people, the resources, and the experience that the federal government just doesn't have. In addition, agencies can regulate laws and enforce things for longer periods of time whereas congress can change legislatures every two years, giving them little time to actually enforce the laws they create.

The Enviromental Protection Agency takes care of any and all matters that have to do with protecting our enviroment or preserving our land. As with any law, nothing works 100% of the time nor does any law have the ability to work under any situation. With that, there is a certain amount of flexibly written in laws as intended by the founders. For example, if the law states that a certain area is restricted to vehicles and any vehicle found on that land will be cited, the EPA has a certain level of flexibility when enforcing that law. If a driver is purposely on the land, they should be cited, however, If a vehicle is involved in an accident and flys off the road into that restricted land, the EPA can decide whether or not they want to cite the person in that circumstance.

Congress insures that their federal agencies are following legislative intent in two ways. They allocate a supervisor to each agency to investigate and insure that agency is doing what it's supposed to. If they are, the company keeps going on as usual without a glitch. If they are not doing what they are supposed to, the federal government steps in and either guilds them back in the right direction, or removes the agency although. They can also keep agencies in line by controlling how much money they receive. If they are doing a poor job due to a lack of funding, the federal government can allocate more funds to help get the agency to where it needs to be. They can also take away money if the agency isn't doing what it's supposed to.



http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/_ap06_gopo_us_sg.pdf

2006-3 The United States congress and the president together have the power to enact federal law. Federal bureaucratic agencies have the responsibility to execute federal law. However, in the carrying out of these laws, federal agencies have policy making discretion.
(1) Explain two reasons why Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws.
(2) Choose one of the bureaucratic agencies listed below. Identify the policy area over which it exercises policy-making discretion and give one specific example of how it exercises that discretion.
a. Environmental Protection Agency
b. Federal Communications Commission
c. Federal Reserve board
(3) Describe two ways in which Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent.