Essay 16

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.

1.  Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws because it's easier to come to agreement and it's more efficient that way.

2. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under the policy of clean air and water. The EPA is in charge of protecting the environment by creating national parks and regulating pollution levels. The EPA passed pollution level laws and ordered all cities to change who didn't pass the test.

3. Two ways in which Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent are investigations and Legislative Veto. 

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