How do the president, Congress, and courts exercise control over the bureaucracy?
The president takes charge of reforming the bureaucracy through his power of appointment, his power to propose new programs and budgets, and his power to streamline and rearrange.
Executive Control:
The president can use his power of appointment to place those who are loyal and competent. He can strategically place them where he chooses in top executive positions. He can also use his power of removal from these positions. The president can change reshuffle and reorder his departments to better achieve his purposes. Almost every president reorganizes the White House staff. Restructuring can strengthen accountability, reduce wasteful duplication, and tighten administrative competence and effectiveness. He oversees their daily operations. Reorganizations or appointments are two ways of gaining power over an agency previously protected from presidential influence. The president can have direct command over personnel, programs, and budget over the bureaucracy. The president had the power to propose budgets. Proposals and new regulations and procedures are required to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President for approval before it goes to Congress. This is a procedure that gives the White House the opportunity that is aligned with the president’s views and policies. They must formulate policy that meets their own preferences and political needs.
These new political appointees must be personally loyal to the president and fully committed to his policy agenda so that he can succeed. Political appointees in these top executive positions can make or break the administration.
Congressional Control: Congress forms the federal agencies, their programs and assigns the funding to them. It can legislate agencies out of existence, adjust the budgets of individual units and programs, require regularly reports, and investigate agency activities (holdings hearings). These departments are closely monitored by Congress. The power of money allocation or withholding is why these departments try so hard to influence Congress for their individual operation.
Judicial Control: The courts exercise control over bureaucracy by judicial review. Judicial review is the power of the federal courts to hold any law or review act of other branches of government and the states to be null, void, and unenforceable.
Also the courts exercise control by guaranteeing due process for people by given them entitlement to proper legal procedures and justice. The courts act directly through issuing court orders, assessing awards and damages, and setting new standards in historic rulings.