The Cabinet in Practice

<h1>Text Preview</h1> <p> <P>While the Cabinet departments were developed to address specific needs, not everyone in government believes that all of the departments are necessary. In recent years, movements have developed to disband the Departments of Education, Energy, and Commerce.<br></P> <P>Each department is structured to suit its individual function. Usually there is a secretary that heads the agency and an under-secretary or deputy secretary and assistant secretaries that manage the various aspects of each department. The departments consist of various sub-units or agencies, which may be further divided into smaller working groups. Many agencies are set up geographically, with most of the work being done through regional or district offices or bureaus.</P> </p> <p> <P>Department secretaries are appointed by the president and must be confirmed by the Senate. Senate rejection of appointees is rare, but it has occurred. The Senate rejected the appointment of John Tower, President George Bush's nominee for defense secretary, after allegations of Tower's drinking and womanizing resulted in a bitter debate. President Clinton's nominee for attorney general, Zoe Baird, was forced to withdraw from consideration after it was discovered that she had hired an illegal alien as her babysitter and failed to pay her employee's social security taxes.<br></P> <P>The president appoints the secretaries with the notion that they will represent him within the bureaucracy and operate the departments according to his wishes. He also relies on the secretaries for information and advice on policy matters from the department's area of interest.</P> </p> <p> <P>In addition to advising the president, the department secretary is concerned with promoting and protecting his department and budget with the White House, Congress, other departments, the media, and the public. That focus can lead to a conflict of interest when the secretary becomes more loyal to his department than he is to the president. This conflict is called "going native," which means the secretary is putting his department's goals ahead of the president's goals for the country.<br></P> <P>When a secretary "goes native," the president must turn to White House staff for political advice. A rivalry often develops between White House staff and department secretaries, with the staff supporting the president's proposals and the secretaries delaying and developing counter-proposals. The staff can hinder the secretaries' efforts by restricting access to the president. While some tension is anticipated, if a secretary expresses too much opposition to the White House goals, he may become an embarrassment to the president. In such cases, the president can call for the secretary's resignation.</P> </p> <p id="TextCopyright">Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education</p>