6 - Problem Solving and the Supply of Information

Summary

Congressional efforts to shape the information supply via problem prioritization do not occur in a vacuum. First and foremost, congressional influence depends on the problems bureaucracies identify, how they define them, and what information about these problems they pass on to Congress. In classic systems models of politics, system control depends on feedback from the past performance of the system. The dual dynamics of the administrative state constitute just such a communications system oriented toward addressing problems. Congressional problem prioritization in this system depends on being attentive to and, in part, reacting to information generated by the bureaucracy about various policy problems. In such a system, bottom-up influence by the bureaucracy is inevitable.

This chapter sets out to assess the bottom-up influence of the federal bureaucracy, the second half of the dual dynamics of agenda setting in the administrative state. I argue that the influence wielded by bureaucracies comes at the front end of the policy process – during and before agenda setting. This perspective is a major departure from the way in which both scholars and the public at large understand bureaucracy. Typically, the influence of bureaucracy, if it exists at all, is envisioned as playing a role in the implementation and evaluation stages of the policy process – after Congress, the president, and often even interest groups have had their say. In contrast, the dual dynamics of problem prioritization and problem solving highlights the influence of bureaucracy at the very early stages of policy making. The federal bureaucracy influences not only which problems are identified for government action but, importantly, also how these problems are defined and understood.

Problem solving by the bureaucracy entails three processes: the monitoring of the agenda for problems, the generation and maintenance of problem definitions, and the generation and provision of information about the problems to Congress. Examining the influence of these processes on the congressional issue agenda requires the introduction of another dataset.