A Critical Analysis of the Policy Making Process in Public Administration

Policy – the deliberate course of action chosen by an individual or group in order to deal with a specific problem or issue.

Most individuals with a general background knowledge of the United States Federal Government system are aware that in order for a bill to become a law, it must first pass a majority vote in Congress. There is, however, a very important step in the legislative process that sometimes goes unnoticed. The committee system of the legislation process ensures that the appropriate attention is given to each bill introduced to Congress. Each member of both chambers are assigned to committees and subcommittees, and are expected to become subject matter experts in their respective roles as committee members.

All laws start as bills. Any one can draft a bill, a congressman, the President, even Mr. Hughes if wanted something accomplished. Anyone can draft a bill, but only a congressman can put the bill into the bill box. From the bill box it is given to the speaker of the house, who decides which committee receives the bill for the lengthy editing process. The real power of the Speaker of the House is deciding which committee gets the bill, whether he wants the bill to pass or be thrown out. Inside the committees there are subcommittees that where a committee is a large idea, like the Senate armed forces Committee, the sub committees such as the seapower committee. after a long editing process the bill is either passed or trashed. if passed and in the house the next committee the bill goes to is the rules committee, where the date and how long the bill is argued for will be decided. If in the senate, the bill will go to the majority and minority leaders, and they decide when the bill will be brought for the entire senate. again it is argued in the senate or the house and it will either be trashed or passed here too. Finally the bill should be a law right, nope, the bill has to be passed in the other house of congress. finally once it has been passed in both compartments, if the wording is not the same a conference committee meets, with representatives from both the house and senate deciding the final wording of the bill, only

This paper is a review of chapter’s one (1), two (2) and three (3) in Thomas A. Birklands (2016) fourth edition regarding policy process. The reading attempts to define and show what is meant by policy process, how government, politics and the public are intertwined, problems that are associated with the policy process and how we address the problems. Current day events as well as past history are applied to the practice of policy process which assists in defining the process and highlighting its connection and importance. Thomas A. Birklands refers to the Clinton administration, the Obama administration and the George W. Bush administration, the DARE Program, World War II, and the Vietnam War, in the chapters and leads us down a path discussing

The purpose of the legislative committee is to come up with a compromise when a bill is proposed to the Senate and House of Representatives. They decide if they go through with a bill or they don’t or if they need to make amendments to the bill and compromise with each other. There is a standing committee which is a permanent selection of people that has legislative jurisdiction they consider bills and issues then recommend any changes that they see need to be made. They have a responsibility to monitor agencies, programs and activities that are within their jurisdictions. The standing committees recommend funding levels, authorization for the government operations and for new and existing programs. The second committee is a select committee;

When getting the specifics of something, the committee will most likely assign a subcommittee to look at something very specific (5). All the subcommittee is, is a small group of people from the original committee that get very specific information (5). While the committee and subcommittee is getting an experts analysis on the proposed bill, they are also checking so make sure that the bill has a high priority in society (5). To do this the committee hands the bill off to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) (5). The people in the GAO check and make sure that the bill is worth the time of the committee by judging how much of an impact that it will have on the government or the lives of everyone in the United States of America (5). Once the GAO has reached their decision, the committee then decides whether they will hold a meeting or not hold a meeting (5).

After introduction of the bill, the referral or assignment to house or senate then takes place. In other words, the bill is assigned to standing committee. The Speaker and Lieutenant Governor appoint committee members and chairs. This gives the presiding officers great power and these vital decisions can

In this assignment I am going to analyse how government policies are developed, covering all aspects of the policy making process.

The two most powerful officials are the speaker and Lieutenant Governor. These two will assign the bills to different committees and once the research has been completed

Members of Congress are charged with three primary duties—writing laws, overseeing the implementation of laws, and serving the needs of their constituents. Senate Filibuster, House Rules Committee and the Conference Committee all have had a profound effect in the lawmaking process. Additionally, general accounting office and hearings are both methods that Congress employs in order to maintain oversight over the federal bureaucracy. Lastly, Casework drastically affects members’ attention to legislation because it diverts their time, and resources away from focusing on legislation.

Coincidentally, the Pennsylvania state government has a similar layout to the federal government as it has the same 3 branches of government which have similar responsibilities. The actions taking effect in this article are focused on how the legislative branch operates. The legislative branch operates by the General Assembly, which is composed of the Senate with 50 senators and the House of Representatives with 203 representatives. In order for effective legislative work to be conducted the General Assembly is divided into specific committees which report on issues and develop bills responding to certain issues. In this case, the bill may have started in the Department of Health and Human Services. The committee discusses the bill surrounding the issue and add their final edits to the draft of the bill where it then goes onto the floor. Normally the bill would go onto the portion of the floor of the General Assembly that it began with, but in this situation a joint meeting was brought to order to discuss certain bills in order for a vote. Furthermore, during the discussion the benefits and the negatives of the bill will be considered as well as its projected effectiveness and its contribution to the betterment of society. After the vote is conducted if a majority votes for the bill, it will be processed towards the governor’s desk for signing. The governor’s signature makes the bill proceed into becoming a

There are committees for different topics of what a bill could be. The bills are sent to the committees by a speaker of the house. Once the bill reaches the Committee, the members decide what to do with it. Now days most bill dies at this stage, meaning that the bill does not pass and becomes a law. Although when it does passed, the committee makes a vote, and it is sent to the next part of the law-making process which is the Rules Committee, who also decide on it through debate, deciding what will good about making the laws, or what could be the negative outcome to it, in this stage the bill could die to. This committee not only can reject or pass the bills, but add amendments, then after their changes are done; they pass the bill to the Senate.

Governmental policies and politics play a critical role in the realization of change in a public agency since the policies are developed and implemented at various levels (Dukeshire & Thurlow, 2002). Since these policies may range from formal regulations and legislation to informal guidelines in an agency, understanding them is important in the achievement of change in a public agency. A Public agency basically functions based on the established policies and politics in the government. Therefore, the accomplishment of the change in a public agency requires an increased understanding of the politics and policies of government.

Decision-making is very vital in the study of administration. Decision-making is the act of deciding the best choice or alternative that brings success or advantage to a situation that will ensure maximum benefits and least risk. Probability can be applied to decision-making in public administration because it is possible to estimate the probability of occurrence of specific events. A part of decision-making in relationship to public administration has to do with goals. The probability of you meeting those goals depends on decision-making. For example a restaurant owner has received more revenue on Thursdays than on any other day And less Revenue on Saturdays than any other day. The owner has looked at everything that could have influenced his sales. The owner realized that the only things that were different on Thursdays than any other day was the chief special and the drink special. According to the receipts of the last four Thursdays the probability that a customer orders a drink special is 60%. The probability that a customer orders the chief special is 50%. The probability of them ordering both is 42%. This shows the restaurant owner that Thursdays drink special should be considered on both Thursdays and Saturdays.