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With Strings Attached: Statutory Delegations of Authority to the Executive Branch
Author(s) -
Taratoot Cole D.,
Nixon David C.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02395.x
Subject(s) - statute , statutory law , legislature , agency (philosophy) , bureaucracy , government (linguistics) , public administration , discretion , executive branch , control (management) , divided government , law , political science , economics , sociology , management , politics , social science , linguistics , philosophy
While research on the influence of divided government upon legislative outputs is available, relatively little identifies the effects of divided government on legislative control of bureaucratic discretion. Some suggest that inter‐branch conflict between the President and Congress leads legislators to seek to retain legislative control over the bureaucracy. As a result, periods of divided government increase statutory control and reduce agency autonomy. Close examination of statutes creating each federal agency between 1946 and 1997 reveal that divided government increases specificity of statutory control. In addition, the particular type of divided government involving split partisan control between the chambers of Congress fosters greater specific statutory control when new government agencies are created.