Agency Heads and Rulemaking

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Agencies such as the Health & Human Services Agency, the Department of Justice, and the Environmental Protection Agency enforce laws. For example, they enforce rules that are set to ensure food is safe or hospitals operate with high standards. Due to this, it is possible that these agencies want a stake in rulemaking that impacts their agency. However, should they? Or does that overstep their boundaries?

Provide an explanation of two ways in which the head of the Health & Human Services Agency, the Department of Justice, or the Environmental Protection Agency might influence rulemaking on a specific issue. Then explain the degree to which you think agency heads should influence rulemaking. Justify your explanation with academic resources.

Note: Every post should include an in-text Bluebook citation, if referencing cases, as well as a citation in the reference list.

Support your response using the Learning Resources and other scholarly resources. View the list of the types of resources below.

Required Resources

Readings

  • Kerwin, C. M., & Furlong, S. R. (2010). Rulemaking: How government agencies write law and make policy (4th ed.). Washington, DC: CQ Press.
    • Chapter 1, “The Substance of Rules and the Reasons for Rulemaking” (pp. 33–36)
    • Chapter 2, “The Process of Rulemaking” (pp. 75–86)
    • Chapter 7, “Rulemaking: Theories and Reform Proposals” (pp. 276–280)
  • Batkins, S., & Brannon, I. (2013). No ‘midnight’ after this election. Regulation, 36(1), 4–6.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
  • Bolton, A., Potter, R. A., & Thrower, S. (2015). Organizational capacity, regulatory review, and the limits of political control. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 32(2), 242–271. doi: 10.1093/jleo/ewv025
    Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
  • Cook, B. J. (2015). Curing the mischiefs of faction in the American administrative state. The American Review of Public Administration, 46(1), 3–27. doi: 10.1177/0275074015612160
    Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
  • West, W. F. (2015). The administrative presidency as reactive oversight: Implications for positive and normative theory. Public Administrative Review, 75(4), 523–533.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Optional Resources

  • Clark, R. C., Ochs, H. L., & Frazier, M. (2013). Representative bureaucracy: The politics of access to policy-making positions in the federal executive service. Public Personnel Management, 42(1), 75–89.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.