Early in the history of the National Performance Review (NPR), observers speculated that the prescriptions it contained, if implemented, would shift authority over the bureaucracy from the legislative branch to the executive branch. This review of the actual impact of NPR on relations between these key institutional actors finds that to the contrary, NPR has served to strengthen the congressional role in administrative matters in important ways. Key to this outcome has been the recent tendency, promoted by NPR, toward the disaggregation of administrative structures and systems in the federal government.
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