POLITICAL STATUS OF FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES Jin Canrong (58) This essay approaches the subject through the following perspectives: the relative independent status of the federal bureaucracy; its increased functions in the policy process; and the flaws in its legal status. The author argues that the bureaucracy's political status, while not on a par with the President, Congress or the Supreme Court, is much higher compared either with the past or with the status envisioned by the framers of the Constitution.