The Public Policy–Making Tug-of-War Between Rulemaking and Ordermaking

Governmental agencies, as a result of broad delegation of both rulemaking and ordermaking powers, have the legal authority to make "laws," or the public policies that govern socioeconomic and political activities in the United States. Because are designed to facilitate the making of generally applicable rules that help to shape an overall regulatory game plan, attempts have been made to promote uniformity and consistency in agency policies. Rulemaking is comprehensible, relatively quick, and democratically accountable, especially in the sense that decision making is kept aboveboard and equal access is provided to all, including the general public. From the perspective of agency officials, each approach has obvious advantages and disadvantages. Agency officials also see the difficulty of promulgating general policies through rulemaking that will be fair to all affected parties. It is important to comprehend the character of ordermaking and rulemaking if one is to develop conceptually strong insights into the agency policymaking process.