Independent Regulatory Agencies

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        Independent Regulatory Agencies are federal agencies created by an act of Congress that are independent of the executive departments. Though they are considered part of the executive branch, these agencies are meant to impose and enforce regulations free of political influence
        The idea of the regulatory agency started in the United States, and it is largely an American institution. The first agency was the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), established by Congress in 1887 to regulate the railroads (and later extended to motor carriers, inland waterways, and oil companies). Though it was abolished in 1996,  it continues to serve as the prototype  or model for this type of agency.  The ICC was organized in the belief that a  specialists in a field would know more about the railroads and their unique problems than Congress would and  that a permanent commission could provide a more consistent line of policies and guidelines than congress because members of congress were not the experts. 
       
The insistence or urging of governmental control in other industries led to the creation of many other regulatory agencies modeled upon the ICC, chief among these being the Federal Trade Commission (FTC; 1914), the Federal Communication Commission (FCC; 1934),  the Securities and Exchange Commission  (SEC; 1934) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 
       
Regulatory agencies use a commission system of administration, and their terms of office are fixed and often very long. Federal Reserve Board members, for instance, serve for 14 years. Regulatory agency commissioners are appointed by the president, but their terms are staggered, so that no single president is able to drastically change the nature of the agency by appointing multiple commissioners.
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