Chapter 18 Policymaking and Domestic Policy

Which of the following policies will be instituted to deal with the identified problem, according to the video?

- simplification of mortgage paperwork - creation of an agency for consumer financial protection to monitor big banks - clarification of language regarding credit card fees, overdraft fees, and student loans

Order the following stages of the policymaking process by selecting the appropriate number for each stage.

1) problem ID 2) policy formulation 3) policy adoption 4) policy implementation 5) policy evaluation

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

A 1996 national act that abolished the longtime welfare policy, Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). TANF gives the states much more control over welfare policy.

Medicare

A health insurance program serving primarily persons sixty-five and older.

War on Poverty

A part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program, intended to eradicate poverty within ten years.

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

A reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act during the Barack Obama presidency.

Critics of ________ argued that it discouraged people from seeking work, so sixty-one years after being enacted it was replaced by ________ , an upheaval that affected at least 20 percent of American families.

AFDC; TANF

Fill in the blank 1

According to the data presented in the map, chart, and graph, the annual cost of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments is expected to reach $800 million in 2014 while estimated benefits are expected to reach $120 to $280 billion, including decreases in infant and adult mortality . However, U.S. environmental regulations are not the same across the board. For instance, those in the Northeast are not likely to be covered by the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.

According to the text, the majority of Americans support which proposal regarding undocumented immigrants?

Allowing a pathway to citizenship (Majorities of the American public consistently support the major elements of a measured approach, including the path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Immigration pg 519)

___________ committees decide which of the programs approved, will actually be funded.

Appropriations

___________ committees have jurisdiction over particular legislative subjects. Examples are the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.

Authorization

The poverty level is calculated using the

Consumer Price Index

The federal poverty level is currently calculated using the

Consumer Price Index. (The poverty level is the minimum cash income that will provide for a family's basic needs; calculated using the Consumer Price Index. Public Assistance pg 505)

____________ spending, including annual military expenditures, is authorized annually in each session of Congress and is subject to limits, or caps.

Discretionary

The government, in an effort to discourage environmentally damaging business practices, imposes an extra tax on factories that use high-polluting manufacturing processes. Which term does this action best exemplify?

Disincentive (Disincentives are policies that discourage particular behavior. A tax on pollution, for example, is a disincentive for a factory to continue using high-polluting manufacturing processes. Government Purposes and Public Policies pg 493)

What was the main tool used by the Johnson administration to launch the War on Poverty in the 1960s?

Economic Opportunity Act (The major weapon in the War on Poverty was the Economic Opportunity Act (1964), which encouraged local programs to educate and train people for employment. Among them were college work-study programs, summer employment for high school and college students, loans to small businesses, a domestic version of the Peace Corps, the Head Start program, and legal services for the poor. The Development of the American Welfare State pg 500)

From which source do most carbon dioxide emissions come in the United States?

Electricity

Which of the following is always true of entitlement programs?

Entitlement programs are open to as many people as meet the criteria.

What is the final step of the policy-making process?

Evaluation

Which of the following statements is NOT true about how regulations that have gone into effect can be revised or terminated?

Existing regulations cannot be terminated until a new administration enacts new regulations.

Budget outlays are how much government agencies are authorized to spend on current and future programs.

False

In a welfare state, the government confines its activities to the minimal protection of people and property with the goal of ensuring security and order.

False (A welfare state is a nation in which the government assumes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens by providing a wide array of public services and redistributing income to reduce social inequality. The Development of the American Welfare State pg 499)

In the United States, public assistance strictly means welfare or assistance to the poor.

False (Most people who use the term welfare are actually talking about public assistance, the broad term for government aid to individuals who show a need for that aid. Although much public assistance is directed toward those who lack the ability or the resources to provide for themselves or their families, the poor are not the only recipients of welfare. Public Assistance pg 504)

Leonardo happily picks up more projects at work in order to receive overtime pay. As a result, he pays more into Social Security. Leonardo correctly believes that his Social Security contributions are set aside in a savings account for when he retires.

False (Social Security is not a form of savings in which your contributions are set aside for your retirement. It is a pay-as-you-go tax system, meaning that today's workers support today's program beneficiaries. People who currently pay into the system receive retirement benefits financed by future participants. Social Security pg 502-503)

public assistance

Government aid to individuals who can demonstrate a need for that aid

Among advanced industrial nations, the United States spends the largest proportion of its economy on

Health Care

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a policy primarily focused on which area?

Healthcare

___________ spending is for programs that provide legally-protected benefits to individuals that cannot be reduced without changing the law.

Mandatory

Though they are both government health-care programs, one way that Medicaid differs from Medicare is that

Medicaid is jointly run by the federal government and the states.

Though they are both government health insurance programs, one way that Medicaid differs from Medicare is that

Medicaid is jointly run by the federal government and the states. (Unlike Medicare, which is solely a federal program, Medicaid is jointly run and financed by the federal government and the states. Health Care)

The federal government provides health care to the elderly and disabled through what program?

Medicare

Which of the following represents a health care policy?

Medicare

Which policy was a major component of President Johnson's Great Society program?

Medicare

Measures taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration to alleviate the Great Depression were collectively known as the

New Deal. (The Great Depression is the longest and deepest setback that the American economy ever experienced. Roosevelt did not specify the contents of his New Deal, but the term was applied to measures Roosevelt's administration undertook to stem the Depression. The Development of the American Welfare State pg 499)

Feedback about program performance involves which phase of the public policymaking process?

Policy evaluation (Policy evaluation is the analysis of public policy, including feedback received about the effectiveness of a policy. Government Purposes and Public Policies pg 496)

What is the common denominator in loosely-formed communities known as issue networks?

Policy expertise in a specialized area (The common denominator in an issue network is not the same political outlook, but policy expertise, because specialized knowledge is necessary to enter the political debate. Government Purposes and Public Policies pg 498)

Great Society

President Lyndon Johnson's broad array of programs designed to redress political, social, and economic inequality

What did George W. Bush suggest to reform and revamp the Social Security system for future years, though it never caught on and continues to be opposed by President Obama?

Privatization

What did President George W. Bush suggest to reform and revamp the Social Security system for future years?

Privatizing the program (George W. Bush advocated the idea of workers investing their own payroll taxes in the stock market instead of the federal trust fund, but he got little support due to widespread fear that privatizing the program would expose the elderly to too much financial risk. Social Security pg 504)

What was the goal of the Common Core Standards developed and adopted by 45 states during the Obama administration?

Raise education standards as well as promote consistency across states (During the Obama administration, 45 states developed and adopted a set of Common Core Standards, which lays out a set of skills in math and English language arts that students are encouraged to master in each grade. The goals of the Common Core were to raise standards as well as promote consistency across states. Elementary and Secondary Education pg 517)

Which federal program was developed as part of the New Deal and designed to provide a pension to older people?

Social Security

What is an example of an entitlement program in the United States?

Social Security (Social Security is a form of an entitlement program to which every eligible person has a legal right and that the government cannot deny. Social Security pg 501 )

What is considered to be the cornerstone of the modern American welfare state, one that created the nation's largest entitlement program?

Social Security Act

Social Security

Social insurance that provides economic assistance to persons faced with unemployment, disability, or old age. It is financed by taxes on employers and employees.

Which region of the country has the most states with families living in poverty compared to the national average?

South

Which of the following is an example of a redistributive policy?

Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (also known as food stamps)

____________ committees are responsible for raising the revenues to run the government.

Tax

Critics of social welfare spending argued that it discouraged people from seeking work, so sixty-one years after being enacted, Aid to Families with Dependent Children was replaced by which program?

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) (Beginning in the 1930s, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program provided cash assistance to needy families. But over time it was criticized for discouraging people from seeking work, and in 1996 it was replaced with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a program that is still in place. Public Assistance pg 506)

Which of the following is NOT an example of a state adjusting its policies to compete with neighboring states?

The 2017 tax law limits deductions for state and local taxes to $10,000.

Which of the following are true of environmental policy in the United States?

The Clean Air Act of 1970 authorized the establishment of national ambient air quality standards in the United States. Federal laws apply to air pollution because pollution created in one state may impact air quality in other states.

What is the primary federal agency in charge of regulations governing air and water quality?

The Environmental Protection Agency

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA)

The federal government's primary law to assist the nation's elementary and secondary schools. It emerged as part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program.

Social Security Act

The law that provided for Social Security and is the basis of modern American social welfare.

Great Depression

The longest and deepest setback the American economy has ever experienced. It began with the stock market crash on October 24, 1929, and did not end until the start of World War II

New Deal

The measures advocated by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration to alleviate the Depression.

poverty level

The minimum cash income that will provide for a family's basic needs; calculated using the Consumer Price Index.

Fill in blank 3

The number of people from South America receiving lawful permanent resident status decreased between 2011 and 2016, while the number of lawful permanent residents from Europe increased by just under 10,000 during the same time period. Of those whose region of origin is known, Oceania had the fewest persons obtaining lawful permanent resident status during this period.

What is the Federal Register?

The official publication for all executive branch rules, regulations, and orders

How long is the period between publication of a preliminary regulation and its review for revisions?

Thirty to ninety days

What is the purpose of the DREAM Act?

To provide a path to citizenship for noncitizens who entered the United States illegally as children

Medicaid is a joint state and federal program that provides health coverage to the needy.

True

States can have policies that set higher or stricter standards than those of the federal government.

True

Despite federal policy efforts to increase educational equity between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, gaps remain in test scores and in overall graduation rates.

True (Despite federal policy efforts to increase educational equity between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, gaps remain in test scores and in overall graduation rates. These gaps are important because they tend to correlate with future educational and economic opportunities. Elementary and Secondary Education pg )

In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that states can direct law enforcement authorities to ask people to demonstrate whether they are in the country legally.

True (In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that states can direct law enforcement authorities to ask people to demonstrate whether they are in the country legally. For example, Arizona police are directed to check the immigration status of any person they stop or arrest. Immigration pg 520)

The controversy over whether to implement universal health care in the United States highlights the dilemma of equality versus freedom.

True (The central problems of the health-care issue go to the heart of the modern dilemma of government: we must weight greater equality in terms of universal coverage and cost controls against a loss of freedom in markets for health care and in choosing a doctor. Health Care pg )

Social Security is not a form of savings, but a pay-as-you-go tax system, so ________ is absolutely required.

Universal Participation

Fill in the blank 2

While numbers dipped in 2013, on average, more than one million people obtain legal permanent residence in the United States each year. The largest percentage of these new residents are from Asia , followed by new residents from North America , which is a category that includes both Mexico and Canada.

Which option represents a welfare policy change enacted in the 1990s?

Work requirements

When government resources are allocated so a particular segment of society or a specific region of the country will receive a service, the result is

a distributive policy.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

a federal program administered by the states that provides assistance for purchasing food to eligible beneficiaries

public policy

a general plan of action adopted by the government to solve a social problem, counter a threat, or pursue an objective

social insurance

a government-backed guarantee against loss by individuals without regard to need

welfare state

a nation in which the government assumes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens by providing a wide array of public services and redistributing income to reduce social inequality

Medicaid

a need-based comprehensive medical and hospitalization program

No Child Left Behind Act 2001 (NCLB)

a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act during the George W. Bush presidency

issue network

a shared-knowledge group consisting of representatives of various interests involved in some particular aspect of public policy

Welfare policy is intended to assist which population?

a.Children b.The elderly c.Both of these answers are correct

policy evaluation

analysis of a public policy so as to determine how well it is working

non-means-tested benefits

benefits provided by government to all citizens, regardless of income; Medicare and Social Security are examples

In the 1970s, Congress created _____________ committees in each chamber to supervise a comprehensive budget review process.

budget

Means-tested benefits

conditional benefits provided by government to individuals whose income falls below a designated threshold

Taxes on polluting to discourage factories from using harmful manufacturing processes, and taxes on cigarettes to discourage people from smoking are examples of ________ as public policy tools

disincentives

In the policy-making process, the step immediately following policy formulation is policy ____________.

enactment

Benefits to which, every eligible person has a legal right to and that the government cannot deny are known as ____________.

entitlements

Public policies of the United States affect all states equally.

false

Information received by policymakers about the effectiveness of public policy, such as the evaluation of how the U.S. State Department handled requests from Syrian refugees for asylum, is an example of ________ regarding public policy.

feedback

distributive policies

government policies designed to confer a benefit on a particular institution or group

Social welfare programs

government programs that provide the minimum living standards necessary for all citizens

Despite some changes in immigration policy over the decades, illegal immigrants have always been legally ineligible for

government safety net programs and public assistance.

The famous 1983 report entitled A Nation at Risk charged that the United States

had inadequate schools that were getting worse. (The famous 1983 report entitled A Nation at Risk released by the National Commission on Excellence in Education charged that the nation's schools were inadequate and were getting worse, and provided updated data unfavorably comparing American students with their international counterparts. Elementary and Secondary Education)

The United States is unique among all other major industrialized nations in that it

has no universal health-care system.

The United States is unique from all other major industrialized nations in that it

has no universal health-care system. (The United States is the only major industrialized nation without a universal health-care system. Health Care pg 508)

Fragmentation

in policymaking, the phenomenon of attacking a single problem in different and sometimes competing ways

Feedback

information received by policymakers about the effectiveness of public policy

The way we think about a policy problem or social condition is influenced by our own values as well as the persuasive messages of political parties and interest groups. This is called

issue definition

What kind of government benefits have an income requirement in order to qualify, such as receiving Medicaid benefits?

means-tested benefits

Samantha is a single mom whose income falls below the poverty level, making her eligible to receive Medicaid health care coverage. This is an example of

means-tested benefits.(Means-tested benefits are conditional, in that they impose an income test to qualify (for example, Medicaid benefits are available only to households with an income below a certain threshold). Benefits and Fairness pg 521)

issue definition

our conception of the problem at hand

redistributional policies

policies that take government resources, such as tax funds, from one sector of society and transfer them to another

What is the common denominator in loosely formed communities known as issue networks?

policy expertise in a specialized area

Of the four stages of policymaking, ________ refers to the process of putting specific policies into operation, often involving multiple levels of government.

policy implementation

Most people who use the term welfare are actually talking about ________ , the broad term for government aid to individuals who show a need for that aid.

public assistance

Ezra is the governor of a state in which the impoverished population has grown significantly over the past decade. To help create economic equality, Ezra plans to enact a progressive tax plan: low-income workers will receive tax cuts while the wealthiest residents will pay higher rates. This is an example of

redistributional policy. (Political scientists often categorize public policy choices by their objectives. One common category, redistributional policies, which are explicitly designed to take resources from one sector of society and transfer them to another, reflecting the core value of equality. Government Purposes and Public Policies pg 491)

What problem was identified in the video?

risky banking practices by big banks

The first U.S. immigration law was enacted in 1924 with the Johnson-Reed Act, which

set strict quotas on numbers of immigrants and the countries from which they could come.

The first U.S. immigration law was enacted in 1924 with the Johnson-Reed Act which

set strict quotas on numbers of immigrants and the countries from which they could come. (The Johnson-Reed Act set strict quotas on the number of immigrants permitted to enter the country and the nations from which they could come. Immigration pg 518 )

When President Harry Truman proposed a national health insurance program during his administration, the American Medical Association (AMA) linked this proposal to

socialism. (As early as 1945, public opinion supported national health insurance, and President Truman proposed a program, but the idea became entangled in Cold War politics. The American Medical Association (AMA), representing the country's physicians, financed a campaign to link national health insurance (so-called socialized medicine) with socialism, and the idea vanished. Health Care)

Which organization successfully opposed the first national health insurance program, proposed by President Truman in the 1940s?

the American Medical Association (AMA)

The Social Security Act was signed into law during

the Great Depression. (In 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, which remains the cornerstone of the modern American welfare state. This was during the Great Depression. Social Security pg 502)

Before a regulation can go into effect, it must be reviewed by __________.

the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

policy formulation

the stage of the policymaking process during which formal proposals are developed and adopted

agenda setting

the stage of the policymaking process during which problems get defined as political issues

feminization of poverty

the term applied to the fact that a large percentage of all poor Americans are women or the dependents of women

What has been the most controversial purpose of American government?

to promote social and economic equality

What was the goal of the Common Core Standards that 45 states adopted during the Obama administration?

to raise standards as well as promote consistency across states

The budget that the president submits to Congress each winter is the end product of a process that begins the previous spring under the supervision of the Office of Management and Budget.

true

What was the first form of social insurance issued by the U.S. government?

workers compensation