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| What are the most prominent recent examples of national programs in the areas of education and income security? | In education, the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act set national standards for schools and for students. Income security programs designed to relieve poverty generally take two forms: non-means based programs that provide cash assistance to any qualified beneficiaries first meet certain standards before receiving benefits like food stamps. |
| How is the federal budget formulated? | First, each federal agency submits a detailed estimate of its need for the year to the Office of Management and Budget. Then the OMB holds meetings to coordinate all requests into a single budget request, which the president will then submit to Congress in January or Febuary. |
| What is the debate over deregulation in economic policy? | In the 1970s and 1980s, economic regulations came under fire as anti-competive and anticonsumer. Many people saw regulating agencies as protecting the industries' profit margins rather than the public good. The fervor over economic deregulation seems to be waning, though, as consumer protection is gaining populartiy. |
| What are the two basic kinds of policy agendas? | The two basic kinds of policy agendas are the systemic agenda, which is a discussion agenda of all issues that are seen as meriting public attention, and the govermental or institutional agenda, which refers only to those problems that legislators or public officals feel are worth serious time and attention. |
| What is the difference between the discretionary and non-discretionary spending? | Discretionary spending refers to expenditures on programs and projects based on choices made by government planners. Non-discretionary spending regers to expenditures required by existing laws for current programs without debate or discussion. In recent years, the perecentage of discretionary spending has decreased while the precentage of non-discretinary spending has increased. |
| The largest percentage of federal budget money goes to pay for what programs? | The largest perecentage of money from the federal government goes to pay for the cost of entitilement programs such as social security. More money goes to pay for these programs than for any other expenditure. |
| How does the Federal Reserve Board use the money supply to manipulate monetary policy? | The Federal Reserve Board can manipulate monetary policy by altering the reserve requirment (the amont of deposits member bank are required to keep on hand and not loan out), changing the discount rate (the rate of interest that member banks have to pay to borrow money from the Fed), and buying and selling securities in the open market. |
| What are the major forces in public policymaking? | The major forces in policymaking include organized and discorganized groups, the courts, the bureaucracy, the Senate, and then national media. |
| What is fiscal policy? | Fiscal policy is the policy of taxation and spending that makes up the nation's economic policy and is designed to improve the overall economic health of nation. |
| What determines whether an issue is on the policymaking agenda? | The most important factors are shared political values, the weight of custom and tradition, the impact of events, the coverage of these events by the mass media, and changes in the way political elites think about politics. |
| What role does Congress play in the formation of foreign policy? | Congress plays a role in the development of foreign policy by making recommendations to the president on foreign relations, approving treaties, and approving nominations of ambassadors. |
| Even though there is no national healthcare system in the United States, the largest portion of government spending is for what entitlement program? | The Medicare and Medicaid programs account for the largest portion of government spending. |
| How does the bureaucracy provide social welfare to needy citizens? | Since 1996, the Temparary Assistance for Needy Families program replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, giving fixed block grants to the states to design their own welfare programs. Whatever the states do not spend on their own programs, they can keep. |
| What are at least two examples of the Supreme Court setting the public policy agenda? | The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation case, the 1962 Engle v. Vitale prayer case, the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights case, and the 1976 Gregg v. Georgia death penalty case are all instances of the Court setting the policy agenda. |
| What is client politics? | When a policy confers a benefit on one group at the expense of other people it is known as client politics. For example, states regualte occupations, such as barbers, dry-cleaners, and so on. These regualtions protect the public but also set standards for entry into these professions, allowing members to both charge higher prices and restrict entry. |
| How does the legislative branch influence the formulation of the federal budget? | After Congress receives and debates the budget package forumated by the Office of Managment and Budget and the president, Congress modifies the president's proposal. Congressional committees hold hearings, analyze the budget proposals, and by September offer budget resolutions that must be passed by September 15. Congress then sends the bills to the president for approval. |
| How do the fedral courts make public policy with their decisions? | First, a congressinal statute or presidential action can be ruled unconstitutional. Secound, national policy can be changed whenever the Supreme Court opts to decide an issue differently. Third, the Supreame Court can say that certain issues are political questions and therefore no proper subjects for judicial resolution. |
| What are the key steps in the budget-making process? | First, House and Senate buget committees review the major provisions of the president's budget proposals. These committees prepare a concurrent resolution that shows the totoal federal spending and tax plan for the coming fiscal year. Next, various House and Senate committees fit the spending and taxing plans with existing programs. Teh House then passes an appropriations bill, pffically setting aside money for all expenditures approved. |
| How has the USA Patriot Act increased federal investigation powers? | With a court order, the government may tap every phone a suspect uses instead of having to get a separate order for each phone. The attorney general may hold any noncitizen who is thought to be a national security risk for up to seven days, and if not charged or detained, can continue to hold the suspect if he or she is deemed to be a security risk. |
| Name at least three Supreme Court cases regarding the death penalty and their consequences. | Furman v. Georgia (1972) invalidated all then existing death penalty laws based on the inherent arbitrariness of their application; in Gregg v. Georgia (1976) the Court upheld Georgia's new capital-sentencing procedures; in Atkins v. Virginia (2002) and in Roper v. Simmons (2005) the Court ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional when applied to the mentally retarded and to persons under the age of eighteen, respectively. |
| What was the effect of Planned Parenthood v. Casey? | Planned Parenthood v. Casey 1992) lefts courts to grapple with abortion regulations through application of a new test: does the regulation in question place an undue burden on a woman's right to choose an abortion? Using this new test, courts have upheld some abortion regulations (such as waiting periods) while striking down others. |
| What was Propostition 209 in California? | Proposition 209 was an initiative placed on the ballot in California that would make affirmative action illegal. Groups involved in the fight for the passage included the governor and the California Civil Rights Initiative. The YMCA, the California American Association of University Women, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights argued against it. Proposotion 209 was passed by referndum in California in 1996. |
| How has Brown v. Board of Education affected the policy of racial integration of schools? | Brown had the effect of desegregating the public schools with "all deliberate speed." However, the de facto segregation process was slow and tumultuous for many cities in both the North, such as Boston, and the Sourth, such as Little Rock. |
| What economic powers are reserved to the states? | State governments ahve historically retained the power to regulate business, labor, and the professions. They also establish laws dealing with property ownership, contracts, corporations, and torts. States closely regualte insurance and banking, set the rules governing public utilites, and encourage business development. States administer and control natural resources. |
| What is the state's role in criminal laws and sentencing? | Because each state has its own criminal laws, dramatic differnces exist amoung states when it comes to sentencing. Mandatory sentencing exists for some states for some classes of crimes, thus taking away judicial discretion. In most cases, howerver, judges have great latitude within a state. |
| How has dealing with deficits driven state policy agendas? | By January 2002, growth in state Medicaid costs, a shortfall in revenue, and a sudden surge in funding for homeland security measures found most states dealing with budget deficits. Thirty-nine our of fifty states made budget cuts and thirty out of fifty states cut services to compensate for revenues below projections. |
| What is the role of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives? | This agency was created by George W. Bush and added to the Executive Office of the President. The agency was created to allow locla religious organizations to serve communities with food aid, housing aid, medical help, and educational services, and to apply for and receive federal funding to provide these services. |
| How much of federal revenue is derived from income taxes? corporate income taxes? | The individual income tax is the federal government's biggest source of revenue. About forty-five cents of every dollar the government collects comes from this source. People also pay state income tax. Only 10 percent of federal revenue is derived from corporate income taxes. |
| The most recent grouping if issues added to the policy agenda were a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. What parts of the bureaucracy are dealing with these issues? | The Department of Homeland Security and the military have been dealing with these issues. |
