Public Policy Midterm

~Wednesday, October 28

Public Policy

government activities, either direct or through agents (contractors) that have influence on lives of citizens

Government Actions

statements, actions, spending, laws, courts,

Government Influence

decisions, behavior

Instruments of Policy

1. Law

2. Public Service (Defense, Education)

3. Money/Spending

4. Taxes

5. Suasion

Policymaking

1. Fragmented- founder’s intent

2. Federalism

3. Separation of Powers

4. Sub-governments

5. Public v Private

6. Size of Public Sector

1921 Budget and Accounting Act (a)

established the modern federal budget process and shifted centralized budget-making authority to the executive branch (a)

Factors of Healthcare + Economic Policy

• access

• cost

• quality

Access

working poor, poverty, geography (691 counties)

22% of counties in US are w/o hospitals

Costs

US spends more than any country- more procedures

costs rise faster than inflation

25% of hospital works are in admin

Quality

OECD, lowest life expectancy, highest death rates highest maternal and infant mortality

Education

N.W. Ordinance, 1/16 land for free, common education

1862 Morrill Act

land-grant universities

Importance of Public Education

social mobility, social integration, labor force/economic competition, better citizens, govern ourselves better (Jefferson)

Higher Education

GI Bill, Pell Grant, student loans,

Articles of Confederation

unanimous, economic problems, foreign threat

Bill of Rights

gain approval, concern about national power- wanted by the people

Budget Process

• President: Proposes the budget.

• Congress: Reviews and plans spending.

• Budget resolution: Sets spending goals.

• Appropriations bills: Decide how money is spent.

• President: Signs or vetoes spending bills.

• Agencies: Spend the money.

• Oversight: Checks how money is spent.

• Continuing resolution: Temporary government funding.

• Fiscal year starts: October 1.

• Fiscal year ends: September 30.

Article One

Legislative

Article Two

Executive

Article Three

Judicial

Article Four

States

First Amendment

• Press

• Religion

• Speech

• Assembly

• Petition

Law

the means of producing the most important outputs of government: rights

Services

governments provide a number of services directly to citizens, ranging from defense to education to recreation

Money

gov’t provide citizens, organizations, and other gov’ts with money

65% of all money collected in taxes is given back to economy

Taxes

use of this as a policy instrument as well as for revenue collection

Suasion

gov’ts can use moral _ to attempt to influence society

they can speak in the name of public interest and make those who oppose them appear unpatriotic and selfish

Pragmatism

belief that one should do whatever works rather than follow a basic ideological or philosophical system

• make government hard

Federalism

constitutional allocation of governmental powers between the federal and state govt

Separation of Powers

the constitution distributes the powers of the federal govt among three branches, each capable of applying checks and balances to the other two

Subgovernments

the result of divisions within American government

Log-rolling and the pork barrel

instead of clashing over the allocation of resources, actors minimize conflict by giving one another what they want

Public and Private

the leakage across the boundary between two sectors that has been occurring in both directions

• quasi-public organizations

Size and Shape of Public Sector

US has grown with expenditures increasing from less than ¼ to more than one third gross national product

• relative size of public sector

Power

fundamental to all models of policymaking, including stages model

Stages Model (def)

assumes that the process of making policy plays a significant part in determining the outcome

Stage Model

picture

Institutional Models of Policy

the general idea that institutions are crucial for understanding why the public sector functions as it does

Iron Triangles

symbiotic relationship among interest groups, congressional committees and subcommittees, and administrative agencies

Agenda Setting

before govt can make a policy choice, a problem in society must have been deemed amendable to public action and worthy of policymakers’ attention

• ex: poverty

Issue Placed on Policy Agenda

perception that something is wrong and that the problem can be ameliorated through public action

Pluralist Approach

assumes that policymaking in government is divided into a number of separate arenas and that the interests and individuals who have power in one arena do not necessarily have power in others

Elitist Approach

assumes the existence of a power elite dominates public decision-making and whose interests are served in the policymaking process

State-Centric Approaches

the environment is not filled with pressure groups, but with “pressured groups” activated by government

Legitimacy

belief on the part of the citizen that the current government represents a proper form of government and a willingness on their part to accept the government’s decrees as legal and authoritative

Pork Barrell Legislation

concerns capital expenditures,

• river and harbor improvements

Executive Budget

budget is prepared by the president and her staff and approved by Congress then executed by the president and the executive branch

The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921

before this year, the federal budget was a legislative budget

• budgetary power has accumulated in the executive branch

Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

designed to limit the ability of the president to use impoundment as an indirect means of overruling Congress when he was not able to do so through the normal legislative process

• recessions

• deferrals

Budget Control Act of 2011

• debt limit increase

• discretionary spending caps

• deficit reduction

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

It encouraged education by mandating support for schools, stating that religion, morality, and knowledge were necessary for good government

• commitment to public education

Morrill Act 1862

U.S. federal laws that used public lands and funds to build colleges focused on agriculture, engineering, and the "mechanic arts"

• Kansas State University was the first institution

No Child Left Behind

mandated national testing at several grade levels

• schools had to offer tutoring to economically disadvantaged youth

• G W Bush

Components of Economic Policy

• regulation

• control

Nixon Economic Policy

supported wage and price control

Medicare

health insurance program in the United States that primarily serves individuals aged 65 and older, younger people with specific disabilities

Public Education

supports social mobility

School Choice

leads to competition

Magnet + Charter Schools

benefit the middle and upper class, not the lower class

1873 Recession

a severe financial crisis that started a global economic downturn known as the Long Depression

Limited Powers of President

• take an oath

• make treaties

• commander in chief

• initial fear of tyrants

Keynesian Economics

It argues that aggregate demand (total spending by households, businesses, government) is the primary engine of an economy, and that free markets do not automatically correct themselves quickly during deep downturns

Great Depression

caused national income to plummet by half and unemployment to soar to roughly 25%. Classical economists believed the market would naturally self-correct through lower wages and prices

New Deal

FDR drew heavily from Keynesian concepts by using active federal intervention to fight mass unemployment

National Security Act of 1947

reorganize the U.S. military and foreign policy framework at the start of the Cold War

• national military recognised

• national security council

• CIA

Section 8 of A. 1

• Taxes

• Borrowing money

• Interstate and international commerce

• War declarations

• Necessary and proper laws

• Post offices

Section 10 of A.1

lists what individual states cannot do

• foreign affairs

• currency

• trade

• nobility

Fragmentation Policy

governance, regulation, or decision-making is split across multiple uncoordinated agencies, laws, or jurisdictions rather than operating under a single cohesive framework

Medicaid

joint federal and state program that provides health coverage to low-income individuals, families, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities