Public Policy 2

National Security and the Constitution

• National security = one of the main functions of the federal government

• Anti-federalists were wary of a strong centralized government with military power

Military and the Federal government

• was built into the system of checks and balances

• Executive → president is commander in chief

• Legislative → declare war

• Judicial → determine if military rules are unconstitutional

• Civilian control of the military

• Members of the military swear an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution, not a person

Defense Policy Pre Civil War

• Small, professional Regular Army, supplemented with state militias and volunteers during times of war

• The Regular Army increased in size during the 19th century with many troops stationed throughout the American West

• Southern States developed stronger militias due to needs related to maintaining the system of slavery

• Northern States had relatively smaller volunteer militas with minimal training/experience

Defense Policy Post-Civil War

• State militias evolved into the national guard

• National Defense Act of 1916 → modernized the national guard, increased federal control, created the ROTC and Reserves

• Selective Service Act of 1917 → established the national draft

Developments during WWII

• Economic Mobilization

  • War Production Board: converted peacetime industry to war production

  • Office of Price Administration: implemented prize freezes and rationing

  • increased personal and corporate federal income taxes

• Suspension of some civil liberties

  • interment of Japanese Americans

Bretton Woods Agreement

• Established IMF/ World Bank

• Rules for regulating the international monetary system

• Negotiated by 44 allied countries (soviets declined to ratify it)

Marshall Plan

• 13 Billion devoted to rebuilding western Europe economies

• was also about supporting democracy

United Nations Charter 

• Signed by delegates from 50 nations

  • represents over 80% of the world’s population

NATO

• Treaty between North American and Western European countries to provide collective defense against outside attack

Peace Dividend

• Potential long-term period after conflicts when budgets can be redirected form military to social programs and/or reduced taxxes

• Mid 1990s → defense spending in the U.S. was redirected towards green energy development, researching alternate uses of defense tech, and debt reduction

War on Terror

• Dept. Of Homeland Security created

• Commit to the “Global War on Terror” both at home and abroad

• Groundswell of public support

• Passage of the PATRIOT Act

• Afghanistan - longest war in U.S. history

• large increases in defense and homeland security spending

Critical questions for defense policy

1. What is America’s role in global conflict

2. What necessitates military intervention

3. What kind of intervention is most effective

4. Who is an enemy

Strategy 1 → Deterrence

• Goal: Prevent an adversary from taking unwanted strategy

  • Denial: take steps that would make the unwanted action unfeasible or unlikely to succeed (reposition troops to discourage invasion)

  • Punishment: threaten severe consequences if action occurs (economic sanction, nuclear threat

• Policy challenges: requires sustained investment, credibility and clear signaling to adversaries

Strategy 2 → Containment

• Goal: Limit the spread of hostile influence or ideologies

  • station troops or bases in strategic locations

  • provide military aid/training to critical allies

  • public diplomacy to spread democratic ideals and foster alliances

• Policy challenges: requires long-term commitments of troops and military aid, may not be particularly effective

Stage 3 → Preemption

• Goal: anticipatory use of military force to stop an imminent attack

  • “strike first”

• Policy challenges: requires credible intelligence of an immediate and unavoidable threat, often legally or morally debatable

Issues in Defense Policy

• New technology (cyberterrorism)

• All volunteer military → recruitment numbers are up but so is attrition

• Procurement process

• addressing veteran mental and physical health

Executive foreign policy powers

• Nominating cabinet officers, ambassadors, and senior military officers

• negotiating treaties

• commanding the military

Legislative foreign policy powers

• Declaring war

• raising and supporting armies

• approving treaties

• approving nominations of cabinet officers, ambassadors, and senior military officers

• Funding the federal government

• regulating foreign commerce

National security council

• Advise the president and coordinates security policy across federal agencies

  • has to include the secretaries of state, defense, energy and treasury, etc.

State Department

• responsible for carrying out international diplomacy

  • one of the original executive level departments

U.S. Foreign Service

• Professional diplomats who work in the U.S. and in embassies and consulates in more than 170 countries

  • embassies and consulates are headed by ambassadors who are appointed by the President

  • Most are career diplomats in the Foreign service, others are political appointments

Intelligence community

• 18 organizations, including two independent agencies

  • CIA and the Director of National Intelligence

Interstate compacts

• Agreements between one or more U.S. States and a foreign subnational government

  • Great Lakes Commission: 8 U.S. States and 2 Canadian provinces collectively manage the water resources of the Great Lakes

  • Trade Agreements: California is pursuing strategic partnerships with international trade partners to bypass new tariffs

Goals of Foreign Policy

• National security

• Economic Welfare

• Disseminate American ideals (democracy)

• respond to global concerns

Instruments of foreign policy

• Diplomatic (alliances, treaties)

• Economic (sanctions, trade agreements)

• Military (deterrence, intervention)

• “Soft” power (cultural exchange, goodwill aid)

Goal: National Security Challenges

• Active wars and political instability around the world

• global terrorism

• domestic terrorism

Goal: Economic Welfare Challenges

• Trade imbalances

• Global supply chain disruptions

  • geopolitical tensions

  • cyberattacks

  • natural disasters

• Energy security

Goal: Disseminate American Ideals challenges

• Promote and protect democracy

• Protect human rights

  • Leahy Law: prohibits provision of U.S. federal funds to foreign security forces that have been credibly accused of gross violations of human rights

• Global democratic backsliding and rise of authoritarianism

• Declining U.S. credibility

• Competing priorities

Goal: Respond to Global Concerns

• Climate change

• global health

• refugee and migration crisis

• global trafficking of people and goods across borders

Isolationism

A foreign policy approach that advocates for avoiding political or economic involvement with other countries

Isolationism Advantages

• Domestic Control

• Conflict Avoidance

Isolationism Disadvantages

• Less effective for global issues

• stifles economic growth

• vulnerable security

Engagement

A foreign policy approach of active participation in world affairs through diplomacy, military intervention, economic relationships, and cultural exchange

Engagement Advantages

• Boosts prosperity

• bolsters security

• more effective for global issues

Engagement Disadvantages

• Costly foreign entanglements

• Invites Foreign competition

Unilateralism

Foreign policy decisions made independently

Unilateralism Advantages

Decision making independence

Decision making speed

Unilateralism Disadvantages

• Fewer resources to leverage

• less effective for global issues

Multilateralism

Foreign policy decisions made in cooperation with other countries

Multilateralism Advantages

• Larger pool of resources

• Burden sharing

• promotes unity

• increases credibility

Multilateralism Disadvantages

• Time consuming

• requires compromise

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

• Outlined the Western and Eastern hemispheres as separate spheres of political and economic influence for the U.S. and Europe respectively

• Expanded by Theodore Roosevelt to justify unilateral U.S. intervention in Latin America in the early 20th century.

Truman Doctrine (1947)

• Committed the U.S. to aiding “free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”

• Marked a shift away from isolationism and toward engagement

• Foundation of U.S. defense policy of containment during the Cold War

Bush Doctrine (2001)

• Claimed a right to unilateral preemptive war against perceived threats

  • shift from a strategy of deterrence to preemption

• Focus on regime change in “rogue states” and nation-building
  

America First Doctrine (2017)

• Prioritizes American interest over global concerns

  • reduced commitment to national-building as a foreign policy goal

• Represents a shift towards nationalism and transactional diplomacy

Government Role in Health Policy

• protecting public health

• providing and/or regulating health insurance

• supporting medical tech/research

• providing health-related statistics

Types of Federal Health Insurance Programs

• Public Insurance

• TRICARE/VA

• Subsidies and cost sharing for health care via ACA Marketplace

• Tax subsidies for employe-sponsored health insurance

• tax deductions for medical expenses

Medicaid

• Anyone who meets income eligibility requirements, regardless of age

• jointly financed by federal and state governments

• administered by individual states

• generally no out of pocket costs

• benefit coverage varies by state

Medicare

• 65+, regardless of income

• Paid for by federal government

• administered by federal agency

• Deductibles for hospitals and other costs as well as small monthly premiums for non-hospital coverage

• Benefits are uniform across states

Affordable Care Act (2010)

• Medicaid expansion

• created subsidized health insurance marketplaces for individuals, families and small businesses

• consumer protections for private insurance

• employer mandate for large companies

Inflation Reduction Act (2022)

• Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program: requires HHS to negotiate prices for some medications covered under Medicare Part D and Part B

• Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program

• Cap out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare Part D beneficiaries

• Limit monthly cost-sharing for insulin products

Problems in Health Care

• Access to Health Care

• Health Care Costs

• Health Disparities

• Rising medical mistrust

Health Disparities

• Access to health care

• deferred care due to cost concerns

• overall health status

• infant and maternal mortality rates

• chronic disease rates

Private Assistance Programs

• Deductions from taxable income

  • individual or employer contributions to pension plans or Individual Retirement Accounts

  • Mortgage interests deduction for homeowners

• Government regulation and guarantees for private pension plans through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act

Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction

• Itemized tax deduction for interest on up to 1 million mortgage on a homeowner’s 1st or 2nd home

• estimated cost to government: $25.4 billion in 2024

Entitlement Programs

An individual cannot be denied program benefits as long as they meet all eligibility requirements (mandatory expenditures)

• Social Security

• Medicare

• Unemployment 

• Workers’ comp

Means-Tested Programs

Eligibility is based on income (may or may not be an entitlement program

• Medicaid

• TANF (welfare)

• SNAP (food stamps)

• Housing assistance

• Earned Income Tax Credit

Examples of personal social service

• Foster care

• adoption

• rehab

Government support for private social assistance

• Pensions/401k

• Homeowner tax credits

Historical Development of Social Welfare

• Early America: Poor Laws, Charity-based welfare

• New Deal: Social Security Act - social security, unemployment insurance, aid to dependent children

• Great Society: Medicare, Medicaid, Food stamps

• Welfare Reform: PRWORA - shift from AFDC to TANF and “workfare”

Social Security

• 62+ or disability or survivor

• Must have also paid social security taxes for atleast 10 years

• Largest category of federal spending, making up 22% of budget in 2024

Social Security Funding

• Payroll tax (up to $168,600) paid by employees and employers

  • used to pay out benefits to current beneficiaries

  • Until 2021, there was a surplus every year which was invested in interest-bearing Treasury bonds. After 2021, reserves have been used to fund full benefits

  • At current rate, trust fund is estimated to be depleted by 2035

Social Security Reform Proposals

• Increasing the income cap subject to Social Security taxes

• lowering benefits for higher-income beneficiaries

• raising the social security tax rate

• raising the retirement age

• complete program overhaul

Means-Tested Health Insurance

• Medicaid - low income individuals

• CHIP - low income children not eligible for medicad

Means-Tested Cash Assistance

• TANF - low income families

• Supplemental Security Income (SSI) - aged, blind, or disabled individuals

• Earned Income Tax Credit - refundable tax credit for low income workers with children

Means-Tested Food Assistance

• SNAP - food subsidies for low-income individuals

• Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - food subsidies for pregnant and postpartum mothers of young children

Means-Tested Housing

• Housing Choice Vouchers - housing subsidies for low-income individuals

Original Purpose of Welfare

• Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)

  • initially conceived of as a benefit for widows with children

  • eligibility was determined by states and localities

Changing views of welfare

• Concerns about AFDC

  • penalty for working

  • penalty for an able-bodied male in the household

  • perceptions of costs and benefits

Personal Work and Responsibility Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PWRORA)

• Replaced categorical grant (AFDC) with a block grant (TANF)

• Time limits for TANF and food stamp benefits

• Work/education requirement

• limited eligibility for non-citizens

• increased enforcement of child support

• increased state flexibility

• no individual entitlement

4 stated goals of PWRORA

• Provide assistance to needy families

• end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits

• prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies

• encourage the formation and maintenance of 2 parent families

TANF today

• funded primarily through a block grant from the federal gov

• states required to maintain a minimum spending level

• federal funding level has not changed since 1996

• States have considerable control over program rules

• only about a quarter of TANF funds are used for cash assistance

Key Macroeconomic indicators

• Employment

• Inflation

• GDP

Macroeconomic Goals

• Full employment

• stable prices

• economic growth

• limit inequality

Economy in a Recession

• Not enough aggregate demand for the aggregate supply

  • If people aren’t buying goods and services, companies will lay off employees

  • If employees are laid off, they will buy even less

    • More companies will lay off workers

    • More people will have less money to buy things

Economy facing Inflation

• When there is inflation, there is too much aggregate demand for aggregate supply

  • to prevent shortages companies raise prices of the goods

  • workers ask for high wages to afford goods

Government economic policy tools

• Monetary policy

  • changing the money supply

• Fiscal policy

  • government spending

  • taxation

Monetary Policy

• Implemented by the Federal Reserve

• The Board of Governors led by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve has the power to change interest rates that will determine how much money banks let into the economy

• The Fed is independent of the executive branch of government

Monetary Policy in a Recession

• Fed wants people to have more money to spend on goods and services like cars and education

  • Fed lowers interest rates → easier for people to take out loans

    • less attractive to put their money in a savings account

  • Fed does this until aggregate demand = aggregate supply

Monetary Policy for Inflation

• Fed wants people to have less money to spend on goods and services

  • Fed raises interest rates → more attractive to put their money in bank instead of spending it

    • more expensive to take out loans

  • Fed does this until aggregate demand = aggregate supply

Fiscal Policy

• Implemented by Congress and signed into law by the President

• 2 forms

  • government spending

  • taxation

• more direct then monetary policy

• susceptible to politics

Fiscal Policy in a Recession (w/o politics)

• Want people to have more money to spend on goods and services

  • Congress lowers taxes and/or increases government spending

  • does this until aggregate demand = aggregate supply

Fiscal Policy for Inflation (w/o politics)

• Want people to have less money to spend on goods and services

  • Congress raises taxes and/or decreases government spending

  • does this until aggregate demand = aggregate supply

Politics and the Government’s Other Considerations

• Is this serving U.S citizens?

• Who should these funds be given to or withheld from?

Other fiscal policy tools

1. Regulations

2. Subsidies

3. Public Ownership 

4. Tariffs

Environmental Policy

• Responsibility for making and implementing environmental policy is generally shared between federal, state, and local govs

Environmental Problems cause

• Industrialization

• Population Growth

• Energy Use

DDT Timeline

• 1874 → DDT 1st synthesized by Austrian chemist Othmar Zeidler

• 1939 → Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Muller discovers the insecticidal properties of DDT

• 1941-45 → used by the U.S. military to control the spread of insect-borne diseases during WWII

• 1945 → DDT made available to U.S. consumers for widespread use as an agricultural pesticide and household insecticide

• 1948 → Muller awarded Nobel Prize for his discoveries related to DDT

• 1955 → the WHO initiates global campaign to combat Malaria, relying heavily on DDT

• 1962 → Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring

• 1972 → U.S. bans the domestic sale of DDT

Rachel Carson

• Born 1907 in the boom of the industrial age in Springdale, PA

• Marine biologist, conservationist, and writer for the Fish and Wildlife Service

• Believed that “people would protect only what they loved”

• Published Silent Spring: made the argument that industry needs to be regulated to protect the environment

“Right to Know”

Belief that the public should be aware of potential toxins introduced into the environment, comes from Silent Spring

Enviromental disasters

• New York City Smog (1966)

• Santa Barbara Oil Spill (1969)

• Cuyahoga River Fire (1969)

Creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Created in 1970 by executive order from Richard Nixon

• Mission: protect human health and the environment by…

  • enforcing federal environmental law

  • conduct and support scientific research on environmental problems and solutions

  • promote public education and awareness

National Environmental Policy Act

• Environmental Assessments

• Environmental Impact Statements

Clean Air Act

• Directed the newly created EPA to develop ambient air quality standards

  • emissions standards for some manufacturing, automobiles

• 1990s amendments

  • banned CFC to protect ozone

  • Market-based system to reduce power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain

  • Tightened vehicle emissions standards and mandated adoption of alternative fuels in areas with higher population

1972 Clean Water Act

• Set deadlines for water quality improvement of streams

• established a national permit system for industrial and municipal discharge into the nation’s waters

  • implementation was reliant on state cooperation

1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

• Created the “Superfund” program to identify and clean up hazardous waste sites

• Sources of funding

  • Polluters held liable for cleanup costs

  • trust fund of taxes on the petroleum and chemical industries

  • Congressional appropriations 

Context in which the EPA operates today

• Resource constraints

• political considerations

• institutional constraints

• public opinion

Role of politics in the environment

• Environment was not always a polarizing issue

• parties more polarized today

• distrust of scientific scholarship is increasing

• labor and environmental movements at odds

Perspectives on the purpose of education have changed over time and place

• Responsible citizenship

• transmission of religious and moral values

• preparation for labor or professional careers

• cultural assimilation and cohesion

• social and economic oppurtunity

Federalism and education

• Education is primarily the responsibility of state and local governments

• each U.S. state and territory has its own school system

• 13,318 public school districts nationally

• more than 99,000 public schools and 30,000 private schools

• More than 90% of school funding comes from state and local sources