chapter 17 gov vocab

Insurance Program

A self-financing government program based on contributions that provide benefits to unemployed or retired persons.

Log Rolling

Mutual aid among politicians, whereby one legislator supports another's pet project in return for the latter's support

Interest-Group Politics

Political activity in which benefits are conferred on a distinct group and costs on another distinct group

The Grange

An organization of farmers especially outspoken in its criticism of large corporations

Gerald Ford

Individual who noted the government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have

Entrepreneurial Politics

Political activity in which benefits are distributed, costs are concentrated

Do Not Call Law

Example of legislation pioneered in the states and replicated by the federal government

Cost Argument

A situation in which people are more sensitive to what they might lose than to what they might gain

Cost

The perceived burden to be borne if a policy is adopted

Closed Shop

A business that will not employ non-union workers

Client Politics

Political Activity in which one group benefits at the expense of many other people

Boycott

A concerted effort to get people to stop buying from a company in order to punish and to coerce a policy change

Benefit

Any satisfaction that people believe they will derive if a policy is adopted

Agenda Setting

Deciding what belongs on a political agenda

Relative Deprivation

A sense of being worse off than one thinks one ought to be

Superfund

Intended to force industries to clean up their own toxic wastes, but a good illustration of entrepreneurial politics

Sherman Antitrust Act

A law passed in 1890 making monopolies illegal

Secondary Boycott

A boycott by workers of a company other than the one against which the strike is directed

Teddy Roosevelt

Individual who persuaded Congress to fund five full time lawyers to prosecute antitrust violations

Deregulation

The removal of regulation in buisness

Professionalization of Reform

A situation in which government bureaucracy thinks up problems for government to solve

Process Regulation

Rules regulating manufacturing or industrial processes, usually aimed at improving consumer or worker safety and reducing environmental damage

Pork-Barrel Projects

Legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in the hope of winning their votes

Political Agenda

A set of issues thought by the pubic o those in power to merit action by government

Policy Entrepreneurs

People in and out of government who find ways of creating a legislative majority on behalf of interests not well-represented in government

Majoritarian Politics

Political Activity in which both benefits and costs are widey distributed

AFDC

Aid to Families with Dependent Children. It came about because the government promised to provide aid to states and their programs aiding children who lacked a father. Abolished in 1996.

Almshouses

A house built by a charitable organization for the poor to live in

Assistance Programs

A government program financed by general income taxes that provides benefits tom poor citizens without requiring contributions form them

Charitable Choice

Name given to four federal laws passed in the late 1990s specifying the conditions under which nonprofit religious organizations could compete to administer certain social service delivery and welfare programs.

Client Politics

A policy in which one small group benefits and almost everybody pays.

Earned Income Tax Credit

a "negative income tax" that provides income to very poor individuals in lieu of charging them federal income taxes

End Poverty in Cal. Plan

Upton Sinclair's plan to end the Depression while he was running for governor of California

Food Stamps

Coupons that can purchase food, created by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Income Strategy

A policy giving poor people money to help lift them out of poverty.

Indexing

the process of periodically adjusting social benefits or wages to account for increases in the cost of living

Majoritarian Politics

A policy in which almost everybody benefits and almost everybody pays.

Means Test

An income qualification program that determines whether one is eligible for benefits under government programs reserved for lower-income groups

Medicaid

Pays medical expenses of certain low-income persons with a means test

Medicare

Pays for part of the cost of medical care for retired or disabled people covered by Social Security. Paid for by payroll taxes and no means test.

Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act

altered both program benefits and financing, phasing in changes over a several-year period beginning in 1989

Mother's Pension

Cash payments to impoverished single mothers between 1910 and 1930

Charles Murray

claimed high welfare benefits made it more attractive for some to go on welfare than to look for a job

OASDI

Old Age, Survivor, and Disability Insurance; Social Security legislation since 1937 that provides federal benefits for certain individuals and their families, funded by the FICA tax.

Service Strategy

a policy providing poor people with education and job training to help lift them out of poverty

Share Our Wealth Plan

Huey Long's idea to help end the Depression.

Social Security Act

A big part of the new deal that created a national system of old-age pensions and imposed an income tax on workers that was deducted from their wages and paid by employers.

SSI

Supplemental Security Income; SSI provides monthly payments to people with disabilities and older adults who have little or no income or resources.

TANF

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. A block grant program that set strict federal requirements about work and limited how long families can receive federally funded benefits.

Townsend Plan

Francis Townsend; federal government pay citizens over 60 a pension of 200$ a month; might lead to more spending

UI

Unemployment insurance; federal-state program jointly financed through Federal and state employer payroll taxes

Acid Rain

The Clean Air Act of 1990 requires a reduction of 10 million tons of sulfur dioxide by 1995. The biggest sources must acquire government allowances setting emission limits.

Rain, snow, dust particles that are acidic.

Bank (or pollution allowance)

An EPA incentive that allows a company to apply credits for low-polluting emissions to future plant expansions, or to sell the credits.

Bubble Standard

The total amount of air pollution that can come from a given factory

Catalytic Converter

an exhaust emission control device which converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine

Clean Air Act of 1970

Imposed tough restrictions on the amount of pollutants that could come out of automobile tailpipes. First passed in 1970, then amended 2 more times.

Clean Air Act of 1990

A revised version of the 1970 Act that enforced tougher standards. It pushed back the deadline for compliance, reiterated the need to get rid of smog in cities with suggestions, and set a deadline in the worst area (LA) at 20 years.

Clear-Cutting

the practice of cutting down most or all of the trees in a forest or a section of forest at the same time, usually in a uniform way

Client Politics

A policy in which one small group benefits and almost everybody pays.

Command-And-Control Strategy

sets specific limits for pollution emissions and/or mandates that specific pollution-control technologies that must be used.

DDT

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring talked about the harm this common pesticide caused to wildlife

Earth Day

A largely celebrated holiday created by the emerging environmental movement. First celebrated on April 22, 1970

Entrepreneurial Politics

A policy in which almost everybody benefits and a small group pays.

Environmental Impact Statement

A report required by federal law that assesses the possible effect of a project on the environment if the project is subsidized in whole or part by federal funds.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

A bureaucratic agency created by Nixon in 1970 to set standards for environmental safety, track violations, and enforce compliance

Interest-Group Politics

A policy in which one small group benefits and another small group pays.

Kyoto Protocol

controlling global warming by setting greenhouse gas emissions targets for developed countries

Majoritarian Politics

A policy in which almost everybody benefits and almost everybody pays.

National Environmental Policy Act

requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions

Offset

to balance, counteract or compensate for

Scrubber

Complicated and very expensive devices that would take sulfurous fumes out of gas before it came out of a smoke stack.

Sulfur Dioxide

The Clean Air Act required a 10 million ton reduction of this, since it was mostly from electric-generating plats that burn coal.

Superfund

responsible for cleaning up some of the nation's most contaminated land and responding to environmental emergencies, oil spills and natural disasters

Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970

An oil spill drew attention to this act that dealt with oil pollution in water.