Chapter 19: Domestic Policy
What is Domestic Policy?
• All government laws, planning and actions
involving internal issues of national importance,
including:
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Health care
Poverty
Crime
Environment
Education
Immigration
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The Policy-Making Process
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Agenda Building
Policy Formulation
Policy Adoption
Policy Implementation
Policy Evaluation
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Evolution of Social
Welfare Policies
• Most of our major
federal social welfare
programs were
developed in the 1930s
as part of the New
Deal’s response to the
Great Depression.
A homeless Oklahoma family during the Great Depression.
Library of Congress
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Direct
Federal Aid
More than 80 million
Americans receive direct
federal aid.
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Health Care
• Rising Cost of Health Care
• Advanced technology costly
• Government provides 1 in 3
Americans with health care coverage
• Millions still uninsured
• Medicare
• Federal health insurance for elderly
and disabled
• Medicaid
• Health insurance for low-income
families
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Health Care (cont)
• The Uninsured
• The uninsured employed
• Shifting costs to the
uninsured
• Will new legislation bring
relief?
• National Health Insurance
• The Canadian system
• Health savings account
(AP Photo/Rogelio Solis)
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Health Care Reform
Almost 100 million Americans receive some
coverage from government-provided health
insurance.
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The Drive to Expand the Role of
Government in Domestic Affairs
Controversial health care
reform package passes in
the U.S. Senate, but
legislation is not final.
Air Date: 12/24/2009
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Video Supplied by Motion Gallery
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Video Questions
1. Why do the House and Senate versions of
the health care reform bill differ?
2. Why is this legislation so controversial?
3. Which groups are most likely to support this
version of health care reform? Least likely?
4. In what other areas has the role of the federal
government recently expanded?
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Click on images
Percentage of Total Net Income Spent on
Health Care in the U.S.
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Cost of Health Care in Economically
Advanced Nations
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Poverty and Welfare
• Income transfers
• Transfers of income from some individuals in the
economy to other individuals
• Generally done by way of the government
• Those believing private property is preeminent right
tend to oppose income equalization programs
• Low-income population
• 10% of all Americans
• Larger percentage of Latino and African Americans
• More prevalent among female-led households
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Figure 19.2
The Feminization of Poverty
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Poverty and Welfare (cont)
• Basic Welfare
• Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)
• Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
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Welfare Controversies
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Farm Subsidies
Homelessness
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The Official Number of Poor
in the United States
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Click on image for
Poor in America 2010
Figure 19.4
Poverty in the States
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Figure 19.3
Families on Welfare, 1955-2008
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Life Expectancy in the U.S.
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Social Security and its Problems
• Aging of population
• Ratio of active workers to retirees is declining
• Presidents and Congress continue to use Social
Security trust fund surpluses to offset deficits
• Expectation that revenues will fall below program
costs as early as 2017
• In 2009, Social Security taxes produced more than
35% of federal revenues
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Social Security Solutions?
• Privatization of Social Security
• Reducing benefits
• Small changes
• Periodic increases in the share of
earnings subject to tax
• Reducing cost of living increases
• Raising the retirement age
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Immigration
• Continued immigration influx
• More than a million people a year immigrate to
this country.
• Minority groups will constitute the “majority”
of the U.S. by 2060
• Positives of immigration
• Offsets low birthrate, aging population
• Provides workers in jobs Americans do not want
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Attempts at
Immigration Reform
• 2006 Congress initiated, but did not pass,
sweeping legislation that would make all illegal
immigrants in the United States felons
• Immigration rallies continue
• Controversial laws challenged in various states
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Criminal Policy
• Crime in American History
• Crime control model: controlling crime
• Due process model: attaining justice
• Continuous tug-of-war between two models
• Congress taking larger role in criminal justice
policy
• New issues: racial profiling, rendition, drugs,
terrorism
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Declining Crime Rates
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Declining Crime Rates (cont)
Declining Homicide Rates
Declining Theft Rates
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Incarceration Rates
The United States has
the highest
incarceration rate
among major world
nations measured by the
number of prisoners per
100,000 residents.
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Incarceration Rates by
Population Group
Incarceration rates Per 100,000 Persons
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Criminal Policy (cont)
• Federal Drug Policy
• Money spent on federal drug interdiction programs
has not met with much success, as illegal drug
consumption in the U.S. has remained steady.
• State and local governments have been attempting
new remedies to curtail the drug problem.
• Confronting Terrorism
• Counter-terrorism strategies will necessarily be a part
of federal government policy for years to come
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Environmental Policy
• Environmentalism
• Conservation
• Preservation
• Environmentalist movement
• Ecology
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Cleaning Up the
Air and Water
• The National Environmental Policy Act
• Curbing Air Pollution
• The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act of 1963
constitute a comprehensive policy mandating cleaner air in
urban areas.
• Water Pollution
• The Clean Water Act sought to make waters safe for
swimming, protect fish and wildlife, and eliminate the
discharge of pollutants into the water.
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Cost-Effective Solutions
• Clean Air Act of 1990
• As a result of legislation, air and
water pollution is down
dramatically from what it was
three or so decades ago. Lead
content in the air is 3 percent of
what it was. Sulfur dioxide is
down by four-fifths.
(AP Photo/Nick Ut)
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Cleaning Up the BP Mess
The Gulf Oil spill becomes
a political issue for the
Obama administration.
Air Date: 2010
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Video Supplied by Motion Gallery
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Video Questions
1. How does the Natural Resources Defense
Council hope to use the oil spill impact to
further its mission?
2. Is President Obama’s political legacy at stake
over this issue? Does this event affect
domestic energy and environmental policy?
3. What has changed during the lengthy cleanup process? Has the blame shifted from BP
to the federal government? Why or why not?
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning
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Other Environmental Issues
• The Endangered Species Act
(ESA)
• Global Warming
• The Kyoto Protocol
• The Global Warming Debate
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Tragedy of the Commons
• Increasing domestic regulation prompted by
growing concerns over common resources
• Greater awareness, costs to community
• More government regulations
• Costs to business
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Questions for
Critical Thinking
1. Will recent legislation help protect the
uninsured population from catastrophic
medical costs?
2. Should Social Security be expanded or
reduced in scope? Who is most likely to
benefit from privatization?
3. Should illegal immigrants be included in
government assistance measures?
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Questions for
Critical Thinking
4. Prison populations continue to explode. What
can be done?
5. Why are environmental problems often
difficult to legislate away? What are the most
pressing issues in air and water quality?
6. How should this country formulate
environmental policy? Who should benefit
most? The least?
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Web Links
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American Public Human Services Association
National Conference of State Legislators
Social Security Online
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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