Domestic Policy Objective In this lesson, you will analyze how domestic policy impacts the United States Making Domestic Policy public Domestic policy, also known as ____________ policy, describes government programs and actions aimed at internal addressing a nation's ______________ issues. education Public policy focuses on issues such as health care, __________________, public transportation, and • reevaluated environmental protection. As society changes, domestic policy plans must be _______________. For 1900 probably instance, consider how farming in the United States changed. A farm law from ________ 2000 wouldn't apply to US agriculture in _________. US politicians, citizens, and other groups continually debate domestic ___________ how to best address current ______________ issues while also taking into account how the change country will ____________ in the short term and in the long term. There are three main groups that political scientists and others argue account for public policy formation: • control Elites direct policy over the masses because elites ___________ vast resources and wealth. • officials Bureaucrats, or government ______________, can use their political institution, experience, and power to direct public policy. • lobbyists Interest groups and ______________ have gained increasing power to sway public officials. These interest groups, which include corporations and nonprofit organizations, represent a variety of views. Overview Document: 7 Steps of Policy-Making 1. Problem Recognition Setting 2. Agenda _________________ 3. Policy Formulation 4. Policy Adoption Budgeting 5. __________________ 6. Policy Implementation Evaluation 7. Policy ____________________ Policy Implementation There are four main methods for the government to apply a new policy (or enforce a law): penalties 1. Authoritative techniques create stiff _____________, such as fines, for engaging in destructive or fines immoral behavior. For example, people can be severely punished, in the form of heavy __________ imprisonment for drinking alcohol and driving. or even _______________, benefit 2. Incentive techniques give citizens an individual _____________ for following a public policy that tax credits benefits society. An example is a state government providing _______ ____________ to citizens who insulate their homes to reduce energy use. 3. Capacity techniques are used when people want to follow public policy and improve society but lack ability knowledge the ____________ or _______________ to do so. Capacity techniques provide citizens with training _____________ or education. decency morality 4. Hortatory techniques appeal to people's ____________ and _____________ to follow beneficial public policy. For example, a city might post anti-littering signs that urge people to protect nature. Important Domestic Policies size scope The _________ and __________ of the US federal government has changed greatly since the end of the active eighteenth century, leading to the federal government becoming more _____________ in domestic issues. Education In the mid- to late-nineteenth century, the federal and state governments became more active in making available public education, especially higher education, more ______________ for students. • taxes Local schools began to receive funds from local and state governments through ___________. • federal lands In 1862, Congress authorized the transfer of _____________ __________ to state governments to build more public colleges and universities. • GI _________ Bill After World War II, Congress passed the _____ to provide returning veterans with the opportunity for a better education, helping send 1.5 million returning veterans to college. • Left Behind In 2001, Congress passed the No Child ________ ___________ Act with broad support. The program standardized required public schools to use more _________________ testing to track student achievements. If struggling schools were unable to raise scores, the federal government would have the ability to withhold ________________ funding to those schools. Health Care • Truman was one of the first presidents to try to address the US health care system. In President Harry __________ unsuccessfully national the late 1940s, he attempted (___________________) to create a _____________ health care system. • Johnson In the 1960s, President Lyndon _____________ worked with Congress to pass numerous progressive laws, including laws that created the Medicare and Medicaid systems. elderly Medicare provides health care coverage for the _______________. poor Medicaid provides health care for the _________. • millions Since their creation, Medicare and Medicaid have provided ______________ of Americans with health cost care, but the ________ of these programs has since climbed into the billions of dollars. In the early twenty- Medicare and _____________ Medicaid first century, the ____________ systems became increasingly debated. More and more politicians question whether the increasing cost is worth the programs' benefits. Politicians have debated _____________ ending or transforming these two programs. • Obama worked with Congress to pass the most comprehensive health care In 2010, President Barack __________ Affordable Care Act law in US history. This new law, known as the __________________ _________ ________, placed new regulations on insurance companies to protect the average consumer and also required Americans to have support health insurance or pay a tax. The law also provides a government subsidy, or ___________, for individuals afford who can't ____________ health insurance on their own. Supporters argued that more people having reduce requiring health insurance would _____________ the cost for everyone. Critics claimed that _______________ Americans to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court weighed in and supported _______________ the constitutionality of the law. Energy and the Environment • oil producer During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the United States was the world's top _______ ______________. depleted Costly wars (World War II and Vietnam), however, _________________ a large portion of the country's oil reserves. After the 1960s, as domestic production declined and demand soared, the country began to import ___________ vast quantities of oil from the Middle East and Venezuela. • Israel OPEC Following US assistance to _______________ in the Yom Kippur War, __________ (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) began an oil embargo, halting oil sales to the United States in 1973. US oil rationing supplies became scarce, and the federal government ordered oil _______________. In addition, the automobiles government imposed new rules for increased energy efficiency, particularly with __________________. With energy becoming an increasing problem, Congress and President Jimmy Carter worked together to Department of _____________ Energy create the __________________ _____ to handle national energy issues. • In the twenty-first century, energy concerns have only increased. As more nations industrialize, nonrenewable _____________________ energy sources, such as oil, become increasingly scarce. • Interest groups that support oil, coal, and natural gas companies argue that improved technologies allow new ____________ reserves of the nation's energy resources. Opponents contend that the corporations to tap _______ transition United States needs to ________________ to renewable energy sources, such as solar power and wind. • pollution Environmental protection has become an increasingly important issue, given ______________ from fossil fuels burning ___________ ___________, harmful new methods of extracting resources such as natural gas, and warnings about climate change. • In the early 1970s, Americans exercised their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly to promote environmental protection. This effort influenced domestic policy at the state and national levels. The Environmental Protection Agency federal government created the _____________________ ________________ _______________ (EPA) in Air 1970. Other important domestic policy from the federal government included the Clean _______ Act and Water Act. In 1980, the government also passed the Comprehensive Environmental the Clean _________ Superfund Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as the ___________________, to provide hazardous waste funding to clean ________________ __________ sites. • Throughout most of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, environmental protection policy was largely ignored. Some argue that increasing efficiency, reducing energy demand, and innovating new energy sources are long term the keys to solving _________-_________ US energy needs. In recent years, President Obama pushed to 55 increase efficiency levels, including a requirement that cars average _______ miles per gallon by 2025. He restrict also worked to _______________ pollutants from power plants and factories. Social Security and Welfare • 150 years of US history, state and federal governments didn't maintain significant social For the first _______ Great Depression security or welfare programs. That changed in the 1930s when the ____________ _______________ shocked the national economy. • Roosevelt New Deal programs, President Franklin __________________ and Congress passed numerous ________ ________ including the Social Security Act, to address problems of poverty and joblessness. Security The Social _____________ Act set up a system in which retirees are supported by taxes from the income of the working population. • demographic changes. Most Americans are Social Security currently faces problems because of ________________ fewer having __________ children, resulting in a decline in the potential working population. Adding to the baby boomers problem, the large population of _________ _____________, those people born immediately after World swell War II, is reaching retirement age. With such a ____________ in the number of retirees and a smaller ________________ workforce to maintain them, the benefits awarded through Social Security are in danger. The 1960s also were an important time in the establishment of programs to address the general welfare of US citizens. During this time, President Lyndon Johnson developed the Great Society programs which focused on improving poverty, civil rights, and health care. needy Welfare programs provide assistance for _____________ Americans. Two kinds of welfare programs exist: means tested and non−means tested. ___________ income while non-means-tested programs do → Means-tested programs consider a recipient's ___________ not. everyone → Social Security follows a non-means-tested approach because _________________ receives the stamp program, also known as SNAP, uses means testing because only benefits. The US food _________ income those who earn under a certain _____________ can access the assistance. • moral responsibility to provide a Some individuals argue that the US government has a _____________ __________________ costs safety net for disadvantaged citizens. Others believe that the programs' ___________ have grown out of debt control and that some Americans simply take advantage of the programs. With the US __________ in the trillions of dollars, politicians must carefully weigh domestic policy decisions. Summary What are some of the reasons why domestic policies change overtime? One reason why domestic policies change overtime is because as times change, technology and society change so domestic policies that may have been effective a few decades ago are now not relevant.
