AP Public Policymaking

1. Public
Policymaking
AP Mini-Unit 6

2. The U.S. Economy
 Economy has a profound impact on
public policy and public opinion
 Free enterprise system - economic
system where consumers have buying
choices and compete in the market to
make profits
 U.S. has a mixed economy = free
enterprise + federal gov’t regulation of
economy

3. Economic Troubles
 Unemployment rate - portion of
the U.S. population that is actively
seeking but cannot find work
 Put together by Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS)
 Unemployment rate in April 2017: 4.5%

4.  Inflation - the rise in price of goods
and services in response to
economic situations
 Calculated by consumer price
index - measured trends in the cost
of a basket of consumer goods and
services
 Cost of what an average person would
spend on various goods

6. Gov’t Involvement in the
Economy
 Laissez-faire - “allow to do”;
economic attitude of letting the
economy take care of itself without
gov’t interference
 How much gov’t is too much gov’t
in the economy?
 As a mixed economy, we have a least
SOME gov’t involvement…

7. Economic Policymaking
 1.) Monetary policy - gov’t
manipulation of the supply of money
to influence the direction of the
economy
 Executed by the Federal Reserve
System (“the Fed”)
 regulates bank lending, interest rates, and
money supply
 7 member Board of Governors each with
14 year terms, appointed by President,
approved by Senate

8.  2.) Fiscal policy - using the federal
budget (taxing, spending, and borrowing)
to influence the economy
 2 views: more gov’t involvement vs. more
consumer involvement

9. Keynesian Economic Theory
 the gov’t must stimulate the
economy when it falters by
spending money to create
programs, jobs, bailouts, etc.
 More jobs = more money for
consumers = more demand for
goods = better economy
 Generally advocated by
Democrats/liberal ideologies

10. Supply-Side Economic Theory
 Focuses on the supply of goods,
rather than the demand
 Advocates for lowering taxes to
encourage people to invest in
businesses and produce more goods
 Less restrictions = More work =
more goods = better economy
 Generally advocated by
Republicans/conservative ideologies

11. The U.S. and Capitalism
 Capitalism - economic-political system
where the economy is controlled by
private businesses rather than the
gov’t
 U.S. gov’t doesn’t have complete
control or influence over the economy
because consumers and businesses
own the means of production, not the
gov’t
 Can make it difficult for the gov’t to guide
economic policy effectively

12. Social Welfare Policymaking
 Entitlement programs - gov’t
benefits that must be given to
individuals who qualify for them
regardless of need (ex: social
security, Medicare)
 Means-tested programs - gov’t
benefits given to individuals who
qualify based on specific needs (ex:
food stamps, Medicaid)

13. Poverty in America
 Income is how much money is made
during a specific time period;
wealth is how much a person’s
assets/belongings are worth
 Poverty generally defined by annual
income thresholds (make a certain
amount of money a year or below)
--> AKA the “poverty line”

14.  2017 - over 42 million Americans living in
poverty
 Trends: higher poverty rates for minority
groups (African Americans, Hispanics,
etc.), single women with children,
residents of inner city areas, and some
elderly

15. Wealth and Taxes
 Progressive tax - the higher the
income, the higher the taxes that are
paid (ex: income tax)
 The wealthy carry more of the tax burden
 Proportional (flat) tax - individuals
pay the same tax rate, rich or poor
(ex: sales tax in theory)
 Regressive tax - taxes that place more
of a burden on lower income
individuals than high income
individuals (ex: sales tax in practice)

16. Relieving the Poverty Burden
 Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) -
tax benefits for low-income working
individuals
 Gov’t gives benefits to these
individuals, either through direct
payments of money (transfer
payments; ex: EBT cards) or “in-
kind” benefits (non-money benefits;
ex: Food Stamps)

17. Legislating Social Welfare and
Welfare Reform
 Social Security Act of 1935 - established
the Social Security system for
aged/retired persons to alleviate poverty
in old age
 Part of FDR’s New Deal programs

18.  Means-tested welfare programs are
controversial: are they solving poverty
or enabling it?
 Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996)
 Each state gets fixed amount of welfare funds
 Welfare recipients must find work within 2
years or lose all benefits
 Lifetime limit on welfare: 5 years
 Welfare now known as Temporary Aid for
Needy Families (TANF)

19. Social Security
 Is currently the U.S.’s most expensive
entitlement program (currently costs
about $866 billion a year)
 Payroll taxes are taken out of working
individuals’ paychecks and put in
Social Security Trust Fund
 These funds are then paid to eligible
retired persons on a monthly basis
(who have been paying into the system
during their working years)
 Basically, work force funds individuals in
retirement

20.  PROBLEMS:
 More people are retiring and drawing
on Social Security, but there are not
enough in workforce to fund them
 Without reform, the system will
eventually go bankrupt/need forced
funding from Congress

21. Environmental Policymaking
 Concern for environment has grown from
conservation to active prevention of
environmental harm
 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- regulatory agency in charge of
implementing clean air, water, wilderness
and wildlife protection policies

22.  National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) (1969):
 requires gov’t agencies to file
environmental impact statements
(detailed reports on a policy’s
environmental effects) before
implementing policies that can harm the
environment

23.  Clean Air Act of 1970 - enforced by EPA
to improve air quality and reduce the U.S.
population’s exposure to air pollutants
 Has led to many states implementing
emissions standards/rules for vehicles,
factories, etc.

24.  Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 -
enforced by the EPA to improve
cleanliness of lakes, rivers, and other
waterways and prevent to water pollution

25.  Wilderness preservation policies
largely guarded by the National
Park Service
 Endangered Species Act of 1973 -
list of protected endangered
animals enforced by the Fish and
Wildlife Service (to be protected by
the gov’t at all costs)

26. Toxic and Nuclear Waste
 Superfund - fund created by
Congress to clean up hazardous
waste sites (funded by taxing
chemical products)
 For when polluters could not be found
to clean up waste sites
 Enforced by the EPA
 Nuclear waste controversial: where
to dispose of it?

27. Global Warming
 The gaseous waste of fossil fuels (coal,
oil, natural gas) produce carbon dioxide
 This builds up in the atmosphere and
traps heat against the Earth (“greenhouse
effect”)
 Solution: reduce emissions and look for
cleaner energy sources

28. Energy Policymaking
 Tied closely to environmental
policymaking, esp. concerning
environmental impacts
 COAL: most used, abundant (and
dirtiest) fuel source; 21% of U.S.
energy use, about 50% electricity
source
 Mines constantly targeted for emissions
levels and health issues for workers

29.  OIL AND NATURAL GAS: 36% of U.S. energy
and fuel for most transportation
 Controversy over dependence on foreign
oil vs. using natural U.S. deposits (often
involves offshore drilling/large
environmental impacts)

30.  NUCLEAR ENERGY: 20% of U.S. electricity;
controversial and dangerous: expensive to
produce, hazardous to dispose of
 RENEWABLE ENERGY: wind, solar, water,
biomass (plant materials); 6% of
electricity; grow fast as alternative forms
of energy

31. Healthcare Policymaking
 Healthcare is inherently expensive, esp.
in U.S. economy (1/5 of GDP)
 Largely paid for by the federal gov’t
(Medicaid and Medicare programs) and
insurance companies

32.  Healthcare benefits are largely
accessed through employment
insurance (pay a yearly premium,
insurance co. pays for part of medical
services)
 Businesses decide qualifications for
benefits (ex: full-time vs. part-time)
 Health Maintenance Organization
(HMO) - a collection of healthcare
providers who offer a range of services
for set fee

33.  MUCH cheaper to access healthcare
through employer or gov’t than on your
own
 Uninsured forced to pay full price for
medical coverage (often will go without
until emergency situations)

34. The Gov’t and Healthcare
 Medicare - healthcare benefits for
the elderly who qualify (entitlement
program)
 Medicaid - healthcare benefits for
the poor who qualify (means-tested
program)
 Both are the gov’t’s most expensive
programs behind Social Security

35. Healthcare Reform
 Many presidents have supported
healthcare reform (T. Roosevelt, Truman,
Clinton, etc.)
 Problems to Solve:
 How can we give everyone equal
access to affordable healthcare?
 How can we make sure insurance
companies provide coverage for those
who need it?

36. The Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (2010)
 Landmark healthcare legislation (aka
“Obamacare” or “ACA”)
 COMPONENTS:
 Establish affordable gov’t provided
healthcare plans for those who sign up
 Create a marketplace of competitive
health insurance options between gov’t
plan and other insurance plans
 Prohibit exclusion of people with pre-
existing conditions from health coverage
 Make sure insurance companies don’t drop
coverage for the sick

37.  Require large businesses to provide
healthcare for their employees
 Require that every citizen (regardless
of need) have health insurance to pay
into the system for those who really
need it (or pay penalty tax)
 Expand eligibility for Medicaid
 tax credits/gov’t subsidies (funds) for
poor and small businesses

38. National Security
Policymaking
 Foreign policy - gov’t decisions/policies
concerning the U.S.’s relationship with
the rest of the world
 Largely controlled by the president, the
Department of Defense, other exec.
agencies, and Congress

39. Who Carries Out Foreign
Policy?
 1.) Military
 U.S. has often used force to deal with
global threats (to keep peace, to take
down regimes, to aid other countries,
etc.)
 2.) The Economy
 Economic interests play a huge role in
country relations (esp. commerce); can
be used as “bargaining chips”

40.  3.) Diplomacy
 The most peaceful method: countries
forging relationships and agreements
by “talking it out” (includes Secretary
of State, ambassadors, etc.)

41. The World Stage
 United Nations (UN) - (est. 1945) - a
multinational organization committed to a
mission of international peacekeeping
 Includes the General Assembly (193
countries) and the Security Council (15
members, U.S. a permanent member)

42.  North Atlantic Trade Organization
(NATO) - (est. 1949)
 Members: U.S., Canada, many Western
European countries, Turkey
 Have agreed to join military forces if any
member is attacked in war
 European Union (EU) - transnational
gov’t including most European nations
 Have common currency (euro), trade,
labor, and immigration policies

43. Who Makes Foreign Policy?
 1.) THE PRESIDENT
 chief of state (rep. of U.S. to world)
 chief diplomat (negotiates treaties
and executive agreements),
 commander-in-chief (in charge of
military)
 In charge of setting the course and
direction of the U.S. at home and
abroad

44.  2.) The Department of State
 In charge of implementing foreign
policy and maintaining embassies
 Secretary of State a key foreign policy
advisor to President
 Secretary and ambassadors largely take
on the work of international diplomacy

45.  3.) Department of Defense
 Housed in the Pentagon
 Includes Army, Navy, and Air Force
 Secretary of Defense + Joint Chiefs of
Staff (highest military branch officials)
serve as top advisors to President
 Pres. +VP + SOS + SOD = National
Security Council (NSC)

46.  4.) Intelligence Agencies
 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - in
charge of gathering international
information for the purpose of
monitoring national security (can also
include espionage of enemy nations)
Not allowed to operate within the
U.S., only outside of it

47. National Security Agency (NSA) -
agency of the Dept. of Defense in
charge of breaking foreign
encryptions and monitoring flow
of electronic information for
security purposes

48.  5.) Congress
 Has the sole power to declare war
 Senate approves treaties
 Appropriates funding for foreign policy
actions (military esp.)
 Oversight of the actions of the
executive branch

49. U.S. Foreign Policy History
 isolationism - long-term foreign policy in
which U.S. stayed out of other nations’
conflicts, esp. wars in Europe
 Bent during WWI, broken after WWII

50. The Cold War
 A non-combative period of hostility
between U.S. and the communist Soviet
Union following WWII until 1989.
 Containment doctrine - method in which
the U.S. was to isolate the Soviet Union
and its spread of communism

51.  Arms race - U.S. and Soviets each
compete to come up with higher
standards of weapons
 Spread of communism in South Asia
gets U.S. involved militarily (ex:
Korean War and Vietnam War)
 Détente - gradual move in foreign
policy to relax tensions between
U.S. and Soviet Union with promises
of security for both

52.  Cold War continues: even though foreign
relations have eased, U.S. still keeps up
military strength for protection (ex:
Reagan rearmament)
 Upheaval causes fall and break up of the
of Soviet Union in 1989

53. Defense Policies
 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) -
détente era agreement in which U.S. and
Soviets agree to limit nuclear weapon
production, keeping enough to protect
against surprise attacks

54.  Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) -
Reagan-era strategy that would use
ground and space-based nuclear lasers to
take down missiles shot at U.S. from other
countries

55. The War on Terrorism
 Sparked by the events of Sept. 11, 2001,
the U.S. goes to war in Afghanistan and
Iraq to seek out Al Qaeda terrorists
 Also to take out dangerous regimes
(Saddam Hussein) and search for weapons
of mass destruction (WMDs)

56. Today’s Defense Policies
 The U.S. is the world’s most powerful
military power, but force cannot be
used for everything
 U.S. has also passed sanctions - non-
military penalties against a foreign
gov’t to try and influence their
behavior
 Trend: growth of diplomacy as first
option, scaling back of military action

57.  U.S. a massive force of world economy
through trade and humanitarian aid
 Interdependency - mutual economic
reliance of nations on one another; if one
economy falters, all feel the
consequences

58. The U.S. and International
Trade
 U.S. movement away from reliance on
tariffs - taxes on foreign imports (to
protect U.S. businesses)
 Balance of trade - ratio between what is
earned from exports vs. what is paid on
imports
 U.S. has been in deficit (more import
expenditure than export revenue)

59.  Continued dependence on products like
oil from the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) strikes an
uneasy balance between foreign and
economic policies

60. Baker v. Carr (1962)
 Charles Baker sued Secretary of State
of TN Joe Carr because TN had not
reapportioned/redrawn its districts
since 1901, despite TN law. Baker said
changes in population to cities made
elections unfair under such old
districting.
 Importance of the Case:
SC ruled they had power to rule over
legislative apportionment and could
intervene when states violated
constitutional principles.

61. U.S. v. Nixon (1974)
 In the course of the Watergate
investigation, it was discovered President
Nixon recorded all White House
conversations. He was ordered to release
the tapes, but refused, claiming executive
privilege.
 Importance of the Case:
SC ruled that in certain circumstances, the
president may use executive privilege for
national security, military, etc. reasons,
but not in criminal investigations (was the
court’s call when it was appropriate)

62. THE END.