Chapter 18

POLICYMAKING AND DOMESTIC POLICY

Learning Outcomes
18.1 Categorize different types of public policies and outline the process by which policies are formulated and implemented. 18.2 Trace the evolution of social welfare programs as a central element of public policy in the United States. 18.3 Describe the origins and evolution of Social Security as well as the funding and benefit issues facing the program.
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Learning Outcomes
18.4 Explain how poverty is defined and trace the evolution of public assistance programs designed to address it. 18.5 Differentiate among Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and explain how each program addresses the issues of health-care delivery.

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Learning Outcomes
18.6 Describe the role of the federal government in shaping education policy at the state and local government levels. 18.7 Assess alternative policies for addressing illegal immigration into the United States. 18.8 Explain how the issue of fairness shapes perspectives on government benefits.

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Government Purposes and Public Policies

The Policymaking Process

Disagreement about governments goals often rooted in value differences Drug policies:
Libertarians value freedom and want drugs decriminalized Conservatives value order and support controls over drug use

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Government Purposes and Public Policies

Types of Policies
Distributive policies Redistributional policies Regulation

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Government Purposes and Public Policies

Public Policy Tools

Different ways to achieve public policy objectives
Incentives and disincentives Direct provision of services
Governments largest expenditures come from direct payments to employees or vendors who implement programs

Setting rules

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Government Purposes and Public Policies

A Policymaking Model
Policymaking process has four stages
Agenda setting Policy formulation Implementation Policy evaluation

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Government Purposes and Public Policies

Fragmentation, Coordination, and Issue Networks

Separation of powers results in fragmented approach to solving policy problems
Different interest groups influence government

Working relationships among participants in pluralist system counter fragmentation Issue networks
Facilitate pluralist policies when majoritarian influences are weak
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The Development of the American Welfare State

The Great Depression and the New Deal

Great Depression: longest and deepest setback of U.S. economy in history Began with stock market crash Oct. 24th, 1929 and ended with start of WWII

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The Development of the American Welfare State

The Great Depression and the New Deal

New Deal
FDR undertook measures to stem the Depression Created Social Security Initiated a long-range trend toward government expansion

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The Development of the American Welfare State

The Great Society

Lyndon B. Johnsons programs designed to redress political, social, and economic inequality War on Poverty
Economic Opportunity Act (1964)
Encouraged local programs to educate and train people for employment

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The Development of the American Welfare State

Retrenchment and Reform

Ronald Reagans reelection resulted in a reexamination of social welfare policy
Shifted focus from economic equality to economic freedom, and from federal government to states

Clinton charted middle course - Important reforms Greatest expansion of welfare benefits under George W. Bush Obama enacted the biggest welfare state reform since the New Deal with the passage of health-care reform in 2010
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Social Security

Social insurance: protect individuals from loss, regardless of need (entitlements)

Workers compensation Social Security Medicare

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Social Security

Origins of Social Security

Social insurance programs began in Europe after World War I In U.S., needs left to private organizations and individuals until Great Depression Social Security Act 1935
Social insurance old-age, surviving spouse, unemployment Financial assistance needy, blind and disabled Health and welfare services for disabled children, orphans and vocational rehabilitation for disabled
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Social Security

How Social Security Works

Revenue fund administered by Social Security Administration Pay as you go tax system
Universal participation essential and required In 1955, nearly nine workers for each beneficiary Today, three workers for every beneficiary Birthrate, mortality rates and economy affect program

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Social Security

Who Pays? Who Benefits?

Congress established automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for Social Security in 1972
Changes in payments and wages subject to tax tied to Consumer Price Index

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Social Security

Social Security Reform

Future of Social Security a concern
Repeated attempts to reform Social Security have failed due to tough choices involved
George W. Bush - supported privatization Obama opposes privatization but reform took back burner to recession

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Public Assistance

Poverty in the United States

Until 1996, government imposed national standards on state programs and distributed funds based on proportion of population in poverty Poverty level is minimum cash income that will provide for a familys basic needs The poverty threshold is what the Census Bureau uses to determine the number of people who live below the poverty line Feminization of poverty
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Public Assistance

Welfare Reform
Personal Responsibility and Opportunity to Work Act (1996)
Abolished Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Replaced AFDC with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)

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Health Care

U.S. only major industrialized nation without universal health-care system Cost and Access
Access
50 million people (16%) had no health insurance in 2010, and many were underinsured

Cost
In 2010, public and private spending on health care reached an all-time high of $2.6 trillion, which was 17.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
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Health Care

Medicare
Social Security Act amended to provide Medicare for citizens 65 and older Two Components:
Part A for hospitalization Part B for physicians fees

Compulsory program, expanded over years to cover other services

Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (Part D)

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Health Care

Medicaid
Provides health care to Americans with low incomes Product of the Great Society, passed as another amendment to Social Security Act Vast program, run and financed jointly with states
Eligibility and services vary widely by state Medicaid participants: children under age twenty-one (half of all participants in 2011), adults (mainly pregnant women, parents, and other caregivers of children), those who are disabled, and those aged sixty-five and over

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Health Care

Health-Care Reform
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Most wide-ranging policy change in a generation Aim is to provide insurance to as many people as possible Notable aspects:
19-25 year olds can stay on parents insurance plans Cannot be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions All individuals are required to have health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine

Concerns about cost, although not expected to add to the deficit

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Elementary and Secondary Education

Concerns Motivating Change

Equity: Overriding and persistent concern
Social and economic equity found through equality of educational opportunity
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Despite federal policy, improvements in education elusive

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Elementary and Secondary Education

Concerns Motivating Change (contd)

National Security and Prosperity
Education considered key public policy area

National Defense Education Act of 1958 (NDEA) 1983 report: A Nation at Risk
Findings created momentum for improvement

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Elementary and Secondary Education

Values and Reform

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)
Reauthorization of ESEA Required proficiency in reading and math by 2014 Implementation controversial teaching to the test, unfunded mandate NCLB not reauthorized in 2007

2010, Obama spin on NCLB - Blueprint for Reform

Focuses on bottom 5 percent of schools Race to the Top competitive grants

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Immigration

Important problem facing America

Immigrants make up 12.5 percent of population; of those, 11.2 million are illegal 27% of noncitizens live below poverty line

Policy debates over illegal immigrants

Johnson-Reed Act 1924 DREAM Act - Obama issued executive action in 2012

The Constitution grants Congress the authority to establish a uniform rule of naturalization

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They Have a Dream

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Benefits and Fairness

Two benefits provided by national government

Means-tested benefits Non-means-tested benefits

Fairness of non-means-tested benefits? Reform debates: making affluent pay more for programs

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