AP US Government

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AP US Government Politics

• Unit 5 Review Public Policy (5-15)

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Public Policy (5-15)

1. Policy making in a federal system
2. The formation of the policy agenda
3. The role of institutions in the enactment of
   policy
4. The role of the bureaucracy and the courts in
   policy implementation and interpretation

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Public policy, continued

• 5. Linkages between policy processes and the
  following
• Political institutions and federalism
• Political parties
• Interest groups
• Public opinion
• Elections
• Policy networks

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I. The Policymaking Process

• Most important decision what belongs on agenda
• Shared beliefs determine what is legitimate
• Legitimate scope of government action always
  getting larger
• In a crisis, people expect government to take
  action
• Second step Making a decision
• Costs and benefits of proposed policy provide way
  to understand how an issue affects political
  power
• Cost any burden (money or not) that people
  must, or expect to, bear
• Benefit any satisfaction (money or not) that
  some people must, or expect to, receive

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• D. Important to remember
• 1. Perception of costs and benefits affects
  politics, whether it is accurate or not
• 2. People consider whether it is legitimate
  for a group to benefit
• Politics is a process of settling disputes over
  who benefits/pays and who ought to benefit/pay
• People prefer programs that benefit them at low
  cost

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Four Types of Politics

• 1. Majoritarian Politics distributed benefits,
  distributed costs
• Benefits large numbers
• Distributes costs to large numbers
• Example Antitrust legislation in 1890s
• Public indignation strong but unfocused
• Legislation vague no specific enforcement agency

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• Interest Group Politics concentrated benefits,
  concentrated costs
• Benefits a relatively small and identifiable
  group
• Costs imposed on another small identifiable group
• Debate carried on with little public knowledge
  (i.e., labor unions vs. business)
• Example Labor-management conflict of 1930s
• Unions won because of support of FDR (first
  president to support unions)
• Economic conditions (Depression) other key factor

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• 3. Client politics concentrated benefits,
  distributed costs
• Small group receives benefits costs are widely
  distributedlittle incentive to motivate
  opposition
• Those receiving benefits become clients of the
  government
• Example Regulation of milk industry, sugar
  production
• Prevents price competition, keeps prices high
• Public unaware of increased cost

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• 4. Entrepreneurial politics distributed
  benefits, concentrated costs
• Benefits large numbers
• Costs imposed on small identifiable group
• Success depends on people working on behalf of
  unorganized majoritiesRalph Nader
• Examples Consumer protection laws
• Pure Food and Drug Act 1906
• 1960s and 1970s consumer and environmental laws
  passed
• EPA
• Auto Safety
• Clean Air Act
• Danger Agency may be captured by regulated
  industry

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Deregulation

• Examples airfares, telephone service, trucking
• Deregulation represents a challenge to iron
  triangles and client politics

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A Way of Classifying and Explaining the Politics
of Different Policy Issues
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II. Economic Policy

• Economic Health
• Deficit and balanced budget both lead to policy
  debates
• In 1999, Republicans wanted to cut taxes to
  return the surplus to the voters Democrats
  wanted to use it for new programs and pay down
  the debt
• In 2001, Bush got Congress to pass huge tax cut
  using the rationale that surpluses represented
  the government taking too much money from the
  taxpayers
• In 2003, Bush is asking for more tax cuts, even
  though the surplus is now gone. New rationale
  tax cuts will stimulate the economy
• Republicans have given up on the balanced budget
  issue in favor of tax cuts

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• Economic Prosperity Issues
• Disputes about economic prosperity produce
  majoritarian politics
• Voters see connections between national economy
  and personal situation
• People do not always vote their
  pocketbooksthey frequently vote based on
  current condition of national economy, even if
  their own situation is betterthey see indirect
  or future effect
• Politics of Taxing and Spending (fiscal policy)
• 1. Majoritarian politics leads to conflicting
  goals lower taxes, balanced budget, new
  programstaxpayers want things which are in
  conflict with each other

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• Economic theories
• Monetarism inflation comes from too much money
  chasing too few goodsyou should increase the
  money supply at the same rate as economy is
  growing
• Keynesianism government should create right
  level of demandif demand is too low, government
  should spend more money, even if deficit spending
  results
• Planning free market too unreliable government
  should plan parts of countrys economic
  activitywage and price controls, for example
• Supply-side less government interference, tax
  cuts which will result in stimulated economy and
  therefore MORE government revenue instead of less

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• Reaganomics combination of monetarism,
  supply-side tax cuts, and domestic budget cutting
  (1980s)
• Eventually economy was stimulated but there were
  huge deficits
• Reagan agreed to raise taxes 3 times after his
  initial supply-side tax cuts
• Budget was never balanced under Reagan or GHW Bush

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• Machinery of Economic Policymaking
• Council of Economic Advisers forecast economic
  trends, prepares annual economic report for
  President
• OMB prepares annual budget
• Secretary of Treasury represents financial
  communitys point of view

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• D. Federal Reserve Board Independent of both
  President and Congress
• Members nominated by President, confirmed by
  Senate, serve 14-year term
• Regulates supply and price of money (Monetary
  Policy)
• Can raise and lower interest rates paid by banks
  to each other (federal funds rate) and to the Fed
  (discount rate), and reserve requirement
  (percentage of deposits banks may not loan out)
• Raising these three things reduces the size of
  the money supply lowering them increases the
  size of the money supply
• When the economy is growing too fast, the Fed
  tries to reduce the size of the money supply
  when it is growing too slowly or shrinking
  (RECESSION), it tries to increase the size of the
  money supply.

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• Congress important in economic policy (Fiscal
  Policy)
• Approves all taxes and expenditures
• Must consent to wage and price controls
• Spending money Politicians have incentives to
  make two kinds of appeals to voters
• Keep spending down and cut deficit
• Support the programs the voters like

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• F. The Budget
• Congressional Budget Act of 1974 established
  process
• President submits budget
• House and Senate budget committees analyze
• Each committee proposes to its house a budget
  resolution setting a total budget ceiling
• Congress adopts budget resolutions to guide its
  decisions
• Congress considers appropriations bills and tries
  to reconcile them with budget resolution
• Most (2/3) of government spending is outside the
  budget process (mandatory spending entitlements,
  interest on the debt)
• Reagan got large cuts in domestic spending in
  1981, but not thereafter

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• 2. Reducing spending
• Gramm-Rudman Balanced Budget Act (1985) called
  for automatic across-the-board cuts
  (sequestration) until the budget was balanced in
  1991did not work because President and Congress
  still found ways to increase spending
• Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 and tax increase
  under GHW Bush (read my lips, no new taxes)still
  no balanced budget
• Clinton budget 1993 passed with no Republican
  votesincreased taxes, cut some spending
• Budget balanced in 1999 mostly as a result of
  continued economic growth from 1993-1999 and
  through end of 2000, when brief recession started

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• G. Taxes
• What is a fair tax law? (majoritarian politics)
• Tax burden is lowAmericans pay a less than
  citizens of most other democracies
• Taxes are progressivewealthier Americans pay a
  higher percentage
• Client politics makes tax reform difficult
• Tax Reform Act of 1986 resulted in fewer
  loopholes and lower top marginal rates (28, down
  from 70)
• Earlier part of century, rates were higher, but
  there were many more loopholes
• Taxes varied with war and peace until after WWII

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III. Social Welfare

• I.   Social welfare in the United States      A.
  Who deserves to benefit?         1. Americans
  believe it should be only those who cannot help
  themselves         2. Preference is to give
  services, not money to help deserving
  poor      B. National welfare policy came after
  22 European nationsGreat Britain established
  welfare and health care in 1908      C. Federal
  involvement in national welfare laws "illegal"
  until 1930s when Supreme Court changed its mind
  about New Deal
•          2. Experiments by state
  governments            a. Argued against federal
  involvement because state already
              providing welfare            b.
  Lobbied for federal involvement to help
  states      

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• D. Majoritarian welfare programs         1.
  Social Security Act of 1935 because state and
  local relief programs were overwhelmed two-part
  plan
•       (1) "Insurance" for unemployed and
  elderly               (2) "Assistance" for
  dependent children, blind, aged(AFDC)
•                (3) Federally funded,
  state-administered program                under
  means test         2. Medicare Act of
  1965            a. Medical benefits had been
  omitted in 1935 controversial but done to make
  sure it passed             b. Broadened by Ways
  and Means to include Medicaid for
              poor, pay doctors' bills for
  elderly      

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• E. Reforming majoritarian welfare
  programs         1. Social Security            a
  . Not enough people paying into Social Security
  to pay the benefits of current recipients        
      b. Three possible solutions
•                (1) Raise the retirement age to
  70/freeze the size of                retirement
  benefits/raise Social Security taxes             
    (2) Privatize Social Security               (3)
  Some combination of the first two
  methods         2. Medicare            a.
  Problems huge costs and waste/fraud
              b. Possible solutions               
  (1) Get rid of Medicare and have doctors and
  hospitals                work for
  government               (2) Elderly take
  Medicare money and buy health                insu
  rance or join HMOs      

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• F. Client welfare policy AFDCA. Part of Social
  Security Act (1935)
• B. First, federal aid to state programs, with
  states establishing rules
• C. Programs added (food stamps, Earned Income
  Credit)
• D. Progressively lost legitimacy over the years
  and was abolished in favor of TANF in 1996.
• E. TANF no longer an entitlement 2-year
  consecutive limit, 5-year lifetime limit on
  benefits
• II.   Two kinds of welfare programs      A.
  Majoritarian politics almost everybody pays and
  benefits, for example, the Social Security Act
  and the Medicare Act beneficiaries must believe
  benefits will exceed costs political elites must
  believe in legitimacy of program.      

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• B. Client politics everybody pays, relatively
  few people benefit, for example, the TANF
  program      C. Majoritarian politics         1.
  Programs with widely distributed benefits and
  costs            a. Beneficiaries must believe
  they will come out ahead            b. Political
  elites must believe in legitimacy of
  program         2. Social Security and Medicare
  looked like "free lunch"      D. Client
  politics         1. Programs pass if cost to
  public not perceived as great and client
  considered deserving         2. Today, Americans
  believe today that able-bodied people should work
  for welfare benefits         3. Americans prefer
  service strategy to income strategy            

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SSI, TANF, and Food Stamp Recipients, 1980-1998
Source U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract
of the United States, 1999, 382.
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When Will the Crunch Come? Projections of the
Growth in Federal Spending
Source Congressional Budget Office, The Economic
and Budget Outlook An Update (July 1, 1999).
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IV. Foreign Policy

• I.   The constitutional and legal context
        A. The Constitution creates an "invitation
  to struggle"         1. President commander in
  chief but Congress appropriates money         2.
  President appoints ambassadors, but Senate
  confirms         3. President negotiates
  treaties, but Senate ratifies         4. But
  Americans think president in charge, which
  history confirms      B. Presidential box
  score         1. Presidents relatively strong in
  foreign affairs            a. More successes in
  Congress on foreign than on domestic affairs

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•          2. Presidents weaker in foreign affairs
  than other heads of state            a. Wilson
  and Franklin Roosevelt unable to ally with Great
  Britain before WWI and WWII            b. Wilson
  unable to lead U.S. into the League of
  Nations            c. Reagan criticized on
  commitments to El Salvador and Lebanon           
   d. Bush debated Congress on authorization to
  fight Gulf War in 1991

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• C. Evaluating the power of the president         
  1. Depends on one's agreement/disagreement with
  policies         2. Supreme Court gives federal
  government wide powers reluctant to intervene in
  Congress-president disputes     D. Checks on
  presidential power political rather than
  constitutional         1. Congress control of
  purse strings         2. Limitations on the
  president's ability to give military or
  economic aid to other countries

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•          3. War Powers Act of 1973         (1)
  Only sixty-day commitment of troops
  without authorization by Congress         (2)
  All commitments reported within forty-eight
  hours         (3) no president has acknowledged
  constitutionality         (4) Ford, Carter,
  Reagan, Bush, and Clinton sent troops without
  explicit congressional authorization

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• IV.   Foreign policy and public
  opinion         1. Before WWII, public opposed
  U.S. involvement WWII shifted popular opinion --
  universally popular and successful war, US
  emerged as worlds dominant power          2.
  Support for active involvement persisted until
  Vietnam       3.Backing the
  president--public's tendency to support president
  in crises          4. Presidential support does
  not decrease with increase in casualities
  support winning war instead

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• V. Four worldviews   1. Isolationism opposed
  involvement in European wars   2. Containment
  paradigm reaction to appeasement of Hitler
  Pearl Harbor ended isolationism in United States
  postwar policy to resist Soviet
  expansionism   3. Disengagement (Post-Vietnam)
  reaction to military defeat and political
  disaster of Vietnam   4. Human rights liberal
  opponents of Gulf War supported military
  intervention in Kosovo and equated situation to
  genocide       

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• What do we get for our money?
• Personnel from draft to all-volunteer force in
  1973
• More women today dont ask, dont tell policy
  on gays in Clinton administration
• Big-ticket hardware cost overruns common
  contractors have incentives to underestimate
  costs also sole-sourcing and gold-plating
• Closing of military bases base-closing
  commission created list of bases to close, which
  Congress had to accept in whole therefore no
  dealmaking on which bases to close

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Trends in Military Spending (in constant dollars)
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
(Comptroller), National Defense Budget Estimates
for FY 2000.
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Public Sentiment on Defense Spending, 1960-1998
Updated from The Public Perspective
(August/September 1997), 19.
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V. Environmental Policy

• I.   Entrepreneurial politics global warming
•       A. Entrepreneurial politics gave rise to
  environmental movement
•          1. Santa Barbara oil spill, Earth Day in
  1970
•          2. Led to the formation of EPA and
  passage of the Water Quality Improvement Act and
  tougher Clean Air Act in 1970
•          3. Two years later Congress passed laws
  designed to clean up water
•          4. Three years later Congress adopted
  the Endangered Species Act
•          5. Public opinion rallied behind
  environmental slogans

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• II.   Majoritarian politics pollution from
  automobiles
•       A. Clean Air Act imposed tough restrictions
•          1. Public demanded improvements
•          2. Required catalytic converters
•       B. Emergence of majoritarian politics in
  auto pollution
•          1. States were required to restrict
  public use of cars, but effort failed opposition
  too great
•             c. Congress and the EPA backed down,
  postponed deadlines
•          2. Consumers, auto industry, and unions
  objected
•          3. The Clean Air Act was weakened in
  1977 but revived in 1990 with tougher standards

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• C. Public will support tough laws
•          1. If costs are hidden (catalytic
  converters)
•          2. But not if they have to change habits
  (car pools)
• D. Majoritarian politics when people believe the
  costs are high
•          1. Increased gasoline taxes
•             a. Would discourage driving, save
  fuel, and reduce smog
•             b. Most would pay, most would benefit
•             c. But costs come long before
  benefits
•             d. And benefits may not be obvious
•          2. Easier to raise gas tax if benefits
  are concrete, for example,
•          highways, bridges, and so forth

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• III.   The environmental uncertainties
•       A. Why is it so difficult to have a sane
  environmental policy?
•          1. Many environmental problems are not
  clear-cut
•          2. Goals are often unclear public
  opinion can shift
•          3. Means of achieving goals are
  complicated by technological problems, economics
•       B. How do we achieve our goals?
•             a. Rules have been replaced by
  incentives
•                (1) Offsets
•                (2) Bubble standards
•                (3) Pollution allowances
•            

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Government Regulation
Source Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report
(January 20, 1990), 185, updated with Wirthlin
Worldwide Survey.