Transcript Chapter 15 ppt

American
Government and
Politics Today
Chapter 15
Domestic Policy
The Policy-Making Process
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Agenda Building: identifying a problem and getting
it on the agenda.
Policy Formulation: the debate that occurs among
government officials and the public in the media, in
Congress, and through campaigns.
Policy Adoption: selection of a strategy for
addressing the problem from among the solutions
discussed.
Policy Implementation: the administration of the
policy adopted
Policy Evaluation.
Health Care
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The Rising Cost of Health Care
 Advanced
Technology
 The Government’s Role in
Financing Health Care
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Medicare
Medicaid
 Why
has Medicaid spending
exploded?
 Medicaid and the States
Health Care (cont.)
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The Uninsured
 The
Uninsured Employed
 Shifting Costs to the Uninsured
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National Health Insurance
 The
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Canadian System
Health Savings Account
Life Expectancy in the U.S.
Poverty and Welfare
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Income transfers, transfers of income from
some individuals in the economy to other
individuals. This is generally done by way
of the government.
The Low-Income Population
The Antipoverty Budget
Poverty and Welfare (cont.)
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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)
Homelessness
Immigration
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The Continued Influx of Immigrants
 More
than a million people a year immigrate
to this country.
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Minority Groups will constitute the
“majority” of America by 2060.
Some point out the positives of
immigration—offsetting the low birthrate
and aging population.
Attempts at Immigration Reform
2006 Congress initiated, but did not pass,
sweeping legislation that would make all
illegal immigrants in the United States
felons.
Crime in the 21st Century
Crime in American History
 Crimes Committed by Juveniles
 The Cost of Crime to American Society
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Declining Crime Rates
Declining Homicide Rates
Declining Theft Rates
The United States
has the highest
incarceration rate
among major
world nations
measured
by the number
of prisoners
per 100,000 residents.
Incarceration Rates by
Population Group
Crime in the 21st Century (cont.)
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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, however, have been attempting
new remedies to curtail the drug problem.
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Confronting Terrorism
 Counter-terrorism
strategies will necessarily
be a part of federal government policy for
years to come.
Environmental Policy
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Environmentalism
 Conservation
was a policy under which
natural resources should be used, but not
abused.
 Preservation called for natural preserves that
are isolated from the effects of human activity.
The Environmentalist Movement
 Ecology
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Cleaning Up the Air and Water
The National Environmental Policy Act
 Curbing Air Pollution
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 The
1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act of
1963 constitute a comprehensive policy
mandating cleaner air in urban areas.
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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.
Cost-Effective Solutions
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One method of supporting cost-effective solutions
was part of the Clean Air Act of 1990. The act
capped overall national sulfur dioxide emissions but
also permitted free trade in “rights” to emit sulfur
dioxide. As a result, the sulfur dioxide emissions are
made by the companies that reap the greatest
economic advantage from their right to emit.
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.
Other Environmental Issues
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The Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Global Warming
 The Kyoto Protocol
 The Global Warming Debate
Questions for Critical Thinking
 Presuming that national health insurance
is off the table in the United Sates, what
else could be done to protect the
uninsured population from catastrophic
medical costs?
 How important is income in children’s
achievement? What things can money
buy that can help children achieve?
What can it not?
Questions for Critical Thinking
 Prison populations continue to explode.
What can be done?
 Why are environmental problems often
difficult to legislate away? What
improvements have been made in air
and water quality in recent years? What
problems still need solutions?