Chapter 15 – Domestic Policy

Domestic Policy

• Domestic policy: all laws, government planning and government actions affecting daily life
  • Federal level
  • State level
  • Local level
  • Private sector

The Policymaking Process

• Agenda building
• Policy formulation
• Policy adoption
• Policy implementation
• Policy evaluation

Healthcare

• Health care spending = almost 20% of total economy
  • Higher in U.S. than almost anywhere
• Rising cost of health care
  • Changing demographics
  • Advanced technology
  • Government’s role (Medicare and Medicaid)
• Medicare
  • Helps those ages 65+
  • Second-largest domestic spending program
  • Reimbursement caps
• Medicaid
  • Helps “working poor”
  • Spending has exploded: 46 million enrollees
  • States pay part of cost
• One in three Americans have government health coverage
• The uninsured
  • Over 49 million Americans
  • Recession impact
  • Young people under age 25 most likely
  • Negative health consequences
• 2010 Health Care Reform legislation
  • Combination of private insurance, public programs, and new state-based non-profit health exchanges
  • NOT national health insurance
  • Fines those without health insurance
  • New mandates for insurers

Environmental Policy

• Environmental movement
  • Conservation
  • Preservation
• Cleaning up the air and water
  • National Environmental Policy Act (1969)
  • Curbing air pollution: Clean Air Act (1990)
  • Water pollution: Clean Water Act (1972)
• Endangered Species Act
  • Endangered Species Act strengthened in 1973
  • Powerful tool for ecology movement
    • Tennessee Valley Authority habitat
  • Shifting to incentives for landowners
• Sustainability
  • Balance between economic and social activities
  • Supported by most Americans
  • Executive orders
• Global climate change
  • Kyoto Protocol (rejected by U.S. Senate)
  • Global warming debate

Energy Policy

• Energy policy: laws concerned with how much energy is needed and used
• Energy and the environment
  • Energy policy entangled with environmental policy
  • EPA regulations
  • Domestic power production can be at odds with clean air standards
• Nuclear power—an unpopular solution
  • Efficient energy source
  • Fear of nuclear accidents and spent fuel issues restrict nuclear power in U.S.
• Alternative approaches to energy crisis
  • Wind farms
  • Ocean waves
  • Geothermal energy
• Many environmentalists and commentators suggest that a much greater use of wind power could reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. This California windmill farm produces energy for Palm Springs. However, windmill farms cannot be successful everywhere in the United States

Poverty and Welfare

• One solution: income transfers
• The low-income population
  • 16% of Americans in 2011
  • Increased by 6 million between 2009-2011
• The antipoverty budget
  • $1 trillion in budget (one-third of expenditures)
  • Medicaid has biggest portion
• Basic welfare
  • Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
  • Block grants
  • New burden on states
• Welfare controversies
  • Some object to any welfare
  • But basic payments relatively low compared to other nations (2012 average = $700 monthly)
• Other forms of government assistance:
  • Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
  • Food stamps
  • Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• Homelessness—still a problem
  • Number increasing
  • Estimates from 230,000 to 750,000

Immigration

• Continued influx of immigrants
  • Minority groups will constitute “majority” by 2060
  • Advantages of immigration
• Attempts at immigration reform
  • Issue during 2006 elections
  • Arizona state law: constitutional?
  • DREAM Act

The Real Danger of Federal Public Policies

• Policies affecting colleges and universities:
  • Title IX
  • Veteran’s tuition benefits
  • Student loan programs
• Other federal policies affecting daily life:
  • Housing
  • Agricultural industry
  • Labor unions
  • School improvement efforts
  • Building highways and bridges