Domestic Policy

Objective
In this lesson, you will analyze how domestic policy impacts the United States.

Making Domestic Policy

public
Domestic policy, also known as ____________ policy, describes government programs and actions aimed at
internal
addressing a nation's ______________ issues.
• education
Public policy focuses on issues such as health care, __________________, public transportation, and
reevaluated
environmental protection. As society changes, domestic policy plans must be _______________. For
1900 probably
instance, consider how farming in the United States changed. A farm law from ________
2000
wouldn't apply to US agriculture in _________. US politicians, citizens, and other groups continually
debate
___________ domestic
how to best address current ______________ issues while also taking into account how the
change
country will ____________ in the short term and in the long term.

There are three main groups that political scientists and others argue account for public policy formation:
• control
Elites direct policy over the masses because elites ___________ vast resources and wealth.
• officials
Bureaucrats, or government ______________, can use their political institution, experience, and power
to direct public policy.
• lobbyists
Interest groups and ______________ have gained increasing power to sway public officials. These
interest groups, which include corporations and nonprofit organizations, represent a variety of views.

Overview Document:
7 Steps of Policy-Making
1. Problem Recognition
setting
2. Agenda _________________
3. Policy Formulation
4. Policy Adoption
budgeting
5. __________________
6. Policy Implementation
evaluation
7. Policy ____________________
Policy Implementation
There are four main methods for the government to apply a new policy (or enforce a law):
penalties , such as fines, for engaging in destructive or
1. Authoritative techniques create stiff _____________
fines
immoral behavior. For example, people can be severely punished, in the form of heavy __________
imprisonment , for drinking alcohol and driving.
or even _______________
benefit
2. Incentive techniques give citizens an individual _____________ for following a public policy that
tax
benefits society. An example is a state government providing _______ credits
____________ to citizens
who insulate their homes to reduce energy use.
3. Capacity techniques are used when people want to follow public policy and improve society but lack
ability
the ____________ knowledge
or _______________ to do so. Capacity techniques provide citizens with
training
_____________ or education.
decency
4. Hortatory techniques appeal to people's ____________ morality
and _____________ to follow beneficial
public policy. For example, a city might post anti-littering signs that urge people to protect nature.

Important Domestic Policies

size
The _________ scope
and __________ of the US federal government has changed greatly since the end of the
active
eighteenth century, leading to the federal government becoming more _____________ in domestic issues.

Education
In the mid- to late-nineteenth century, the federal and state governments became more active in making
available
public education, especially higher education, more ______________ for students.
• taxes
Local schools began to receive funds from local and state governments through ___________.
• federal
In 1862, Congress authorized the transfer of _____________ lands
__________ to state governments to build
more public colleges and universities.
• GI _________
After World War II, Congress passed the _____ bill to provide returning veterans with the
opportunity for a better education, helping send 1.5 million returning veterans to college.
• left
In 2001, Congress passed the No Child ________ behind
___________ Act with broad support. The program
standardized
required public schools to use more _________________ testing to track student achievements. If
struggling schools were unable to raise scores, the federal government would have the ability to
withhold
________________ funding to those schools.
Health Care
• truman was one of the first presidents to try to address the US health care system. In
President Harry __________
unsuccessfully
the late 1940s, he attempted (___________________) national
to create a _____________ health care system.
• johnson
In the 1960s, President Lyndon _____________ worked with Congress to pass numerous progressive laws,
including laws that created the Medicare and Medicaid systems.

elderly
Medicare provides health care coverage for the _______________ .
poor
Medicaid provides health care for the _________ .

• millions
Since their creation, Medicare and Medicaid have provided ______________ of Americans with health
cost
care, but the ________ of these programs has since climbed into the billions of dollars. In the early twenty-
medicare and _____________
first century, the ____________ medicaid systems became increasingly debated. More and
more politicians question whether the increasing cost is worth the programs' benefits. Politicians have
debated
_____________ ending or transforming these two programs.
• obama worked with Congress to pass the most comprehensive health care
In 2010, President Barack __________
affordable
law in US history. This new law, known as the __________________ care
_________ act
________, placed new
regulations on insurance companies to protect the average consumer and also required Americans to have
support
health insurance or pay a tax. The law also provides a government subsidy, or ___________, for individuals
afford
who can't ____________ health insurance on their own. Supporters argued that more people having
reduce
health insurance would _____________ requiring
the cost for everyone. Critics claimed that _______________
Americans to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court weighed in and
supported
_______________ the constitutionality of the law.

Energy and the Environment

• oil
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the United States was the world's top _______ producer
______________.
depleted
Costly wars (World War II and Vietnam), however, _________________ a large portion of the country's oil
reserves. After the 1960s, as domestic production declined and demand soared, the country began to
import
___________ vast quantities of oil from the Middle East and Venezuela.
• israel
Following US assistance to _______________ OPEC
in the Yom Kippur War, __________ (Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries) began an oil embargo, halting oil sales to the United States in 1973. US oil
rationing
supplies became scarce, and the federal government ordered oil _______________. In addition, the
automobiles
government imposed new rules for increased energy efficiency, particularly with __________________.
With energy becoming an increasing problem, Congress and President Jimmy Carter worked together to
department
create the __________________ of _____________
_____ energy to handle national energy issues.
• In the twenty-first century, energy concerns have only increased. As more nations industrialize,
nonrenewable
_____________________ energy sources, such as oil, become increasingly scarce.
• Interest groups that support oil, coal, and natural gas companies argue that improved technologies allow
new ____________
corporations to tap _______ reserves of the nation's energy resources. Opponents contend that the
transition
United States needs to ________________ to renewable energy sources, such as solar power and wind.
• pollution
Environmental protection has become an increasingly important issue, given ______________ from
fossil
burning ___________ fuels
___________, harmful new methods of extracting resources such as natural gas, and
warnings about climate change.
• In the early 1970s, Americans exercised their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly to promote
environmental protection. This effort influenced domestic policy at the state and national levels. The
environmental
federal government created the _____________________ protection
________________ agency
_______________ (EPA) in
air
1970. Other important domestic policy from the federal government included the Clean _______ Act and
water
the Clean _________ Act. In 1980, the government also passed the Comprehensive Environmental
superfundes
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as the ___________________, to provide
hazardous
funding to clean ________________ waste
__________ sites.
• Throughout most of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, environmental protection policy was largely ignored.
Some argue that increasing efficiency, reducing energy demand, and innovating new energy sources are
long term
the keys to solving _________-_________ US energy needs. In recent years, President Obama pushed to
55
increase efficiency levels, including a requirement that cars average _______ miles per gallon by 2025. He
restrict
also worked to _______________ pollutants from power plants and factories.

Social Security and Welfare

• 150 years of US history, state and federal governments didn't maintain significant social
For the first _______
great
security or welfare programs. That changed in the 1930s when the ____________ depression
_______________
shocked the national economy.
• roosevelt
President Franklin __________________ new
and Congress passed numerous ________ deal
________ programs,
including the Social Security Act, to address problems of poverty and joblessness.

security
The Social _____________ Act set up a system in which retirees are
supported by taxes from the income of the working population.
• demographic changes. Most Americans are
Social Security currently faces problems because of ________________
fewer
having __________ children, resulting in a decline in the potential working population. Adding to the
baby
problem, the large population of _________ boomers
_____________, those people born immediately after World
swell
War II, is reaching retirement age. With such a ____________ in the number of retirees and a
smaller
________________ workforce to maintain them, the benefits awarded through Social Security are in
danger.
The 1960s also were an important time in the establishment of programs to address the general
welfare of US citizens. During this time, President Lyndon Johnson developed the Great Society
programs which focused on improving poverty, civil rights, and health care.

needy
Welfare programs provide assistance for _____________ Americans. Two kinds of welfare programs exist:
means
___________ tested and non−means tested.

income
→ Means-tested programs consider a recipient's ___________ while non-means-tested programs do
not.
everyone
→ Social Security follows a non-means-tested approach because _________________ receives the
stamp program, also known as SNAP, uses means testing because only
benefits. The US food _________
income
those who earn under a certain _____________ can access the assistance.

• moral
Some individuals argue that the US government has a _____________ responsibilty
__________________ to provide a
costs
safety net for disadvantaged citizens. Others believe that the programs' ___________ have grown out of
debt
control and that some Americans simply take advantage of the programs. With the US __________ in the
trillions of dollars, politicians must carefully weigh domestic policy decisions.

Summary
What are some of the reasons why domestic policies change overtime?
Some reasons why domestic policies changed overtime is because of economic conditions,
political influences, and societal values.