1. Chapter 17
Domestic Policy

2. Learning Objectives
What types of politics may matter to whether and how government acts on any given issue?
How do America’s social welfare policies and programs differ from those of many other modern democracies?
Why are some social welfare policies and programs politically protected while others are politically imperiled?
Is there a political consensus about how to address the solvency challenges facing major social welfare programs?
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3. Learning Objectives
Why have government regulations on certain big businesses been imposed over the objections of those industries?
Why are environmental policies designed and enforced differently in America than in other industrialized nations?
Does just one type of politics drive environmental policies and programs?
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4. Introduction WHO GOVERNS? TO WHAT ENDS?
How, if at all, have Americans’ views of government’s responsibility to help the“deserving poor” changed over time?
Why are some government social welfare programs politically protected while others are politically imperiled?
TO WHAT ENDS?
What does the Constitution mean by “promote the general Welfare”?
Who should administer federal welfare programs?
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5. Policymaking Politics Revisited
Cost vs. Benefit
Legitimacy
Perceived costs and benefits can be:
Widely distributed
Narrowly concentrated
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Who will benefit or pay for a program?
Who ought to benefit or pay?

6. A Way of Classifying and Explaining the Politics of Different Policy Issues
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Figure 17.1

7. Social Welfare Policy “To provide for the . . . general Welfare”
Restrict spending? OR
Meet national needs?
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8. Social Welfare Policy From the New Deal to the New Health Care Law
Insurance program (unemployed/elderly)
Assistance program (blind, dependent children and aged)
Means test
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9. Social Welfare Policy FDR and the New Deal Social Security Act (1935)
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Topham/The Image Works
In 1932, unemployed workers line up at a soup kitchen during the Great Depression.

10. Social Welfare Policy Johnson and the Great Society
Medicaid and Medicare (1965)
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President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Act in 1965.
Source: Lyndon Baines Johnson Library/MCT/Newscom

11. Social Welfare Policy Obama
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010)
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President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Health Care for America Act in 2010.
Source: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

12. Two Kinds of Social Welfare Programs
Social Welfare Policy
Two Kinds of Social Welfare Programs
Benefits most
Most pay
No means test
Majoritarian politics
Social Security and Medicare
Issue: cost
Benefits few
Most pay
Means tested
Client politics
TANF and SNAP
Issue: legitimacy
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13. Opinion on Social Security and Medicare Proposals, By Generation
Social Welfare Policy
Social Security and Medicare: Majoritarian Politics
Opinion on Social Security and Medicare Proposals, By Generation
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Table 17.1
While both are popular programs, Social Security has higher prospects for remaining solvent than Medicare. Why?
Source: Adapted from Andrew Kohut, “Debt and Deficit: A Public Opinion Dilemma,” Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, June 14, 2012.

14. Public Opinion on Changing Medicare and Social Security
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Table 17.2
Source: ABC News/Washington Post Poll, March 10–13, 2011; Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Poll, January 4–14, 2011; and School of Public Policy, University of Maryland and Center on Policy Attitudes, “How Americans Would Deal with the Budget Deficit,” February 3, 2011, p. 49.

15. Social Welfare Policy
Social Welfare Policy in America: Four Distinctive Features
More restrictive view of who is entitled to governmental assistance
Slower to embrace the welfare state
States play a large role
Nongovernmental organizations play a large role
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16. Social Welfare Policy From AFDC to TANF: Client Politics
Existing state programs
Federal government regulations governing the programs
Public opinion changes
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
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Social welfare programs like the late AFDC that are perceived to benefit only certain groups of
citizens at a cost that is shouldered by most people (client politics) will be established and remain politically protected only if the cost to the public at large is not perceived to be great and if the people receiving the benefit are widely deemed “deserving.”

17. Social Welfare Policy Medicaid: Client and Majoritarian Means-tested
Benefits broader population
Interest group support
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Over the last two decades, most proposals to “cut Medicaid” have actually been proposals
to trim program benefits for the program’s TANF-eligible adult, non-disabled populations.

18. Business Regulation Policy
Relationship between wealth and power
Antitrust Laws: Majoritarian Politics
Sherman Act (1890)
Federal Trade Commission Act (1914
Clayton Act (1914)
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19. Business Regulation Policy
Labor and Occupational Health and Safety: Interest Group Politics
Wagner Act
National Labor Relations Board
Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970)
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Democratic presidents favor labor and thus tend to appoint pro-union board members; Republican presidents favor business and thus tend to appoint pro-management members to the NLRB.

20. Business Regulation Policy
Agriculture Subsidies: Client Politics
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Bob Mahoney/The Image Works
Client politics has become harder to practice in this country unless a group is widely thought to be
a “deserving” client.
Dairy farmers get government subsidies for their milk production.

21. Business Regulation Policy
Consumer and Environmental Protection: Entrepreneurial Politics
Auto safety/antipollution
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AP Image
The motives of policy entrepreneurs may be self-serving or public spirited. The best-known policy example in this country is Ralph Nader.
Entrepreneurial politics: Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle, published in 1906, shocked readers with its description of conditions in the meat-packing industry and helped bring about passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

22. Environmental Policy The Politics of “Cap and Trade”
Environmental Policy in America: Three Distinctive Features
Adversarial
State dependent
Interest group pressures
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23. Environmental Policy Environmental Policy
Agricultural Pesticides:
Client Politics
Endangered Species: Entrepreneurial Politics
Pollution from Automobiles: Majoritarian Politics
Interest Group Politics
Acid Rain:
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Environmental impact statement: A report required by federal law that assesses the possible effect
of a project on the environment if the project is subsidized in whole or part by federal funds.

24. New Federal Safety Regulations for Deep Water Oil Drilling
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Click picture to play video

25. New Federal Safety Regulations for Deep Water Oil Drilling
Taking a closer look:
What persons or agencies oversee federal environmental policy?
How are new regulations an example of adversarial policy?
Who pays for costs associated with administering environmental regulations?
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26. Beyond Domestic Policy
Does just one type of politics drive domestic policies and programs?
Which type of politics matters most on economic policy issues?
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