AP Government: Public Policy Flashcards

6432388908	purposes of policy making	solving social problems countering threats pursuing an objective	0
6432388909	issue-attention cycle	cycle of what the public is interested in; requires policy makers to act quickly before the public becomes bored and loses interest	1
6432388910	incrementalism	the slow, step-by-step approach to making policy used by legislators	2
6432388911	agenda setting	identifies the social and economic problems, redefines them into political issues, and ranks them in order of imp0rtance	3
6432388912	ways policy can be formed/adopted	legislative process (most difficult), executive process (easiest), and Supreme Court through precedent-setting	4
6432388913	policy implementation	puts policy into effect by enforcement through the appropriate government agency	5
6432388914	policy evaluation	final step in which it is evaluated if the policy works, has problems, or has modifications to make it work better	6
6432388915	policy fragmentation	where many pieces of legislation deal with parts of policy problems but not the entire problem; ex. war on drugs	7
6432388917	laissez-faire	belief that government should never become involved in economic issues; believe that free markets are governed by the laws of nature and government shouldn't interfere; disappeared in Great Depression	8
6432388918	Keynesian economics	holds that the government can smooth out business cycles by influencing the amount of income individuals and businesses can spend on goods and services; created by John Maynard Keynes	9
6432388919	fiscal policy	involves the budget; government action of lowering or raising taxes, resulting in more or less consumer spending or enacting of government spending programs	10
6432388922	deficit spending	funds raised by borrowing rather than taxation	11
6432388923	supply-side economics	argue that government should cut taxes and spending on domestic programs to stimulate greater production	12
6432388924	monetary policy	process by which the government controls the supply of money in circulation and the supply of credit	13
6432388925	Federal Reserve Board	can increase the money in circulation by lowering interest rates	14
6432388927	reserve requirement	the amount of money banks are required to keep on hand; raising it shrinks the amount of money available for borrowing which raises interest rates-and vice versa	15
6432388928	discount rate	interest banks pay to the Federal Reserve Banks for borrowing money; lowering it will lower the interest rates for loans	16
6432388934	House Ways and Means Committee	deals with the taxing aspect of the budget	17
6432388935	Authorization committees	decide what programs Congress wants to fund	18
6432388936	Appropriations committees	decide how much money to spend on programs that have been authorized	19
6432388937	3 committees the budget goes to	House ways and means Authorization committee appropriations committee	20
6432388938	Budget Reform Act 1974	created the Congressional Budget office	21
6432388939	mandatory spending	programs that are required by law to be funded such as Social Security, Medicare, and payments on the national debt	22
6432388940	discretionary spending	not required by law and are often targets for cuts when balancing the budget; includes defense, education, highways, and research grants	23
6432388945	North American Free Trade Agreement	created to promote free trade between U.S., Canada, and Mexico; removed import tariffs from one another's products; led to cheaper labor in Mexico and increase in trade	24
6432388946	liberal beliefs on domestic policy	government has an obligation to provide social welfare, to help the needy	25
6432388947	conservative belief on domestic policy	believe that social welfare programs are encroachments on individual responsibilities and liberties; that they create a permanent class of dependent upon government handouts class	26
6432388948	moderate beliefs of domestic policy	believe government should provide opportunities and limited help during difficult times	27
6432388949	social insurance programs	insurance programs that people pay into with taxes; benefits are considered to be earned since individuals pay into these programs	28
6432388950	public assistance programs	not seen as earned; result of condition and a government responsibility to help the needy	29
6432388951	COLA	cost of living adjustment	30
6432388952	medicare	provides government assistance to people older than 65 for health care	31
6432388953	medicaid	provides medical and health-related services for low-income parents, children, seniors, and the disabled	32
6432388954	supplemental assistance programs	help the disabled and the aged who are living at or near the poverty level	33
6432388955	welfare reform act	passed in 1996 to reduce the number of people living on public assistance; welfare programs are funded by state and fed. govt.s	34