Deck 16: Social and Environmental Policy

Question 1

An example of a distributive policy is ______.

A) welfare
B) emissions regulations
C) a law restricting the use of the death penalty
D) farm subsidies
E) antidrug laws

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Pork barrel legislation is an example of a ______ policy.

A) regulatory
B) redistributive
C) social welfare
D) distributive
E) private

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a reason why solving public problems can be difficult?

A) People usually don't have an interest in solving public problems.
B) Solutions to public problems can create new problems.
C) Solutions to public problems often cost money.
D) Public problems are complex.
E) A variety of voices and opinions are involved

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Distributive policies can be problematic because they ______.

A) tend to be popular but can lead to wasteful spending
B) place undue burdens on businesses, making it more difficult for them to make a profit
C) help only the poor but are paid for by the wealthy
D) are often extremely controversial and lead to great partisan division during their passage
E) apply only to the elderly, which makes younger citizens upset that they have to pick up the costs

Question 5

An example of a redistributive policy is ______.

A) Medicaid
B) trade policy
C) corporate welfare
D) environmental policy
E) farm subsidies

Question 6

Redistributive policies are relatively rare because ______.

A) the United States is not a socialist country
B) there is little need for them
C) those who are the beneficiaries do not want them
D) those who must pay for them are much better equipped to fight political battles than are potential beneficiaries
E) the United States cannot afford them

Question 7

Corporate welfare is an example of a ______.

A) policy that provides incentives to encourage certain behavior
B) revenue policy
C) regulatory policy
D) private policy
E) redistributive policy

Question 8

The creation of a regulation by a bureaucratic agency would be an example of ______.

A) agenda setting
B) policy evaluation
C) policy implementation
D) policy formulation
E) policy adoption

Question 9

You can find the wealth of rules and regulations that make up American public policy in the ______.

A) Federal Register
B) U.S. Constitution
C) U.S. Code
D) state constitutions
E) none of the above

Question 10

Regulatory policy differs from other public policies in that it ______.

A) is very costly
B) restricts behavior
C) is easy for Congress to pass
D) is favored by Republicans but disapproved of by Democrats
E) is paid for by all taxpayers

Question 11

The politics surrounding the creation of regulatory policies are ______.

A) highly confrontational
B) the source of pork barrel politics
C) redistributive politics
D) distributive politics
E) very popular with their target groups

Question 12

The second step in the policy process is ______.

A) policy evaluation
B) policy formulation
C) policy implementation
D) policy adoption
E) agenda setting

Question 13

Distributive policies are popular because ______.

A) their costs are not noticed because they are spread amongst all taxpayers, but their benefits go to a specific group who knows they are benefitting
B) their costs are low
C) the projects supported by such spending are rarely of questionable value
D) they benefit the needy
E) they benefit everyone

Question 14

Public policy can be defined as a(n)______.

A) government plan of action to solve a social problem
B) ruling made by the Supreme Court that addresses a social problem
C) agreement among the president, Congress, and the Supreme Court to take a certain course of action
D) government plan of action passed only by legislatures
E) partisan compromise on some issue

Question 15

Government agencies have their largest role in policy ______.

A) agenda setting
B) adoption
C) implementation
D) formulation
E) evaluation

Question 16

Which of the following pairs correctly matches a type of policy with a specific case of that type?

A) redistributive policy and Social Security
B) regulatory policy and Head Start
C) distributive policy and Supplemental Security Income
D) regulatory policy and a gas tax
E) regulatory policy and TANF

Question 17

The bureaucracy makes policy through ______.

A) its power to regulate
B) statutory law
C) executive orders
D) injunctions
E) subpoenas

Question 18

Policy implementation is more likely to be successful if all but which of the following conditions is present?

A) The law has clear, unambiguous goals.
B) Congress has provided sufficient funding and staffing resources.
C) The policy enjoys the support of policymakers, agency officials, and the public.
D) The policy involves federal, state, and local governments.
E) The bureaucrats who have to implement the policy agree with it.

Question 19

Which of the following is an example of redistributive policy?

A) the Federal-Aid Highway Act
B) the Hope Scholarship
C) the Clean Air Act
D) the Hawley-Smoot Act
E) Head Start

Question 20

Which of the following would be an example of a triggering event?

A) the Enron scandal
B) Stem cell research
C) the decline of public school education
D) widespread poverty
E) the deprivation of a specific group's civil rights

Question 21

The largest federal program,in dollars spent,is ______.

A) Social Security
B) TANF
C) the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
D) Medicaid
E) Medicare

Question 22

The Social Security Trust Fund could be made sustainable by any of the following solutions EXCEPT this one:

A) cutting benefit levels
B) increasing Social Security taxes
C) lifting the $90,000 cap on Social Security taxes
D) taking Medicaid out of the program
E) raising the retirement age

Question 23

Which of the following is an example of a social welfare policy?

A) voting rights laws
B) environmental laws
C) anticrime laws
D) TANF
E) consumer protection laws

Question 24

All of the following statements concerning the making of policy are true EXCEPT this one:

A) Congress sometimes makes a policy through a bundle of several laws.
B) Presidents have made profound changes in policy through executive orders.
C) Policies are best thought of as the product of the actions of one branch of government created at a particular time.
D) Bureaucracies make policy though their power to regulate.
E) The courts take a policymaking role when they rule on what government can or cannot do.

Question 25

A federal program that guarantees benefits to qualified recipients is a(n)______ program.

A) welfare
B) mandated
C) means-tested
D) entitlement
E) distributive

Question 26

The Great Depression had a significant impact on American public policy because ______.

A) the government realized that it had to eliminate environmental restrictions on businesses to help them prosper, which set back efforts to pass stronger environmental policies
B) it was the first time that education subsidies were provided to the middle class
C) for the first time, people began to view poverty as a problem requiring government action
D) the government put more pressure on churches and businesses to help eradicate poverty
E) the federal government passed a universal health care plan

Question 27

If nothing changes in the Social Security program,retirees will begin to take more money out of the Social Security Trust Fund than workers put into the fund in ______,and the fund will run out of money in ______.

A) 2018; 2020
B) 2020; 2026
C) 2018; 2036
D) 2017; 2019
E) 2017; 2034

Question 28

In a comparison between American and European programs that provide assistance to the "have-nots" of society,______.

A) European countries have more programs to assist the have-nots
B) almost every program designed by the United States to provide assistance to the have-nots has been copied by European countries
C) the United States has more programs to assist the have-nots
D) the United States has more programs to assist the have-nots but spends less money on these programs
E) both have very similar programs in terms of goals and amount of money spent

Question 29

The two political actors who dominate policy evaluation are ______.

A) policy analysts inside and outside government
B) interest groups and the president
C) interest groups and Congress
D) interest groups and the media
E) Congress and the president

Question 30

Public policy that seeks to meet the basic needs of people who are unable to provide for themselves is ______ policy.

A) civil rights
B) social welfare
C) regulatory
D) distributive
E) fiscal

Question 31

Public policies are evaluated using all of the following standards EXCEPT this one:

A) whether they are efficient
B) whether they are socially acceptable
C) whether they are feasible
D) whether they are equitable
E) whether the administration wants to see them succeed

Question 32

______ is an example of a social insurance program.

A) TANF
B) AFDC
C) Medicare
D) Head Start
E) Medicaid

Question 33

Social insurance programs refer to ______.

A) programs funded by only one group of taxpayers that are distributed only to noncitizens
B) programs that protect people from losing their homes during a natural disaster
C) government programs that offer benefits in exchange for contributions
D) programs designed to restrict or change the behavior of certain groups or individuals
E) private welfare programs in which companies collect premiums in return for job insurance

Question 34

President Herbert Hoover's response to the Great Depression was to ______.

A) create limited programs to help the poor and unemployed
B) suggest charity and volunteerism as a solution but not government involvement
C) create Social Security
D) propose welfare assistance
E) develop jobs creation programs, such as the WPA and CCC

Question 35

Critics of President George W.Bush's proposal to create private Social Security accounts argued that such accounts would ______.

A) potentially end Social Security as a guarantor of a secure retirement
B) benefit the poor more than the wealthy
C) be unfair to the young
D) raise Social Security taxes
E) force people to retire earlier

Question 36

Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding poverty in America?

A) A smaller percentage of children live in poverty in the United States than in other western industrialized nations.
B) The poverty rate in the United States is generally around 14.8 percent.
C) Fewer married families live in poverty than do single-household families.
D) Black and Hispanic female-headed single-household families are the most likely to live in poverty.
E) More than 21 percent of American children live in poverty

Question 37

A(n)________ program is a social program whose beneficiaries qualify by demonstrating need.

A) exclusive-need
B) qualified-need
C) entitlement
D) subsidy
E) means-tested

Question 38

The income level below which a family is considered to be poor is the ______.

A) social insurance level
B) poverty level
C) homelessness index
D) social-welfare threshold
E) poverty threshold

Question 39

Most social welfare policies are ______.

A) entitlement programs
B) regulatory policies
C) private policies
D) redistributive policies
E) distributive policies

Question 40

The last step in the policymaking process is policy ______.

A) evaluation
B) implementation
C) adoption
D) formulation
E) completion

Question 41

The federal government's insurance program for the elderly and disabled is called ______.

A) AFDC
B) Medicaid
C) Medicare
D) AARP
E) TANF

Question 42

Pork barrel legislation is an example of a distributive policy.

Question 43

The publication of Silent Spring is significant because it was ______.

A) the first time that someone had criticized corporate welfare
B) one of the first books to note that Social Security would be bankrupt if it was not reformed
C) partly responsible for the elimination of AFDC
D) one the first books to make a case for universal health care in the United States
E) a triggering event for the government to create environmental policy

Question 44

A ______ is a financial incentive given by the government to corporations,individuals,or other governments.

A) handout
B) bribe
C) monetary benefit
D) redistribution
E) subsidy

Question 45

The biggest obstacle to a system of national health care in the United States is that ______.

A) the experience of the other industrialized nations leads to the conclusion that a national health care system would be far more expensive in terms of GDP than the current system
B) the American public is very satisfied with the current system
C) patients' advocacy groups oppose it out of fear that they would lose their freedom to choose better care
D) such a policy runs counter to American political culture
E) a national health care system was tried during the Great Depression and was a total failure

Question 46

Prior to the health care reform that was passed in 2010,the government's role in health care was limited to ______.

A) Medicare and Medicaid
B) universal health care
C) no involvement at all
D) AFDC
E) none of the above

Question 47

Government agencies have their largest role in policy evaluation.

Question 48

Which of the following is NOT a proposed solution to American dependence on foreign oil?

A) raising the gas tax
B) increasing the mileage standards for cars and trucks
C) finding alternatives to using oil for energy
D) drilling for more domestic oil
E) invading an oil-rich country and taking control of its oil

Question 49

A means-test program is a social program whose beneficiaries qualify by demonstrating need.

Question 50

______ is a welfare program of block grants to states that encourages recipients to work in exchange for time-limited benefits.

A) Head Start
B) TANF
C) Superfund
D) Medicaid
E) AFDC

Question 51

_______ is often reluctant to act on climate change.

Question 52

Redistributive policies are popular because their costs are not noticed because they are spread among all taxpayers,but their benefits go to a specific group who knows they are benefitting.

Question 53

Hydraulic fracturing,the technology used to extract natural gas,is also known as fracking.

Question 54

A federal program that guarantees benefits to qualified recipients is a(n)social welfare program.

Question 55

People have criticized TANF because they argue that ______.

A) the employment rate for single mothers has declined
B) wages are often too low to lift people out of poverty
C) almost none of the welfare recipients have been able to hold a job
D) states rarely meet their goal of putting 50 percent of single parents to work for 30 hours per week
E) it has failed to lower the welfare rolls

Question 56

Public policy that seeks to meet the basic needs of people who are unable to provide for themselves is social welfare policy.

Question 57

The solution one favors to the problem of American dependence on foreign oil depends on whether one sees it as a(n)______ problem or a ______ problem.

A) ideological; practical
B) foreign policy; domestic policy
C) fiscal; social
D) short-term; long-term
E) environmental; supply

Question 58

Although poor people have a stake in their own economic security,they have often lost political battles because ______.

A) Congress has stopped listening to their often outrageous demands
B) public opinion consistently opposes programs to help the poor
C) no groups lobby for the interests of the poor
D) they are small in number
E) they are less likely to have the political skills needed to pressure elected officials to enact policy in their favor

Question 59

Which of the following groups benefit the most from corporate welfare?

A) universities
B) car manufacturers
C) beer distributors
D) technology firms
E) agribusiness

Question 60

A major criticism of AFDC was that ______.

A) it had no work provision
B) families were able to receive aid only for a short period of time
C) the aid to most families was not sufficient to meet basic needs
D) too many poor people received no aid
E) benefits did not increase with family size

Question 61

Discuss the history of environmental policy in the United States.When did regulating the environment become an issue,and why? What are some environmental issues that the United States must confront in the next several years?

Question 62

Explain the recent controversy over Social Security.What are the major problems facing Social Security? What are the current politics behind the issue? If Social Security needs to be fixed,what is the best way to reform it? If Social Security does not need to be fixed,why do you believe this is the case?

Question 63

Why is fracking so controversial?

Question 64

______ is a welfare program of block grants to states that encourages recipients to work in exchange for time-limited benefits.

Question 65

What are the differences between a social welfare program and a social insurance program?

Question 66

Public policy in regard to health care has been a major issue in the United States for many years and continues to generate controversy.Discuss the major federal health care programs.Who do they cover,what do they cover,how are they financed,and what are the prospects for their long-term growth? How does health care policy in the United States compare with such policies in other industrialized nations (including cost,who is covered,and the like)? What are the arguments for and against a national health care system? What other proposals have been made for dealing with the health care issue? Discuss the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Question 67

What are the similarities and differences between Medicare and Medicaid?

Question 68

Social Security is a good example of the role _____ plays in the policy process.

Question 69

If nothing changes in the Social Security program,retirees will begin to take more money out of the Social Security Trust Fund than workers put into the fund in ______,and the fund will run out of money in ______.

Question 70

Explain the roles of Congress,the president,the bureaucracy,and the courts in the policymaking process.How does each institution make policy? What hurdles must policymakers overcome in the policymaking process?

Question 71

Few government policies generate as much controversy as social welfare programs.What are social welfare programs? Who are they designed to help? Why does so much divisiveness exist on these issues?

Question 72

Name the five steps in the policymaking process.

Question 73

Name the three types of public policy,and identify examples of each that are currently being debated or the subject of reform in your state.

Question 74

What is the Keystone Pipeline,and why it is controversial?

Question 75

What are the four reasons it is so hard to solve public problems?

Question 76

A ______ is a financial incentive given by the government to corporations,individuals,or other governments.