1. Features of individual executives

2. Vague constitutional provisions (take care clause)

3. Changing public expectations of the office

4. Congressional delegation of power by law

It is when the vote for the President carries other members of his/her party.

(Obama probably helped a number of other Democrats get into office)

What does the President have to do before Congress once every year?

What happens here?

The State of the Union Address (the only time the president is actually obligated to meet with Congress)

Here, agenda setting is typical.

Department head

Bureau chiefs

...

...

Street level

Essential Bureaus are necessary for government functioning (Dept's of State, Treasury, and Defense)

Growth Bureaus have been created since the original three

(Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, so on)

Humanistic departments include Health & Human Services, Housing & Urban Development, Transportation, and Energy.

They reflect changing values regarding the role of the government in people's lives.

What are two "new clientele" departments?

Independent agencies (NASA)

Government corporations (USPS)

Regulatory commissions (pollution)

2.7 million people, hired based on merit, rather than seniority or the spoils system.

Not very diverse, mostly white males with a lot of gov't experience.

Office of Personal Management (OPM) and The Merit Service Protection Board (MSPB)

The OPM is the staffing board of the President and the MSPB monitors the OPM

Ex-ante: bureaucratic structure

Ex-post: monitoring (police patrol and fire alarm)

Brownlow/executive power

The Administrative Procedures Act

Hoover and consolidation

Gore and government performance

They do two things:

1. Provide agencies with technical expertise.

2. Communicate citizen input to agency operations.

They are stable relationships among the head of the interest group, the head of the committee and the head of the bureaucratic agency. 

Traditional model of how policies are typically made.

They took it for themselves. Responded to 1801 attempt by Federalists to expand the number of judgeships

Ruled in Marbury v. Madison that the bill was unconstitutional.

Giving the senator from the state where a vacancy occurs the power to influence who is appointed.

Particularly relevant to US district courts.

This model (based on game theory) contends that justices make decisions that maximize their utility.

Justices can't achieve their goals without help from the outside, so they have to cater to others sometimes to get what they want.

Originalism is a concept that suggests that the Constitution should be interpreted exactly how it was written- word for word.

The Living Constitution concept contends that the Constitution should be perceived as a dynamic document and its policies should reflect the times. 

3 levels

District courts 

Appellate courts

The Supreme Court

1. Nation v State Sovereignty

2. Government regulation of the economy

3. Civil rights and liberties

How many district courts are there? How many justices staff it?

Appellate courts?

-94 courts, 632 justices

-13, 179

Power of reorganization (Congress)

Absence of judicial enforcement.

Court-stripping policies

Presidential appointment and Congressional nomination

-Ideological/issue proximity

-Party service

-Political value

1. Agenda setting

2. Policy formulation and adoption

3. Policy implementation

4. Policy evaluation

Comprehensive (sweeping changes, Obama health care reform)

Incremental (policy is gradually altered over time)

1. Tractability

2. Specificity of Intent

3. Allocation of resources

4. Preferences of implementing agents

Process evaluations determine whether policies are being implemented according to its stated guidelines

Impact guidelines assess policy outcomes.

-Proposed too late

-Not enough support from Congress

-Too few benefits for people with insurance

-Substantive reasons: costs, number of uninsured

-Political reasons: Presidential Campaign of 2008

How many Americans currently have no health insurance?

How many are "underinsured"?

46 million without insurance

25 million are underinsured

In 2007, how much money per person was spent on health care?

How much of the GDP?

-$7900 per person

-17% of GDP

What percentage of Republicans believe we have the best health care system in the world?

What percentage of Democrats?

68% of Republicans

30% of Democrats

Clearly, a partisan divisive issue

1. Government take-over of medicine

2. A permanent Democratic majority in Congress

1. Requires employers (-small businesses) to provide insurance for employees

2. Requires that all children are insured

3. Creating a national insurance exchange which would enable people to get the best coverage at the lowest price

1. Taking care of uninsured

2. Keeping costs down for working class families

3. Reducing costs to promote economic health.

1. 77% of Americans supported major reform

2. 72% of Americans said they would support a gov't sponsored program that competes with private providers.

3. 60% said they would be willing to pay higher taxes.

-Seems to have a lot of public support.

1. Number of uninsured (without illegal immigrants and people who choose to go without insurance may cut the number to 20 million)

2. AMA supports reform (only 18-30% of doctors belong to AMA)

3. Crisis is a result of the greed of insurance companies (only have a 3.5% profit margin)

1. Low reimbursement rates for Medicare, Medicaid, Tri-Care and other existing gov't programs

2. High cost of health care per individual

Some people think Obama has let the Congress take too large of a role in the health care debate. Is this intentional? 

What has he done to counter this?

It is intentional. It is believed Clinton's plan failed because Congress wasn't involved enough.

Obama gave a special address and tried to reclaim the agenda on the issue.

1. The public option

2. Costs and premiums.

3. Normative value of government programs.

Public option

Cost

Whether or not abortion should be covered.

WRONGO!

Reid can't lose any Democrat votes but the Democrats have cloture power which would enable them to end filibusters.

-Republicans are concerned with the public option, costs, and Medicare cuts

-Democrats are concerned with abortion restriction and the threat to the public option

Chief Executive- privilege, orders, control over appointments

Commander in Chief- war & defense

Chief Diplomat- treaty power, agreements

Party leader: coattails effect

Public Opinion leader: media access, influence

Each state has at least one court, the largest states have 4.

They deal with criminal, civil, and public law cases.

They hear cases mostly on federal policies.

The Supreme Court