Deck 12: Domestic Policy

Question 1

The __________ outlook is the president's tendency to reflect on the implications of legislative initiatives for the country as a whole.

A) policy
B) domestic
C) executive
D) national

Answer 1

national

Question 2

The Kerry/Edwards 2004 policy brief entitled "Our Plan for America: Stronger at Home, Respected in the World" supports the claim that during presidential elections, candidates __________.

A) are always vague in their policy goals
B) frame their initiatives in the context of a national outlook
C) focus heavily on local concerns in shaping their policy objectives
D) expect citizens to be fully informed of the critical issues facing their local communities

Answer 2

frame their initiatives in the context of a national outlook

Question 3

Why does the motivation to represent national interests become stronger when a president assumes office?

A) The job description itself demands a focus on national interests.
B) It is a critical component of the two presidencies thesis embraced by presidents.
C) A national focus is specifically required by the presidential oath of office.
D) There are no clear avenues for state or local issues to capture the attention of the executive branch.

Answer 3

The job description itself demands a focus on national interests.

Question 4

Under the modern presidency, policy proposals in the State of the Union address are __________.

A) articulated as localized solutions to broad national concerns
B) defined as national responses to local concerns
C) framed as local solutions to local problems
D) cast as national policies to solve national problems

Question 5

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was known colloquially as __________.

A) single-payer care
B) socialized medicine
C) Obamacare
D) Romneycare

Question 6

The ACA expanded the number of people receiving __________.

A) federal retirement benefits
B) health insurance
C) tax cuts
D) federal financial aid for college

Question 7

Which statement best characterizes the debate over health care provision in the United States?

A) There was broad consensus that something should be done but little consensus on what should be done.
B) There was little agreement that there was a problem, but a strong majority favored moving to a single-payer system.
C) There was complete agreement over the nature of the problem and a strong consensus on how to solve that problem.
D) There was general agreement by the public over the nature of the problem but little agreement politically that a problem existed.

Question 8

Which statement reflects Obama's position on health care at the time of the 2008 general election?

A) It was not a national problem.
B) It was an issue to be determined by states.
C) It was a right of all citizens.
D) It was not time to address the issue.

Question 9

A single-payer system is different from a public option in that under a single-payer system, __________, while under a public option, __________.

A) government is the sole provider of health insurance; government replaces private insurers in the marketplace
B) individuals provide for their own health insurance; government provides health insurance for all citizens
C) government is the sole provider of health insurance; government competes with private insurers in the open market
D) government provides substantial subsidies for individuals to purchase private health insurance; government is the sole health insurance provider

Question 10

Reconciliation allows a piece of legislation to __________.

A) avoid any threat of a Senate filibuster
B) require a super-majority for passage
C) be considered without any amendments
D) become law without the president's signature

Question 11

Which of the following illustrates the ability of congressional members to achieve concessions for their constituents on important pieces of national legislation?

A) public option
B) "Cornhusker Kickback"
C) expansion of Medicaid
D) "Katrina Provision"

Question 12

The ACA was modeled on __________.

A) Obamacare
B) Romneycare
C) single-payer care
D) public option care

Question 13

Which statement best illustrates the distinctive perspectives on national policy held by the president and other political actors following the passage of the ACA?

A) The president continued to promote the ACA at the national level, while individual politicians advocated for its implementation in ways that best served their local constituents.
B) Members of Congress immediately sued the president, claiming that while the law was constitutional, it was unfair to states that already had health coverage for all in place.
C) The president reframed the ACA as something that help would help local citizens to help sway the opinion of the Supreme Court as it weighed the law's constitutionality.
D) State governors adopted a national perspective when they initially challenged the executive branch's implementation of the law at the local level.

Question 14

When it comes to national laws such as the ACA, members of Congress generally look out for the __________.

A) narrow interests of their constituents
B) broad interests of all Americans
C) specific interests of key donors
D) varied interests of party leaders

Question 15

According to Kriner and Reeves, presidents exhibit all the parochial and particularistic tendencies of legislators when dealing with what type of issues?

A) health care
B) budgetary
C) military
D) foreign policy

Question 16

What was a distinctive finding of Kriner and Reeves in their study of the presidency?

A) Districts that support the president's party get more federal dollars.
B) Competitive swing districts get more federal dollars.
C) Districts that have high proportions of blue-collar workers get more federal dollars.
D) Urban districts with large minority populations get more federal dollars.

Question 17

Which of the following provides the best explanation for the fact that Democratic presidents promote policies that disproportionately benefit Democratic citizens?

A) a shared commitment to the principles of patronage as a mechanism of political loyalty
B) a shared value system that embraces socialism as the best means to solve our nation's problems
C) a shared belief that the nation as a whole has a special obligation to its most vulnerable citizens
D) a shared loyalty to using the tools of the federal budget to always benefit your supporters even if no one else receives any benefit

Question 18

What are presidents likely to do when they perceive encroachments on their power?

A) erect barriers to domestic policy change
B) acquiesce to the will of Congress
C) go public using their bully pulpit
D) engage in an international conflict

Question 19

What has been a consequence of domestic policymaking on the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches over time?

A) The balance of power has remained stable and equal.
B) Presidents have tended to accrue power at the expense of Congress.
C) Congress has tended to accrue power at the expense of the president.
D) Presidents have temporarily gained power but have always lost it later

Question 20

What did Obama do when the House of Representatives passed a measure that would grant lawmakers the ability to sue the president for not executing the law?

A) He challenged the law in court.
B) He signed it into law.
C) He threatened to veto it.
D) He claimed executive privilege.

Question 21

Which agency has administrative authority to investigate how federal money is spent?

A) GAO
B) EOP
C) CBO
D) SES

Question 22

The Bank War was started by which president?

A) George Washington
B) Andrew Jackson
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) Theodore Roosevelt

Question 23

One of the modern president's more important tools in domestic policymaking is the annual proposal of __________.

A) the black budget
B) national security directives
C) the State of the Union
D) the federal budget

Question 24

In regard to the federal budget, modern presidents are differentiated from early presidents because modern presidents __________, while early presidents __________.

A) have considerably less influence over the budget process; wielded far-reaching authority
B) have the final say over appropriations; simply set the terms of the budget debate
C) set the terms of the budget debate; relied on Congress for budgetary proposals
D) defer to Congress on all budgetary issues; routinely challenged congressional budgetary powers

Question 25

What was an outcome of the Budget and Accounting Act?

A) Congress was given the power to impound executive branch funds.
B) Presidents were given the formal role of proposing the federal budget.
C) Presidents saw their role in the budget process greatly diminished.
D) Congress removed all formal executive branch roles in the budget process.

Question 26

Which statement regarding the black budget is most accurate?

A) It is mandated by the language of Article II in the Constitution.
B) It is authorized by the Budget and Accounting Act.
C) It is subject to Senate filibusters.
D) It undercuts Congress's investigatory powers.

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of the use of supplemental appropriations?

A) operating budget of the CBO
B) funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
C) federal dollars allocated for No Child Left Behind
D) monies authorized for classified operations

Question 28

Why did Franklin Roosevelt transfer the Bureau of the Budget from the Treasury Department to the Executive Office of the President?

A) It was a requirement of the New Deal stimulus plan.
B) It augmented presidential control over the budget process.
C) It prevented congressional oversight over the budget.
D) It was required by the Budget and Accounting Act.

Question 29

What explains the early practice of Congress working to constrain executive spending through the provision of detailed instructions on how federal monies were to be spent?

A) partisan composition of Congress
B) size of the federal government
C) dominance of the executive branch
D) complex nature of policy implementation

Question 30

In 2015, federal expenditures reached approximately how much?

A) $1 trillion
B) $2.5 trillion
C) $3.6 trillion.
D) $5.2 trillion,

Question 31

Which of the following illustrates the early power struggles between Congress and the executive branch over the federal budget?

A) executive branch agencies submitting funding requests directly to congressional committees in charge of appropriations
B) Taft's directive to agency heads to draft budgetary provisions, which Congress ignored
C) the passage of the Budget and Accounting Act by Congress
D) Roosevelt's decision to move the Bureau of the Budget under the control of the Treasury Department

Question 32

Which of the following was created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act?

A) CBO
B) GAO
C) EOP
D) SES

Question 33

The creation of the Congressional Budget Office represents efforts by Congress to __________.

A) increase the formal role of the president in the budget process
B) more effectively move the president's budget proposal to a vote and final passage
C) reclaim some of the authority that it had lost to the president in the budget process
D) give priority to the president's budgetary initiatives that serve national goals

Question 34

The long history of presidential power in the budget process is best described as one of __________.

A) expansion
B) contraction
C) decline
D) stagnation

Question 35

Although presidents' motivations might vary in regard to their quest for the presidential power to accomplish things, one motivation they all share is the concern for __________.

A) obtaining achievements
B) creating change
C) making the world a better place
D) building their presidential legacy

Question 36

What is suggested by the conversation that President Clinton had with one of his top advisors Dick Morris in 1996 as Clinton was cruising to reelection?

A) Concerns about legacy are directly related to election strategy.
B) Questions of governance are distinct from questions of legacy.
C) Concerns about legacy intermingle with questions of governance.
D) Questions of legacy have no effect on governance.

Question 37

When George W. Bush was at his weakest, to which president did he repeatedly compare himself?

A) John F. Kennedy
B) Abraham Lincoln
C) Harry Truman
D) Ronald Reagan

Question 38

Concerns about legacy affect presidential views of policy challenges because they make it more likely that presidents will __________.

A) focus on the future
B) challenge Congress
C) defer to congressional action
D) worry about immediate political demands

Question 39

The most popular presidential library is the __________ library.

A) Reagan
B) Truman
C) Nixon
D) Clinton

Question 40

According the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act, who owned the tapes that were a product of the White House taping system under Nixon?

A) Nixon personally
B) the government
C) the people
D) the White House

Question 41

Which of the following illustrates the success that Nixon had in rehabilitating his legacy post-Watergate?

A) the refusal of journalists to make any positive comments about Nixon on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Watergate scandal
B) the presidential pardon of Nixon for all activities related to Watergate
C) the omission of the Watergate scandal from the eulogy given by Bill Clinton at Nixon's funeral
D) the assumption of control by the National Archives and Records Administration of the Nixon library in 2011

Question 42

What was the ultimate goal of the Watergate scandal exhibit that was initially displayed at the Nixon library?

A) to establish a statute of limitations on Watergate
B) to rehabilitate Nixon's presidential legacy
C) to act as if Watergate had never happened
D) to showcase Nixon's foreign policy expertise

Question 43

Why do so many presidents invoke the story of Harry Truman when they have low approval ratings?

A) He left office more popular than when he entered office.
B) He was able to achieve major policy successes in spite of his ratings.
C) He provides an example of how not to behave as president.
D) He suffered from low approval ratings while in office but was vindicated by history.

Question 44

In what way did Truman change his behavior following his rise to the presidency?

A) He relied on the St. Louis Democratic Party machine for policy proposals, foregoing his political independence.
B) He abandoned all the things that had previously defined him and made him successful as a politician.
C) He rehabilitated the poor relationship that he had with the Democratic leaders in Congress.
D) He deferred all policy initiatives to Congress in spite of his dislike of the institution.

Question 45

Truman's use of the institutional presidency to advance his legislative agenda is best demonstrated in his __________.

A) order to detonate the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki
B) use of an executive order to desegregate the military
C) advocacy for the passage of the Civil Rights Act
D) continued insistence on answering his own phone

Question 46

Truman's commitment to civil rights can be traced to which two aspects of the institutional presidency?

A) character and presidential leadership
B) executive privilege and his worldview
C) partisanship and political expediency
D) national outlook and political legacy

Question 47

The major challenge for Truman upon assuming the presidency is best illustrated by the need to __________.

A) shift from the parochial interests that had defined him to the national and international interests that would define him
B) retain the important local connections that had made him successful as he assumed a national office
C) placate the interests of the Dixiecrats by integrating their local concerns into a national conversation about civil rights
D) protect Roosevelt's strong legacy on civil rights without taking major political risks

Question 48

How did Truman place civil rights in the framework of the national outlook?

A) He said that the Dixiecrats' position reflected the national spirit on civil rights.
B) He said that it was necessary to secure Roosevelt's legacy on the issue.
C) He said that each state was free to pursue civil rights as they saw fit.
D) He said that civil rights were a matter of national security.

Question 49

What was the name given to the faction in the Democratic Party who was opposed to the civil cights agenda of Truman?

A) Tea Party
B) Bull Moose
C) Dixiecrats
D) Progressives

Question 50

What effect did Truman's disregard for polls showing low approval ratings have on his presidency and actions?

A) It allowed him to present a false sense of confidence and pander to key electoral constituencies.
B) It liberated his presidency and allowed him to concentrate on the issues that mattered most to the country at large.
C) It opened him to political attacks and shifted his focus to narrow political interests.
D) It freed him of all political opposition, allowing his to work to please local constituencies.

Question 51

What does it mean when we say that presidents adopt a distinctively national outlook on policy? How does that affect their behavior as candidates and as president? Provide specific examples.

Question 52

Discuss the evolution of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. How does it illustrate the battle between the president and Congress over national and local interests?

Question 53

Evaluate the argument put forward about the presidency by Doug Kriner and Andrew Reeves, and assess potential challenges to their findings.

Question 54

The basic dynamics of domestic policy often lead to increases in presidential power over Congress. How do the budgetary powers of the president illustrate this concept? Use examples where appropriate.

Question 55

How did Truman's actions to advance civil rights affect his presidency and overall legacy? Be specific in your answer.