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15chapter

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15Domestic Policy

L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

■ 15.1 Define public policy and describe the policy-
making process as it applies to American national
government institutions

■ 15.2 E xplain the principles underlying the American
health-care system and the

issues facing that system.

■ 15.3 Describe the environmental policies of the United
States and the role of the Environmental Protection
Agency in implementing these policies.

■ 15.4 Analyze American energy policy and discuss
how it encourages energy

independence.

■ 15.5 Describe the national policies for ending pover t y
in the United States and alleviating the issues caused
by economic downturns.

■ 15.6 Discuss the issues raised by immigration into the
United States and the proposed reforms to the immigration
system.

524 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

What if…

Background
In the United States, we have a private health-care sys-
tem, but around 40 percent of Americans use government
programs to pay for health insurance. That includes the
senior citizens under Medicare, military veterans, perma-
nently disabled Americans, children insured under the
state–federal partnership program, and the poorest
Americans who are covered under Medicaid, another joint
state–federal program. The Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, hereafter referred to as the Affordable
Care Act (ACA), is a step toward universal health care but
maintains the private health-care system. Although it
requires that all Americans have health insurance, either
purchased privately or through the federal or state govern-
ment, it does not take control of private physicians, the
prescription drug industry, or hospitals. Even after all pro-
visions of the ACA are implemented, the United States will
remain the only major industrialized democratic nation
without a health-care system that guarantees equal access
to basic health care for all citizens.

What If We Had Universal
Health Care?
With universal health care, everyone in need of basic medical
care would have access to physicians, clinics, and hospital
services. Every legal resident of the United States would
receive free or nearly free medical examinations, routine phy-
sician visits, well-baby care, and required tests. Most likely,
prescription drugs would be available at very low cost to all
Americans, regardless of their income or where they obtain
their insurance. Such a health-care system would likely be
paid for by a combination of taxes on workers and their
employers and income taxes on all. Such a system might
include the option for additional private insurance available
for extra cost. Doctors might work for the state or national
government, or they could remain as private practitioners.

How Does Universal Health Care
Affect the Individual Patient?
The National Audit Office of the United Kingdom (Great Britain,
Scotland, and Wales) conducted a study of the health-care sys-
tems in ten major industrialized nations in 2011, which under-
scored the fact that all of these nations except the United
States guaranteed universal health care. Different countries
utilize various systems: Britain has state-employed doctors and
state-run hospitals; France features national health insurance
but private physicians who “bill” the state for their services.

Studies of universal systems show that for the average
individual, good basic care is available. Infant mortality tends
to decrease because all pregnant women have access to
prenatal care. People with chronic diseases get more regular
care and tend to do better at maintaining their health. Most
nations cover the cost of prescriptions so that no individual is
denied an expensive but necessary medication. However, in
some nations there are long waits for advanced procedures
and less availability of some of the more expensive tests and
scans performed routinely in

the United States.

Some pro-
cedures that are covered in the United States might not be
covered under a national system, but it is difficult to general-
ize across all nations. Americans have made clear their desire
to keep their private physicians, private hospitals, and the
right to access very expensive and advanced treatments.
Whether Americans will be willing to trade these practices for
a universal health-care system is a question yet to be decided.

We Had Universal Health Care?

For Critical Analysi

1. W hat are the advantages and disadvantages of a

universal health-care system?

2. How could the United States implement a universal
health-care system and retain some of the features
of the current system that are desired by citizens?

A
mericans expect the federal government to pay attention to the issues that
affect the lives of American citizens. The legislation and regulations passed
to address these problems are usually called “domestic policy.” Domestic

policy can be defined as all of the laws, government planning, and government
actions that affect each individual’s daily life in the United States. Consequently,
the span of such policies is enormous. Domestic policies range from relatively

domestic policy
Public plans or courses of action that
concern internal issues of national
importance, such as poverty, health
care, and the environment.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 5

simple issues, such as what the speed limit should be on interstate highways, to
more complex ones, such as how best to reduce our nation’s contribution to cli-
mate change or how to improve the performance of schools across the nation.

The question of providing health care to all Americans is a consuming
national issue. In 2010, the United States adopted a major reform of our health
policies, but Congress did not adopt a universal health-care system. The com-
plex nature of the health policy reform legislation and the debate that accom-
panied that reform effort reflect the fact that the reform will touch virtually all
Americans. Like many other domestic policies, this one was formulated and
implemented by the federal government but will involve efforts of federal,
state, and local governments and the private sector.

This chapter looks at domestic policy issues involving health care, the
environment and energy, poverty and welfare, immigration, and others. Before
we start our analysis, though, we must look at how public policies are made.

The Policymaking Process
■ 15.1 Define public policy and describe the policymaking process as it applies to

American national government institutions.

How does any issue get resolved? First, the issue must be identified as a prob-
lem. Often, policymakers simply have to turn on the news or look at the Internet
or hear from a constituent to discover that a problem is brewing. On rare occa-
sions, a crisis, such as that brought about by the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001, or the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017, creates the need to
formulate policy. Like most Americans, however, policymakers
receive much of their information from the national media. Of course,
interest groups are always bringing issues to the attention of Congress
in hopes of influencing policy outcomes.

Consider the Affordable Care Act. President Obama made it a
priority of his first year in office. The law, which was passed about
14 months later, requires all Americans to have health insurance,
whether through their employer, state insurance exchanges, or a
federal program such as Medicaid. Some provisions of the law took
effect almost immediately, including the one that requires insur-
ance companies to allow parents to keep their children on their
policies until age 26. No matter how simple or how complex the
problem, those who make policy follow several steps. We can
divide the process of policymaking into at least five steps: agenda
building, policy formulation, policy adoption, policy implementation,
and policy evaluation (see Figure 15-1).

Agenda Building
First, the issue must get on the agenda—Congress must become
aware that an issue requires congressional action. Agenda building
may occur as the result of a crisis, technological change, or mass
media campaigns, as well as through the efforts of strong political
personalities and effective lobbying groups.

Advocates for improved health care in this nation had called for
a serious reform of the system for years. The Democratic majorities

Agenda Building
(media, interest groups,
social movements)

Policy Formulation
(president, Congress,
interest groups)

Policy Adoption
(Congress, president)

Policy Implementation
(executive branch,
bureaucracy)

Policy Evaluation and Revision
(scientists, executive branch,
Congress)

Figure 15-1 ▸ The Policy Process

526 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

in both the House and the Senate supported President Obama’s priority as
they, under the leadership of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, had pushed for
reform of the health system for many years.

Policy Formulation
During the next step in the policymaking process, various policy proposals are
discussed among government officials and the public. Such discussions may
take place in the printed media, on television, and in the halls of Congress.
Congress holds hearings, the president voices the administration’s views, and
the topic may even become a campaign issue.

With the Democratic majorities in Congress beginning work on the
legislation, Republicans quickly took the position that they opposed the reform
bill, but they lacked the votes in either house to change the momentum.
Interest groups, seeing that the bill had a chance to become law, offered
their own proposals. As the policy was being formulated, groups represent-
ing America’s doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, medical appliance makers,
pharmaceutical manufacturers, and every other part of the medical industry,
offered proposals and commented on the draft legislation. In some cases,
groups agreed not to oppose the law if their interests were protected.1
The input of these groups into the policy formulation process is invalu-
able: they know more about the health-care system than any member
of Congress.

Policy Adoption
The third step in the policymaking process involves choosing a specific
policy from among the proposals that have been discussed. In the end, the
bill passed both houses, although the margin in the Senate was very small.
The progress of the bill through Congress revealed some of the intense
partisan behavior that has become common in recent years. Republicans
put forward alternative proposals and claimed that they were ignored by
the administration and the Democrats. Democrats used all parliamentary
means to pass the bill, including keeping the Republicans out of the final
negotiations between the House and the Senate. This, of course, was
exactly how Republicans had treated Democrats in passing the Medicare
prescription drug bill in 2006.

Policy Implementation
The fourth step in the policymaking process involves the implementation
of the policy alternative chosen by Congress. Government action must be
implemented by bureaucrats, the courts, police, and individual citizens. In
the example of the Affordable Care Act, the main portion of the legislation
was not to come into effect until 2014. For the most part, therefore,
implementation did not begin immediately. Some sections of the bill did
become effective in 2011, however, including the creation of insurance
pools for people with existing conditions, new taxes on wealthier retirees
for their prescription drug coverage, dependents’ eligibility for their
parents’ health insurance until up to age 26, and support for the creating
of electronic medical records. The actual requirement to have health

1 Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda Skocpol, Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know, Revised and
Updated, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 527

insurance took effect in 2014. The troubled roll-out of the federal health
insurance exchange website in the fall of 2013, however, became the
most noticed part of the implementation process. Republican opposition
to the law did not abate, and it became a major campaign issue in every
federal election that has followed. Although Republicans did gain a major-
ity in the House of Representatives in that election, they could not over-
turn the bill without gaining control of the Senate. However, a number of
states elected Republican administrations, and 26 Republican attorneys
general filed suit against the bill, challenging the individual mandate to
buy insurance and the provision requiring states to expand their Medicaid
rolls. The individual mandate was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012,
but the Medicaid mandate to the states was overturned, leaving that part
of the law unenforceable.

Policy Evaluation
After a policy has been implemented, it is evaluated. Groups conduct studies
to determine what actually happens after a policy has been in place for a given
period. Based on this feedback and the perceived success or failure of the
policy, a new round of policymaking initiatives will be undertaken to improve
on the effort. Because the Affordable Care Act has not been fully implemen-
ted, there has been little evaluation of the policy’s outcomes. Some health
industry economists and the Congressional Budget Office have suggested
that the cost will be far higher than originally estimated, whereas other sources
predict it will save billions over the long term. Some believe that many small
businesses will drop insurance coverage for their employees due to the high
cost of the new program, but these are simply predictions for the future. As of
2016, data reveal that many more families and individuals have found health
insurance coverage through Medicaid; however, premium increases for those
who buy their own insurance through the state exchanges have been signific-
ant. With the penalty for not having insurance still being fairly low, many
younger and healthier Americans still have no insurance coverage. It will be the
job of future legislators and members of the administration to propose reforms
to the Affordable Care Act.

Health Care
■ 15.2 E xplain the principles underlying the American health-care system and the

issues facing that system.

Undoubtedly, one of the most important problems facing the nation is how to
guarantee affordable health care for all Americans at a cost the nation can bear.
Spending for health care is estimated to account for about 18 percent of the
total U.S. economy. In 1965, about 6 percent of our income was spent on
health care, and that percentage has been increasing ever since, exceeding
17.5 percent by 2014 and projected to reach 20 percent by 2020. Per capita
spending on health care is greater in the United States than almost anywhere
else in the world. Measured by the percentage of the gross domestic product
(GDP) devoted to health care, America spends almost twice as much as
Australia or Canada (see Figure 15-2). (The GDP is the dollar value of all final
goods and services produced in a one-year period.)

528 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

The Rising Cost of Health Care
Numerous explanations exist for why health-care costs have risen so much. At
least one has to do with changing demographics—the U.S. population is get-
ting older. Life expectancy has gone up, as shown in Figure 15-3. The top
5 percent of those using health care incur more than 50 percent of all health-care
costs. The bottom 70 percent of health-care users account for only 10 percent
of health-care expenditures. The elderly make up most of the top users of
health-care services, including nursing home care and long-term care for those
suffering from debilitating diseases.

Advanced Technology Another reason why health-care costs have risen
so dramatically is advancing technology. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
scanner can cost more than $2 million. A positron emission tomography (PET)
scanner costs approximately $4 million. All of these machines have become
increasingly available in recent decades and are in demand around the country.
The development of new technologies that help physicians and hospitals pro-
long human life is an ongoing process in an ever-advancing industry. New
procedures and drugs that involve even greater costs can be expected in the
future. It is also true that these advanced procedures are more readily available
in the United States than anywhere else in the world.

The Government’s Role in Financing Health Care Currently, govern-
ment spending on health care constitutes about 43 percent of total health-care
spending. Private insurance accounts for about 33 percent of payments for
health care. The remainder is paid directly by individuals or by philanthropy.

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Figure 15-2 ▸ Costs of Health Care in Economically Advanced Nations
Cost is given as a percentage of total gross domestic product (GDP).

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD Health.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 529

Medicare and Medicaid have been the main sources of hospital and other
medical benefits for more than 100 million U.S. residents, including 47 million
Americans over 65 and 61 million others.

Medicare is specifically designed to support the elderly, regardless of
income. Medicaid, a joint state–federal program, is in principle a program to
subsidize health care for the poor. In practice, it often provides long-term
health care to persons living in nursing homes. (To become eligible for
Medicaid, these individuals must first exhaust their financial assets.)
Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies are called third parties.
Caregivers and patients are the two primary parties. When third parties pay
for medical care, the demand for such services increases; health-care recip-
ients have no incentive to restrain their use of health care. One result is some
degree of wasted resources.

Medicare
The Medicare program, created in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson,
pays hospital and physicians’ bills for U.S. residents age 65 and older.
Beginning in 2006, Medicare also pays for at least part of the prescription
drug expenses of the elderly. In return for paying a tax on their earnings (cur-
rently set at 2.9 percent of wages and salaries) while in the workforce, retir-
ees are assured that the majority of their hospital and physicians’ bills will be
paid for with public funds.

Over the past 40 years, Medicare has become the second-largest domestic
spending program, after Social Security. Government expenditures on
Medicare have routinely turned out to be far in excess of the expenditures
forecast at the time the program was put into place or expanded. Chapter 16

Medicare
A federal health insurance program
that covers U.S. residents age 65 and
older. The costs are met by a tax on
wages and salaries.

Medicaid
A joint state–federal program that
provides medical care to the poor
(including indigent elderly persons
in nursing homes). The program is
funded out of general government
revenues.

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Figure 15-3 ▸ Life Expectancy in the United States
Along with health-care spending, life expectancy has gone up. More Americans are living longer due, in great part, to advances in medi-

cine. Immunizations have decreased death from many diseases, allowing more children to reach adulthood.

Source: Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary.

530 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

discusses Medicare’s impact on the current federal budget and the impact it is
likely to have in the future. For now, consider only that the total outlays on
Medicare are high enough to create substantial demands to curtail its costs.

One response by the federal government to soaring Medicare costs has
been to impose reimbursement caps on specific procedures. To avoid going
over Medicare’s reimbursement caps, however, hospitals have an incentive to
discharge patients quickly. The government has also cut rates of reimburse-
ment to individual physicians and physician groups, such as health mainten-
ance organizations (HMOs). One consequence has been a nearly 15 percent
reduction in the amount the government pays for Medicare services provided
by physicians.

Medicaid
In a few short years, the joint federal–state taxpayer-funded Medicaid pro-
gram for the “working poor” has generated one of the biggest expansions
of government entitlements in the last 50 years. In 1997, Medicaid spend-
ing was around $150 billion. By 2014, it tripled to $495 billion. At the end of
the last decade, 34 million people were enrolled in the program. Today,
there are more than 60 million. The increase in unemployment after the
financial crisis of 2008 increased the number by 15 percent. When you add
Medicaid coverage to Medicare and the military and federal employee
health plans, the government has clearly become the nation’s primary
health insurer. More than 100 million people—one in three—in the United
States has government coverage.

Why Has Medicaid Spending Exploded? The Medicaid program has
expanded over time by making more individuals and families eligible for the
health insurance. Children of families making up to $46,100 per year are eli-
gible for CHIPs, the health insurance program for children. As the population
ages, more senior citizens are being served in nursing homes and assisted
living facilities. Almost 10 million senior citizens who have limited means are
now Medicaid patients. Medicaid will continue to expand over the next few
years as the provisions of the Affordable Care Act take effect. For the states
that have chosen to be in the federal program, eligibility for Medicaid now
extends to households making 133 percent of the poverty level. The Supreme
Court ruling made participation in that part of the Affordable Care Act volun-
tary, so not all states have this new eligibility level.

Medicaid and the States On average, the federal government pays almost
60 percent of Medicaid’s cost; the states pay the rest. Certain states, particu-
larly in the South, receive even higher reimbursements. For those states that
have accepted the new eligibility level under the Affordable Care Act, the
expanded enrollment will be reimbursed by the federal government completely
for a few years, with a reduction in the federal share to 90 percent by 2020.
States that have accepted the new plan are satisfied that the federal reim-
bursement will help their bottom line. In general, the states have been finan-
cially stressed by the increase in Medicaid expenditures over the last two
decades. Many states have changed their eligibility rules and their reimburse-
ments to health providers to try to balance their budgets. The federal govern-
ment, in paying 100 percent of the bill for the new enrollees, is trying to help
the states with their Medicaid budget issues.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 531

The Uninsured
One of the driving forces for the passage of the Affordable Care Act was
the fact that more than 49 million Americans—about 18.5 percent of the
population—have not had health insurance. Because about half of all working
Americans have health insurance through their employers, the recession of
2008 and the loss of jobs added about 4 million Americans to the ranks of the
uninsured. The primary goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make health
insurance available through the federal or state exchanges to this population
through a combination of incentives (subsidies) and penalties: if a person does
not have health insurance, he or she will have part of his or her income tax
refund withheld as a penalty. There are, however, a number of ways that an
individual or family can request an exemption from the penalty.

Being uninsured has negative health consequences. People without cover-
age are less likely to get basic preventive care, such as mammograms; less
likely to have a personal physician; and more likely to rate their own health as
only poor or fair.

A further problem faced by the uninsured is that when they do seek med-
ical care, they must usually pay much higher fees than would be paid on their
behalf if they had insurance coverage. Large third-party insurers, private or
public, normally strike hard bargains with hospitals and physicians over how
much they will pay for procedures and services. The uninsured have less bar-
gaining power. As a result, hospitals attempt to recover from the uninsured the
revenues they lost in paying third-party insurers.

In any given year, most people do not require expensive health care. Young,
healthy people in particular can be tempted to do without insurance. One
benefit of insurance coverage, however, is that it protects the insured
against catastrophic costs resulting from unusual events. Medical care for
life-threatening accidents or diseases can run into thousands or even hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars. An uninsured person who requires this kind of
medical care may be forced into bankruptcy.

Image 15-1
A doctor uses his tablet
to show test results to the patient.

The bedside use of technology is

paired with electronic records that

can be accessed by the patient’s

doctors and by the patient herself.

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532 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

The 2010 Health-Care Reform Legislation
On March 23, 2010, after a long and intense battle in Congress, President
Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the biggest
reform of the American health-care and health insurance system since the
approval of Medicare in 1965. The new legislation relies on a combination of
private insurance, public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and new
state-based nonprofit health exchanges to provide health insurance coverage
to almost all Americans.2 By 2017, the number of uninsured nonelderly people
in the United States dropped from nearly 43 million to 28 million, or about
10.3 percent. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that about half of the
uninsured said the cost was too high.3 According to their data, the greatest
gain in the insured population was among poor and low-income households.
Hispanic and African American households were more likely to gain insurance
than white households. Most of these gains were due to the increased
enrollment of individuals and families in the Medicaid program under the higher
income levels. Clearly, the ACA has benefited the less advantaged members
of the community. The Trump administration sought repeal of the ACA but
Congress did not accomplish this.
The American health-care program as it passed the Congress is not like
the types of programs adopted in many European countries or in Canada.
Western Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia all provide systems of universal
coverage through national health insurance. The government takes over the
economic function of providing basic health-care coverage. Private insurers are
excluded from this market. The government collects premiums from employ-
ers and employees on the basis of their ability to pay and then pays physicians
and hospitals for basic services to the entire population. Because the govern-
ment provides all basic insurance coverage, national health insurance systems
are often called single-payer plans or socialized medicine. Only health insur-
ance is socialized. The government does not employ most physicians, and in
many countries the hospitals are largely private as well.4

Environmental Policy
■ 15.3 Describe the environmental policies of the United States and the role of the

Environmental Protection Agency in implementing these policies.

Sixty years ago, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, the book that can be
credited with starting the contemporary environmental movement in the
United States.5 Carson’s book called attention to the consequences of wide-
spread use of pesticides and other chemicals that are dispersed into the water-
ways and have deadly effects on fish and wildlife. Eight years later, the first
Earth Day was celebrated. Later that same year, President Nixon proposed
and the Congress approved the creation of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), an independent executive agency charged with protecting
the environment and human health. Since that time, Americans have paid

2 There are many good summaries of the new legislation. Among these is one provided by the Georgetown University Health
Institute, http://ccf.georgetown.edu; and the Kaiser Family Foundation, http://kff.org

3 Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, “Key Facts about the Uninsured Population,” Kaiser Family Foundation,
November, 2017.

4 Britain is an exception. Under the British “National Health,” most (but not all) physicians are employed by the government.
5 Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962).

national health insurance
A plan under which the government
provides basic health-care coverage
to all citizens. Most such plans are
funded by taxes on wages or salaries.

single-payer plans
A plan under which one entit y has a
monopoly on issuing a particular t ype
of insurance. Typically, the entit y is
the government, and the insurance is
basic health coverage.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 533

increasing attention to environmental issues, and the federal government has
enacted a number of specific policies intended to improve our environment.

The Environmental Movement
Environmental issues are not limited to concerns about pollution and its health
effects; they include the desire to save and protect natural resources. The
environmental movement looks to the early part of the twentieth century for
its beginnings, when President Theodore Roosevelt created five national parks
and expanded federal protection to a vast area near Yellowstone National Park.
The movement to protect the environment has been based on two major
strands of thought since its beginnings in the early 1900s. One point of view
calls for conservation —that is, a policy under which natural resources should
be used, but not abused. America’s national forests, which are the responsib-
ility of the Department of Agriculture, are an example of conservation in that
the forests can be timbered with appropriate permits, hunting and fishing are
usually permitted, and, in the West, farmers may obtain licenses to use public
lands for their cattle. A second view advocates preservation. Under this policy,
natural preserves are established that are isolated from the effects of human
activity. The national parks and national wilderness areas exemplify this view,
with all human activity except hiking and climbing restricted.

In the 1960s, an environmentalist movement arose that was much
more focused on pollution issues than the previous conservation move-
ment. The publication of Silent Spring; a massive oil spill off the coast of
Santa Barbara, California, in 1969; and, in the same year, the fire on the
Cuyahoga River caused by flammable chemicals awakened a new move-
ment to control air and water pollution. Established conservation groups
like the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club were joined by new groups,
including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and the Wilderness Society, to
pressure the government to take greater action against pollution and the
destruction of our environment.

Image 15-2
The Cuyahoga River
in 1969—firefighters extinguish a

fire that started on the river and

spread to a wooden trestle bridge.

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534 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

The environmentalist movement focused public attention on the damage
that an industrialized society can bring to the environment. In general, people
are very supportive of efforts to improve the environment: a Gallup Poll taken
in 2018 reported that more than 70 percent of Americans supported higher
emission standards for business and industry, 76 percent favored spending
more government money on wind and solar power, and 73 percent supported
strongly enforcing federal environmental regulations.6 However, when asked
whether they would prioritize environmental protection over economic growth,
57 percent agreed, continuing a trend that began with the recession of 2008.
From 1985 until 2009, a majority of Americans prioritized environmental pro-
tection over economic growth.7

Cleaning Up the Air and Water
The government has been responding to pollution problems since before the
American Revolution, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony issued regulations
to try to stop the pollution of Boston Harbor. In the 1800s, states passed laws
controlling water pollution after scientists and medical researchers convinced
most policymakers that dumping sewage into drinking and bathing water
caused disease. At the national level, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
of 1948 provided research and assistance to the states for pollution-control
efforts, but little was done.

The National Environmental Policy Act The year 1969 marked the
start of the most concerted national government involvement in solving pollu-
tion problems. The Santa Barbara oil spill occurred that year, resulting in an oil
slick covering 800 square miles and killing plant life, birds, and fish. Congress
soon passed the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which established,
among other things, the Council on Environmental Quality. It also mandated
that an environmental impact statement (EIS) be prepared for all major fed-
eral actions that could significantly affect the quality of the environment. The
act gave citizens and public-interest groups who were concerned with the
environment a weapon against the unnecessary and inappropriate use of nat-
ural resources by the government.

Curbing Air Pollution Beginning in 1975, the government began regulat-
ing tailpipe emissions from cars and light trucks in an attempt to curb air
pollution. After years of lobbying by environmentalists, Congress passed the
Clean Air Act of 1990. The act established tighter standards for emissions of
nitrogen dioxide (NO

2
) and other pollutants by newly built cars and light

trucks. California was allowed to establish its own stricter standards. By
1994, the maximum allowable NO

2
emissions (averaged over each manufac-

turer’s “fleet” of vehicles) were about one-fifth of the 1975 standard. The
“Tier 2” system, phased in between 2004 and 2007, reduced maximum fleet
emissions by cars and light trucks to just over 2 percent of the 1975 stand-
ard. In 2008–2009, the standards were extended to trucks weighing between
6,000 and 8,500 pounds.

The Obama administration moved swiftly to strengthen fuel efficiency
standards for vehicles and to clean up the air pollution caused by cars and
trucks. In 2011, the administration issued rules that would improve the fleet

6 Frank Newport, “Americans Want Government to Do More on Environment,” March 29, 2018. http://news.gallup/poll/232007/.
7 Dennis Jacobe, “Americans Still Prioritize Economic Growth over Environment,” The Gallup Poll, March 29, 2012.

environmental impact
statement (EIS)
A report that must show the costs
and benefits of major federal actions
that could significantly affect the
qualit y of the environment.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 5

efficiency for medium and heavy duty trucks between 9 and 23 percent. In
2014, the president announced more stringent requirements for heavy trucks
and buses. Although the standards will cost the industry about $8 billion for
new equipment, it is estimated that the increased fuel efficiency will save the
trucking industry up to $50 billion in fuel expenses in the long run.8 President
Obama also directed the EPA to increase its efforts to clean up air pollution by
reducing sulfur in gasoline and tightening emission standards for cars.9 In 2017,
President Trump ordered a review of these standards to determine whether a
rollback would be ordered.

The United States is making fairly substantial strides in the war on toxic
emissions. According to the EPA, in the last 30 years U.S. air pollution has
been cut in half. Airborne lead is 3 percent of what it was in 1975, and the lead
content of the average American’s blood is one-fifth of what it was in that year.
Airborne sulfur dioxide concentrations are one-fifth of the levels found in the
1960s. Carbon monoxide concentrations are one-quarter of what they were in
1970. The American public is increasingly aware of the need for environmental
protection. To a large extent, this increased awareness has resulted from the
efforts of various environmental interest groups, which have also exerted pres-
sure on Congress to take action.

Water Pollution The Clean Water Act of 1972 amended the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act of 1948. The Clean Water Act established the following
goals: (1) make waters safe for swimming, (2) protect fish and wildlife, and
(3) eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the water. The act set specific
time schedules, which were subsequently extended by further legislation.
Under these schedules, the EPA establishes limits on discharges of types of
pollutants based on the technology available for controlling them. The act also
required municipal and industrial polluters to apply for permits before discharg-
ing wastes into navigable waters. Furthermore, the Clean Water Act also pro-
hibited the filling or dredging of wetlands without a permit from the Army
Corps of Engineers.

Perhaps one of the most controversial regulations concerning wetlands
was the “migratory-bird rule” issued by the Army Corps of Engineers. Under
this rule, any bodies of water that could affect interstate commerce, including
seasonal ponds or waters “used or suitable for use by migratory birds” that fly
over state borders, were “navigable waters” subject to federal regulation
under the Clean Water Act as wetlands. In 2001, after years of controversy, the
U.S. Supreme Court struck down the rule. The Court stated that it was not
prepared to hold that isolated and seasonal ponds, puddles, and “prairie
potholes” become “navigable waters of the United States” simply because
they serve as a habitat for migratory birds.

The Endangered Species Act
Inspired by the plight of disappearing species, Congress passed the
Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1966. In 1973, Congress passed a
completely new Endangered Species Act (ESA), which made it illegal to kill,

8 Juliet Eilperin, “Obama to Tighten Fuel Efficiency Standards for Big Trucks,” The Washington Post, February 18, 2014.
9 Dina Cappiello, “Obama, EPA to Unveil Proposal to Clean Up Emissions,” U.S. News, March 28, 2013, www.nbcnews.com

/news/us-news

10 Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U.S. 159 (2001).

did you know?
The federal government owns

more than 650 million acres of

land, or roughly 30 percent of

the United States.

536 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

harm, or otherwise “take” a species listed as endangered or threatened.
The government could purchase habitat critical to the survival of a species
or prevent landowners from engaging in development that would harm a
listed species.

The ESA proved to be a powerful legal tool for the ecology movement.
In a famous example, environmental groups sued to stop the Tennessee
Valley Authority from completing the Tellico Dam on the grounds that it
threatened habitat critical to the survival of the snail darter, a tiny fish. In
1978, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the endangered fish.11
Further controversy erupted in 1990, when the Fish and Wildlife Service
listed the spotted owl as a threatened species. The logging industry blamed
the ESA for a precipitous decline in national forest timber sales in sub-
sequent years. Recently, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing
the protected status of wolves in some western states. Whereas cattle-
men and hunters praised the idea of shooting wolves that preyed on cattle
and sheep, environmental groups claimed that the wolf population was not
yet strong enough to allow hunting.

The ESA continues to be a major subject of debate. However, signs indic-
ate that the government and environmentalists may be seeking common
ground. Both sides are shifting toward incentives for landowners who parti-
cipate in protection programs. “Regulatory incentives really do result in
landowners doing good things for their land,” said William Irvin of the World
Wildlife Fund.12

Sustainability
Before the mid-1980s, environmental politics seemed to be couched in
terms of “them against us.” “Them” was everyone involved in businesses
that cut down rainforests, poisoned rivers, and created oil spills. “Us”
was the government, and it was the government’s job to stop “them.”
Today, most Americans support legislation to cut down on pollution, to
save green areas, and to encourage the recycling of waste. Around the
globe, individuals, governments, and businesses have come to believe
that the earth’s resources are limited and that the survival of the planet
depends on moving toward a sustainable society.

Sustainability means achieving a balance between economic and social
activities and nature that will permit the healthy existence of both. In terms of
public policy, it means that societies act in such a way as to maintain healthy
supplies of air, water, and the natural resources that make modern life pos-
sible. The United States adopted a policy of sustainability in 2007, with an
executive order requiring all federal agencies to “conduct their environmental,
transportation, and energy-related activities . . . in an environmentally sound,
economically and fiscally sound, integrated, continuously improving, efficient,
and sustainable manner.”13

At the federal government level, this order directed agencies to buy effi-
cient vehicles, recycle products, and enforce legislation aimed at increasing

11 Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153 (1978). In 1979, Congress exempted the snail darter from the ESA. In 1980, snail
darters were discovered elsewhere, and the species turned out not to be endangered.

12 “Endangered Species Act Turns 30 as Environmental Strategy Shifts,” The Charleston Post and Courier, Charleston, SC,
January 2, 2004.

13 “Sustainability,” Environmental Protection Agency statement, www.epa.gov/sustainability/

sustainability
Achieving a balance between societ y
and nature that will permit both to
exist in harmony.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 537

sustainability. The order was rein-
forced by another in 2009 issued by
President Obama to increase efforts
to reduce greenhouse emissions. At
the state and local level, sustainability
means increased recycling efforts,
legislation that has banned the use of
nonrecyclable plastic bags, efforts to
increase composting, and reduction of
waste for landfills. Both in Europe and
the United States, corporations have
responded to the call for a more sus-
tainable society by developing more
compostable or degradable products.
As shown in the screen capture, the
Environmental Defense Fund uses
the internet to advertise its platform
and gain supporters.

Do Elections Really Mean Policy Changes?
As soon as the president of the United States is inaugurated,
he or she can begin issuing executive orders and asking the
new cabinet secretaries and directors to enforce or rescind
the regulations posted by the prior administration. In the
case of the 2016 election, most of these changes will be
directed at domestic policies, and there could be large policy
swings ahead.

The contrasts between the Republican and Democratic
presidential nominees on many important domestic poli-
cies were quite striking. Let’s take health care, for example.
The Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, supported the Affordable Care Act as passed in the
first two years of the Obama administration. It is likely that
she would have continued its implementation with some
changes for improvements. She was challenged in the
political campaign by Senator Bernie Sanders, who pro-
posed substituting a national health-care plan like those
offered by most European nations. Such a plan would cover
all Americans. In contrast the Republican nominee, Donald
Trump, who campaigned on a platform of “scrapping”
Obamacare and substituting individual choice of policies,
health savings accounts, and other free-market mecha-
nisms. The difficulty in forecasting exactly how a new pres-
ident would affect health policies is that the Affordable
Care Act is so complex and the financial mechanisms are so

deeply embedded in the tax code that changing to a new
system is very difficult.

There were similar differences between the Democratic
nominee and the Republican nominee in 2016 on environmen-
tal policies, tax reform, economic policies, and energy poli-
cies. It is important to remember, though, that large changes
in policies will require legislation from the Congress which
must be negotiated through both houses. Interest groups will
lobby intensely against large changes simply because they
want to protect the status quo, including ben efits and loop-
holes previously incorporated in laws or regulations. Even with
a Republican Congress, President Trump was unable to repeal
the ACA. He did roll back regulations in other areas by execu-
tive order.

Election 2016

For Critical Analysis
1. Does a “ landslide” presidential election automati-

cally give the new president the power to insist on
changes in domestic policies?

2. Will the 2020 presidential campaign find the
same differences between the Republican and
Democratic nominees?

From the Web ▸ The Environmental Defense Fund uses
its website to increase public support for its legal actions
to protect the environment.

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l

D
e

fe
n

se
F

u
n

538 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

Global Climate Change
A major source of concern has been the emission of pollutants into the air and
water. Each year, the world atmosphere receives 20 million metric tons of sul-
fur dioxide, 18 million metric tons of ozone pollutants, and 60 million metric
tons of carbon monoxide. A majority of climate scientists believe that these
pollutants are the cause of global climate change, and a warming climate will
represent a major threat to human survival on the planet. International efforts
to limit the output of pollutants, especially carbon dioxide from vehicles and
power plants, have been controversial but are widely supported by citizens
throughout the world.

The Kyoto Protocol In 1997, delegates from around the world gathered
in Kyoto, Japan, for a global climate conference sponsored by the United
Nations. The conference issued a proposed treaty aimed at reducing emis-
sions of greenhouse gases to 5.2 percent (below 1990 levels) by 2012.
Only 38 developed nations were mandated to reduce their emissions,
however—developing nations including China and India faced only volun-
tary limits. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously in 1997 that it would not
accept a treaty that exempted developing countries, and in 2001 President
Bush announced that he would not submit the Kyoto protocol to the Senate
for ratification. By 2007, 124 nations had ratified the protocol. Its rejection
by the United States, however, raised the question of whether it could
ever be effective.

Even in those European countries that most enthusiastically supported the
Kyoto protocol and signed it, the results have not been overly positive. By
2008, it became clear that 13 of the 15 original European Union signatories
would miss their 2010 emission targets. At the same time, two nations that
are considered to be “developing nations,” China and India, have seen their
emissions increase dramatically, but they were not required to abide by the
protocol. In May 2011, the potential impact of the Kyoto agreement was
severely diminished when Canada, Russia, and France announced that they
were withdrawing from the agreement.

COP21: The New Agreement After years of discussion and attempts to
forge a replacement agreement for the Kyoto document, representatives of
195 nations agreed to a new regime for addressing climate change. The his-
toric agreement was named COP21 referring to the twenty-first meeting of
the Conference of Parties (COP). Rich and poor nations agreed on the overall
framework of the plan, including the goal of limiting the increase in global tem-
peratures to less than 2 degrees Celsius.14 All of the nations who signed the
accord committed to public pledges of reducing their carbon emissions and
providing data on their progress. Each nation’s pledge will be reviewed every
five years. Richer nations have committed to providing up to $100 billion per
year to poorer nations to help them in this effort, although that pledge is non-
binding.15 Although many of the nations’ pledges are subject to their own local
issues, the 2015 agreement marked the first time all of the parties agreed that
global warming is a serious threat.

14 Lynne Peeples, “Historic Climate Change Agreement Adopted in Paris,” Huffington Post, December 12, 2015. http://www
.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-paris_us_566c2048e4b0e292150e169b

15 Jeff Tollefson and Kenneth R. Weiss, “Nations Approve Historic Global Climate Accord,” Nature, December 12, 2015. http://
www.nature.com/news/nations-approve-historic-global-climate-accord-1.19021

Beyond Our Borders

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 539

The European Community has shown a remarkable ability to
agree on energy conservation and environmental goals and to
make considerable progress toward attaining these goals.
Following the publication of the European Commission’s
report on sustainable energy in 2006, the European Parliament
began considering the situation and acting upon it in 2007.
This confederation of nations agreed to cut greenhouse gases
by 20 percent by 2020 and to work for a new treaty to follow
the Kyoto accords that would further decrease such emissions
by 2030. In addition, the European Community has taken a
number of steps to help its citizens make “green decisions” to
conserve energy in the home and on the road.

Almost every type of appliance sold in Europe is tagged
with an Energy Efficiency Rating, which grades the appliance
on a scale of A to G on energy efficiency and carbon dioxide
impact. The nations agreed that all new buildings and those
undergoing substantial remodeling should be more energy
efficient and install the most energy-efficient heating and
air-conditioning systems available. In future years, Europeans
will be able to buy cars and trucks that are increasingly effi-
cient and better for the environment as well. The agreement
among the nations sets carbon dioxide emissions standards
for all new cars and requires manufacturers to further cut
emissions by 1 percent per year, every year, until 2020.

Countries have differing standards, but all of the
European Union members have agreed to try to reduce
waste and increase recycling. If you live in Germany, for
example, your neighbors have strong expectations that
you will reuse, recycle, and sort your garbage. Virtually
every German neighborhood or apartment building has
five different bins outside, all color-coded to help you dis-
pose of your waste properly. You will use the yellow bin
for any kind of food packaging, the blue bin for paper and
cardboard, the “bio” bin for leftover food waste, and sep-
arate bins for clear, brown, and green glass. A black bin is
also available for those who are too lazy to separate or
have something that does not fit. Switzerland and
Denmark also have extremely high rates of recycling
waste products from households. In some nations, there
are complaints that the government does not provide
enough bins for trash or does not pick up the materials
properly, whereas in other nations, citizens are fined for
not separating their trash.

Not only do the European nations pride themselves
on their “green” habits, but the European Commission
makes public everyone’s results on the various measures
it has adopted. If you go to the website for Europe’s
Energy Portal (www.energy.eu/), you will find scorecards
for gas and oil prices, energy dependency, CO

2
emissions,

and renewable energy production for each nation. Imagine
a report card on the American states that would give the
same kind of measures!

How Green Is Europe?

Image 15-3 These recycling bins in Wales, United Kingdom, are
typical of those found in many European countries. Citizens are
asked, at a minimum, to sort their waste into paper, plastic, glass,
and compostable food items.

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te

p
h

e
n

D
o

re
y

A
b

ip
p

/A
la

m
y

S
to

ck
P

h
o

For Critical Analysis
1. W hy do you think the European nations have

been able to agree on such progressive measures
in energ y eff iciency and env ironmenta l
protections?

2. Do you think government regulations and fines
are the best way to gain citizen compliance with
energy and environmental goals?

540 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

The Global Warming Debate Although the majority of scientists who per-
form research on the world’s climate believe that global warming will be signif-
icant, there is considerable disagreement as to how much warming will actually
occur. It is generally accepted that world temperatures have already increased
by at least 0.6 degrees Celsius over the last century. The 2014 report by the
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change continued to pre-
dict increases ranging from 2.0 to 4.5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. The
latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raised the risk level
for global warming and linked weather-related disasters to climate change, but
other scientists are more cautious about the link between climate change and
any increase in strong storms, flooding, or tsunamis because comparative his-
torical data is only a few hundred years old.16

Global warming has become a major political football to be kicked back and
forth by conservatives and liberals. Some conservatives have seized on the
work of scientists who believe that global warming does not exist at all. (Some
of these researchers work for oil companies.) If this were true, there would be
no reason to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. A
more sophisticated argument by conservatives is that major steps to limit
emissions in the near future would not be cost effective. Bjørn Lomborg, a
critic of climate change, believes that the world is spending too much of its
resources on combating climate change when there are other much more
pressing global problems to solve, including poverty, the spread of disease,
and malnutrition.17

Energy Policy
■ 15.4 Analyze American energy policy and discuss how it encourages energy

independence.

The United States has always had enormous energy resources, whether
from coal, oil, natural gas, or alternative sources such as wind or solar power.
However, for most of the last 150 years, the American economy has been
primarily dependent on fossil fuels, namely oil, coal, and natural gas. It is
important to think beyond our cars and our appliance-filled homes. Energy is
necessary to power all factories in the United States and to keep all forms
of transportation moving. In some cases, fossil fuel is the raw material for
objects in our daily lives. Plastics, polystyrene, the case for your iPad—all
are made from petroleum products. Although support for alternative sources
of energy is very strong across the nation, becoming less dependent on
fossil fuel products will require a long-term strategy. If you look at Figure 15-4,
you can see the percentage of energy used by the various sectors of the
American economy.

Energy policy—laws concerned with how much energy is needed and
used—and the regulation of energy producers tend to become important
only during a crisis. In 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC), the cartel of oil-producing nations, instituted an embargo

16 Seth Bornstein, “U.N. Scientific Panel Releases Report Sounding Alarm on Climate Change Dangers,” Huffington Post, March
30, 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/green/ or, for a different view, Bjorn Lomborg, “Climate Change Misdirection,” The Wall
Street Journal, January 23, 2013. http://www.onlinewsj.com/news/articles

17 See Bjorn Lomborg, How to Spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place (Copenhagen, Denmark: Copenhagen Consensus
Center, 2014).

energy policy
Laws concerned with how much
energy is needed and used.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 541

on shipments of petroleum to the United States because of our support of
Israel in the Arab–Israeli conflict of that year. President Nixon declared that
the United States would achieve energy independence by reducing speed
limits and meeting Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards by a
certain time.

In 1977, President Carter also found himself facing shortages of oil and
natural gas. The Department of Energy was created, and numerous pro-
grams were instituted to assist citizens in buying more energy-efficient
appliances and improving the energy profile of their homes. In addition,
legislation created the National Petroleum Reserve, and incentives for

Image 15-4
In 2013, a chemical plant
in West Virginia along the Kanawha

River spilled millions of gallons

of waste into the river, forcing

hundreds of thousands of residents

to find other sources of water for

their families.

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P

I
m

a
g

e
s/

S
te

ve
H

e
lb

e
r

Residential22%

Commercial18%Industrial 32%

Transportation 28%

Figure 15-4 ▸ U.S. Energy Consumption by Economic Sector, 2017

Source: “Energy Consumption Estimates by Sector,” U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review. http://www.eia.gov/consumption/

542 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

researching alternative forms of energy were instituted. Over time,
Americans sought to replace their smaller, more efficient cars with sport
utility vehicles (SUVs) and light trucks. Airline traffic grew. Suburbs were
built farther from cities and jobs. America’s dependence on foreign oil has
grown, as has the nation’s overall appetite for energy.

In 2017, the United States consumed about 20 million barrels of petro-
leum per day, with half of this used as gasoline for transportation. Of those
20 million barrels per day, only 16 percent was imported, an historic low. As
has been the case for many decades, the United States is the third largest
producer of oil but the largest consumer among the major producers. In fact,
the United States has increased domestic production by about 1 million bar-
rels a day over the last three years as prices increased around the world.
From the 1970s until about 2003, the price of crude oil averaged less than
$40 per barrel. In the last 10 years, the price of crude oil per barrel has
reached more than $100 per barrel as demand for the product around the
world has grown. When the price of crude rises, it becomes economically
feasible for less productive wells in the United States to begin pumping oil
again; individual consumers look for ways to cut their use of gasoline and
drive down demand for oil; and, most importantly, industries that use oil to
produce energy or other products switch to less expensive fuels. Of course,
a decrease in the price of oil has the opposite effect. When crude oil prices
fell below $40 per barrel in 2015, domestic gasoline dropped to just over $2
and oil production dropped as well. If you look at Figure 15-5, you will see
that 31 percent of the nation’s energy came from natural gas in 2017. As
natural gas has become more abundant due to fracking, the cost has fallen
and a number of power-generating plants have switched from burning oil to
burning natural gas to produce electricity.

Coal

Nuclear 20%

Hydropower 7.5%

Renewables 10%

30%

Petroleum/gas0.5%

Natural Gas32%

Figure 15-5 ▸ Sources of Electricity Generation, 2017

Source: “What Is U.S. Electricity Generation by Energy Source?,” U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016; http://www.eia.gov/tools
/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3

Energy and the Environment
Because of the effects of producing energy and burning fuels, energy policy is
deeply entangled with environmental policy.18 Using gasoline to power a car is
the normal practice. However, burning gasoline produces serious emissions
that contribute to the buildup of smog in the atmosphere. Through a series of
laws passed over the last 20 years, the EPA has forced cities to implement
procedures to reduce smog and to require cleaner-burning gasoline. In addi-
tion, Congress has mandated that 10 percent of fuels sold in the years to come
include ethanol as an ingredient. In response, the production of corn, which is
used to make ethanol, has shot up, but still not enough is being grown to over-
come the accompanying rise in price.

18 For a comprehensive look at all energy resources in the United States, go to the website of the Department of Energy: www
.energy.gov/energysources

did you know?
Americans consume 26 percent

of the world’s energy.

Politics in Practice

Promised Land, the 2012 film written by Matt Damon and
John Krasinski, tells the story of two corporate salespeople
who visit a rural Pennsylvania town in an attempt to buy
drilling rights from the local residents. Damon stars as one of
those salespeople sent by his employer, Global Crosspower
Solutions, to quickly and cheaply persuade landowners to
sell mineral rights leases that grant drilling rights to his
employer. Krasinski stars as an environmental advocate who
starts a campaign against the company.

The film was criticized by the energy industry for its por-
trayal of hydraulic fracking, claiming that it oversimplifies the
issue, but it succeeded in starting a conversation about a
very real issue. Hydraulic fracking makes it possible to tap
into natural gas reservoirs, but only once gas companies
have convinced landowners to allow them to drill.

Political films such as Promised Land face a difficult road
to success. Although Syriana, which was produced by and
starred George Clooney, received a strong critical response, it
also did not gain a huge audience, likely due to its complex
exploration of petroleum politics and the global influence of
the oil industry. Promised Land drew mixed critical reviews,
perhaps because it was not a strong enough critique of the
energy industry. The movie provides an accurate portrayal of
the political process that is occurring across the United States
as communities make decisions about natural resource extrac-

tion while they are under pressure from economic and envir-
onmental groups.

Recently, more issues involving fracking have come
to light. The state of Oklahoma, which has welcomed the
industry and benefited from energy extraction, has experi-
enced a series of small earthquakes. Scientists are trying to
discover whether the deep drilling and injection of salt
water into the wells is destabilizing the earth or whether the
earthquakes would have occurred without any fracking. The
possibility that drilling techniques cause earthquakes could
make “selling” energy extraction to communities much
more difficult.

Promised Land: The Politics of Energy

For Critical Analysis
1. How can a town judge the trade-off between

energy extraction such as fracking and protecting
its environment?

2. To what extent is the local debate over fracking,
wind farms, or the installation of a field of solar
panels made more difficult because the United
States has no comprehensive energy policy?

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 543

544 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

The United States continues to pump oil from existing
wells and offshore platforms. However, more areas exist
where oil could be found and extracted, but in most cases,
environmental risks would be incurred. Following the oil
spill in Santa Barbara, California, from an offshore drilling
rig, most Americans welcomed laws that forbade drilling
in new areas off Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and California.
In addition, large areas of the Arctic National Wilderness
Reserve (ANWR) have been protected from oil explora-
tion. In 2010, the clash between environmental protection
and the need for energy sources came to a head in the
Gulf of Mexico at a drilling rig named the Deepwater
Horizon. The rig, leased by British Petroleum, was drilling
for oil more than a mile deep in the ocean when a “blow-
out” of oil and gas occurred. The blowout preventer—a
multimillion-dollar, five-story apparatus on the sea floor—
failed, and the rig exploded. In the weeks and months that
followed, millions of gallons of oil and gas spewed from
the well as attempts to cap it met limited success.
President Obama convinced BP to set aside $20 billion in
a fund to compensate Gulf residents for losses in wages
and business revenues.

Another dilemma facing the United States involves
domestic power production and the need for cleaner air.

The majority of electric power generated in the United States comes from
coal-fired plants in the Midwest and central regions of the nation. For many
years, these plants spewed carbon emissions into the air. As scientists
became aware of the impact of these emissions on the environment, new
laws required the plants to reduce their emissions by installing scrubbers
or, after reaching the legal “cap” on their carbon emissions, buying or trad-
ing for the right to produce more. The EPA under the Bush administration
issued regulations for coal-burning plants that reduced their burden of
meeting the standards. States that felt they received the most damage
from some of these emissions sued to make the EPA issue standards that
meet the letter of the Clean Air Act. The Supreme Court agreed with these
states, and the EPA began to prepare stricter standards. The Obama admin-
istration issued draft regulations for existing power plants in 2012. After
receiving more than 2 million comments from the industry and the public,
the administration announced a revised set of regulations in 2013. The pro-
posed regulations required new gas or coal-fired power plants to meet
much higher standards for carbon emissions. Following his campaign prom-
ise to aid the coal industry, President Trump ordered the repeal of Obama’s
Clean Power Act, eliminating many of the new controls on coal-fired power
plants.19

Nuclear Power—An Unpopular Solution
One strategy for reducing carbon emissions of coal-fired plants and also the
environmental and human risks of coal mining is to increase the number of

19 Associated Press, “Trump EPA Plan will roll back Obama standards on power plant emissions,” The Guardian, October 7, 2017.

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Image 15-5
In the last ten years,
production of natural gas has

increased dramatically due to

the use of “fracking” to release

gas from layers of shale deep

beneath the earth’s surface. This

hydro-fracking well is being drilled

in Pennsylvania.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 5

nuclear power plants in the United States. Nuclear power plants are very
efficient and emit very low levels of greenhouse gases. The accident at the
Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, followed by the disaster at
the Chernobyl, Ukraine, plant in 1986, undermined public confidence in nuc-
lear energy.

The United States for many decades was alone among industrialized
nations in its fear of nuclear power, but given the concern about carbon emis-
sions from the coal-fired plants, the United States began to license the con-
struction of new nuclear plants in the early 2000s. However, after a tsunami
destroyed a huge coastal area of Japan in 2011 and caused the meltdown of a
nuclear plant, the Japanese have begun to have serious concerns about their
dependence on nuclear power. Even in Europe and the former Soviet Union,
where hundreds of nuclear plants have operated safely for decades, the radi-
ation release from the Japanese plant has renewed the demand to reduce the
number of nuclear plants in operation.

Alternative Approaches to the Energy Crisis
Several alternative sources of energy can be used to reduce the nation’s
dependence on fossil fuels. Huge wind farms in California generate energy for
cities there. Research continues on harnessing the power of the ocean waves
to produce electricity and the most efficient ways to use geothermal energy
from below the surface of the earth.20 The technology does not yet exist to use
any of these sources to produce the quantity of energy needed to replace our
coal plants or other current energy sources. And, in some areas, citizens con-
sider wind farms extremely disturbing to the environment and area wildlife.

20 For a discussion of these new technologies, see Jay Inslee and Bracken Henricks, Apollo’s Fire (Washington, DC: Island Press,
2007).

Image 15-6
Japanese journalists
inspect the remains of the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power

plant, which was destroyed by

the 2011 tsunami. The release of

radiation from the plant after

its destruction has forced Japan

to reconsider its dependency on

nuclear energy.

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The rising price of gasoline spurred a much greater demand for hybrid automo-
biles and for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. In addition, people began to ride
motor scooters and bicycles for city commutes and increased their use of mass
transit. The Obama administration has sought comprehensive energy legislation
from the Congress since the president’s inauguration. Members of the administra-
tion and of Congress realize that both energy needs and environmental concerns
must be addressed in the same legislation. Proponents of a “cap and trade” sys-
tem want industries to account for their carbon emissions through a market
system, as in Europe. The opponents of such a system believe that it will drive up
energy costs because costs will be passed down to the ultimate consumer. Energy
legislation stalled in the Congress in 2010 and no new plan has been passed.

Poverty and Welfare
■ 15.5 Describe the national policies for ending pover t y in the United States and

alleviating the issues caused by economic downturns.

Throughout the world, poverty has historically been accepted as inevitable.
The United States and other industrialized nations, however, have sustained
enough economic growth in the past several hundred years to eliminate mass
poverty. Considering the wealth and high standard of living in the United
States, the persistence of poverty here appears bizarre and anomalous.

A traditional solution to poverty has been income transfers. These are
methods of transferring income from relatively upper-income to relatively poor
groups in society, and as a nation, we have been using such transfers for a
long time. Before we examine these efforts, let us look at the concept of
poverty in more detail and at the characteristics of the poor.

The Low-Income Population
We can see in Figure 15-6 that the number of people classified as poor fell
steadily from 1961 to 1968—that is, during the presidencies of John Kennedy

income transfer
A transfer of income from some
individuals in the economy to others,
generally by government action.

Image 15-7
Many environmentalists
and commentators suggest that a

much greater use of wind power

could reduce the nation’s depend-

ence on fossil fuels. This California

windmill farm produces energy for

Palm Springs. However, windmill

farms cannot be successful every-

where in the United States.

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C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 547

and Lyndon Johnson. The number remained level until the recession of 1981–
1982, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, when it increased substantially. The
number fell during the Internet boom of 1994–2000, but then it started to rise
again. The percentage generally has been below 15 percent. In 2014, about
46.7 million Americans, or about 15 percent, were classified as poor. The eco-
nomic downturn and increase in unemployment sent the rate to the highest it
has been since 1997. Even though economists declared that the recession had
ended and recovery was beginning, the number of poor increased by more than
6 million between 2009 and 2012. For many of these Americans, family savings
were exhausted, unemployment benefits had expired, and the hope of a job was
fading. Many Americans who turned 62 applied for early retirement and their
reduced Social Security benefits, and others claimed permanent disability.

The threshold income level that is used to determine who falls into the pov-
erty category was originally based on the cost of a nutritionally adequate food
plan designed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1963. The poverty level
is adjusted each year for changes in the consumer price index. For 2018, for
example, the official poverty level for a family of four was about $25,100.

The official poverty level is based on pretax income, including cash but not
in-kind subsidies—food stamps, housing vouchers, and the like. If we correct
poverty levels for such benefits, the percentage of the population that is below
the poverty line drops dramatically.

The Antipoverty Budget
It is not always easy to determine how much the government spends to com-
bat poverty. In part, this is because it can be difficult to decide whether a

in-kind subsidy
A good or service—such as food
stamps, housing, or medical care—
provided by the government to low-
income groups.

45
40
35

10
5
0

1959 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2006 2012 2016

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43.1 million

12.7%

Year

Number in poverty

Percent in poverty

Figure 15-6 ▸ The Official Number of Poor in the United States
The number of individuals classified as poor fell steadily from 1961 through 1968. It then increased during the 1981–1982 recession. After

1994, the number fell steadily until 2000, when it started to rise again. The recession that began in 2008 spurred an increase to a 50-year

high in the number of poor Americans.

Note: The data points represent the midpoints of the respective years.

Source: U.S. Census, “Poverty Status of People by Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin, 1959–2014,“ http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/historical/people.html;
U.S. Census, “Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2014,“ September, 2017.

548 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

particular program is an antipoverty program. Are grants to foster parents an
antipoverty measure? What about job-training programs? Are college scholar-
ships for low-income students an antipoverty measure?

President Trump’s 2018 budget allocated a little less than $1 trillion, or
about one-third of all federal expenditures, to federal programs that sup-
port persons of limited income (scholarships included).2 1 Of this amount,
$403 billion was for Medicaid, which funds medical services for the poor,
as discussed earlier. The states were expected to contribute an additional
$150 billion to Medicaid. Medical care is by far the largest portion of the
antipoverty budget. Other items include food stamps and housing
programs.

Basic Welfare
The program that most people think of when they hear the word welfare is
now called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). With the
passage in 1996 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act, popularly known as the Welfare Reform Act, the govern-
ment created TANF to replace an earlier program known as Aid to Families
with Dependent Children (AFDC). The AFDC program provided “cash sup-
port for low-income families with dependent children who have been
deprived of parental support due to death, disability, continued absence of a
parent, or unemployment.”

Under TANF, the U.S. government turned over to the states funds targeted
for welfare assistance in the form of block grants. The states, not the national
government, now bear the burden of any increased welfare spending. If a
state wishes to increase the amount of TANF payments over what the national
government supports, the state has to pay the additional costs.

One of the aims of the Welfare Reform Act was to reduce welfare spend-
ing by limiting most welfare recipients to only two years of assistance at a
time and imposing a lifetime limit on welfare assistance of five years. The
Welfare Reform Act has largely met its objectives. During the first five years
after the act was passed, the number of families receiving welfare payments
was cut in half. The 2018 federal budget allocated $15.1 billion to the TANF
block grants.

Welfare Controversies
Whether known as AFDC or TANF, the basic welfare program has always
been controversial. Conservative and libertarian voters often object to wel-
fare spending as a matter of principle, believing that it reduces the incentive
to find paid employment. Because AFDC and TANF have largely supported
single-parent households, some also believe that such programs are antimar-
riage. Finally, certain people object to welfare spending out of a belief that
welfare recipients are “not like us.” The bulk of TANF recipients, however,
are single mothers with children; thus, basic welfare payments in the United
States are relatively low when compared with similar payments in other
industrialized nations. In 2018, the average monthly TANF payment nation-
wide was about $700; however, some states have benefits as low as $300
for a family of three.

21 This sum does not include the earned income tax credit, which is not part of the federal budget.

Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families (TANF)
A state-administered program in
which grants from the national
government are used to provide
welfare benefits. The TANF program
replaced the Aid to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC) program.

did you know?
The Greenville County

Department of Social Services

in South Carolina wrote to a

food stamp recipient, “Your

food stamps will be stopped . . .

because we received notice that

you passed away. May God bless

you. You may reapply if there is a

change in your circumstances.”

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 549

Other Forms of Government Assistance
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program was established in 1974 to
provide a nationwide minimum income for elderly persons and persons with
disabilities who do not qualify for Social Security benefits. The 2018 budget
allocated $52 billion to this program.

The government also issues food stamps, benefits that can be used to
purchase food; they are usually provided electronically through a card sim-
ilar to a debit card. Food stamps are available to low-income individuals and
families. Recipients must prove that they qualify by showing that they have
a low income (or no income at all). Food stamps go to a much larger group
of people than do TANF payments, including the unemployed and single
adults, groups that have expanded during the recession. The number of
recipients of food stamps more than doubled since 2003, from 19 million to
45 million, or one out of seven Americans. The food stamp program has
become a major part of the welfare system in the United States, although
it was started in 1964 mainly to benefit farmers by distributing surplus food
through retail channels.

The earned income tax credit (EITC) program was created in 1975 to
help low-income workers by giving back part or all of their Social Security
taxes. Currently, about 15 percent of all taxpayers claim an EITC, and an estim-
ated $56 billion per year is rebated to taxpayers through the program.

Homelessness—Still a Problem
The plight of the homeless remains a problem. Some argue that the Welfare
Reform Act of 1996 has increased the number of homeless persons. No hard
statistics on the homeless are available, but estimates of the number of people
without a home on any given night in the United States range from a low of
230,000 to as many as 750,000.

It is difficult to estimate how many people are homeless because the num-
ber depends on how the homeless are defined. There are street people —
those who sleep in bus stations, parks, and other areas. Many of these people
are youthful runaways. There are also the so-called sheltered homeless —
those who sleep in government-supported or privately funded shelters. Many
of these individuals used to live with their families or friends. Whereas street
people are almost always single, the sheltered homeless include many famil-
ies with children. Homeless families are the fastest-growing subgroup of the
homeless population. The homeless problem pits liberals against conservat-
ives. Conservatives argue that there are not really that many homeless people
and that most of them are alcoholics, drug users, or the mentally ill. In con-
trast, many liberals argue that homelessness is caused by a reduction in wel-
fare benefits and by expensive housing.

Some cities have “criminalized” homelessness. Many municipalities have
outlawed sleeping on park benches and sidewalks, as well as panhandling and
leaving personal property on public property. In some cities, police sweeps
remove the homeless, who then become part of the criminal justice system.
In general, northern cities have assumed a responsibility to shelter the home-
less in bad weather. Cities in warmer climates are most concerned with a year-
round homeless problem. No new national policies on the homeless have
been initiated, in part because of disagreement about the causes of and solu-
tions for the problem.

Supplemental Security
Income (SSI)
A federal program established to
provide assistance to elderly persons
and persons with disabilities.

food stamps
Benefits issued by the federal
government to low-income
individuals to be used for the
purchase of food; originally provided
as coupons, but now t ypically
provided electronically through a
card similar to a debit card.

earned income tax credit
(EITC) program
A government program that helps
low-income workers by giving back
part or all of their Social Security taxes.

550 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

Immigration
■ 15.6 Discuss the issues raised by immigration into the United States and the

proposed reforms to the immigration system.

Time and again, this nation has been challenged and changed—and culturally
enriched—by immigrant groups. Immigrants have faced the problems involved
in living in a new and different political and cultural environment. Most of them
have had to overcome language barriers, and many have had to deal with dis-
crimination because of their skin color, their inability to speak English fluently,
or their customs. The civil rights legislation passed during and since the 1960s
has done much to counter the effects of prejudice against immigrant groups
by ensuring that they obtain equal rights under the law.

One of the issues facing Americans and their political leaders today is the
effect of immigration on American politics and government. Other issues are
whether immigration is having a positive or negative impact on the United
States and the form immigration reform should take.

The Continued Influx of Immigrants
Today, immigration rates are among the highest they have been since their
peak in the early twentieth century. Every year, more than 1 million people
immigrate to this country, and people who were born on foreign soil now con-
stitute more than 10 percent of the U.S. population—twice the percentage of
30 years ago.

Minority Groups’ Importance on the Rise Since 1977, four out of five
immigrants have come from Latin America or Asia. Hispanics have overtaken
African Americans as the nation’s largest minority. If current immigration rates
continue, by the year 2060, minority groups collectively will constitute the
“majority” of Americans. If Hispanics, African Americans, and perhaps Asians
were to form coalitions, they could increase their political power dramatically
and would have the numerical strength to make significant changes. Many
commentators predict that the longtime white majority will no longer domin-
ate American politics.

The Advantages of High Rates of Immigration Some regard the
high rate of immigration as a plus for America, because it offsets the low
birthrate and aging population. Immigrants expand the workforce and help
support through their taxes government programs that benefit older
Americans, such as Medicare and Social Security. If it were not for immig-
ration, contend these observers, the United States would be facing even
more serious problems than it already does with funding these programs
(see Chapter 16). In contrast, nations that do not have high immigration
rates, such as Japan, are experiencing serious fiscal challenges due to their
aging populations.

Attempts at Immigration Reform
A significant number of U.S. citizens, however, believe that immigration—both
legal and illegal—negatively affects America. They argue, among other things,
that the large number of immigrants seeking work results in lower wages for
Americans, especially those with few skills. They also worry about the cost of
providing immigrants with services such as schools and medical care.

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 551

Before the 2006 elections, members of Congress were in favor of enact-
ing a sweeping immigration reform bill, but unsurprisingly, the two houses
could not agree on what the bill should do. No law passed. Later in the year,
however, Congress did pass legislation authorizing the construction of a
700-mile-long fence between the United States and Mexico. The fence is to
be a real fence in some areas and a “virtual fence” using cameras and surveil-
lance technologies in other areas. Although a combination of physical fence
and “virtual” fence has been completed from San Diego, California, to Yuma,
Arizona, President Obama ended any further construction, leaving about
1,450 miles of border without a fence or electronic monitoring.

By 2008, the debate seemed to have changed, with virtually all presidential
candidates supporting legislation that would tighten the borders, force employ-
ers to check the papers of their workers, and eventually build a path to citizen-
ship. As the recession deepened in 2008 and 2009, many undocumented
workers left the United States to return to Central America, and the problem of
a “flood” of undocumented workers seemed to dissipate. Comprehensive
immigration reform, although supported by President Obama, was not a priority
on his first-term agenda. However, a number of states began to pass laws to
curtail the activities of undocumented workers. In 2010, Arizona passed a law
requiring state and local police and law enforcement officers to check individu-
als’ citizenship or residency papers if they had been stopped on suspicion of an
offense. The law, which requires local officials to enforce federal law, sparked a
national debate. President Obama ordered the Justice Department to investig-
ate whether the Arizona law was constitutional, and demonstrations against the
law took place in many cities. In July 2010, Federal District Court Judge Susan
Bolton issued a preliminary injunction blocking the most controversial parts of
the law while allowing others to take effect, including one that bans cities from
refusing to cooperate with federal immigration officials. The case was appealed
by the state of Arizona and reached the Supreme Court in 2011. In June 2012,
the Supreme Court held that a number of the provisions of the law were

Image 15-8
The U.S. Border Patrol picks
up a group of undocumented

immigrants, including adults and

children, near McAllen, Texas.

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552 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

unconstitutional, although the decision upheld the portion of the law allowing
police officers who had stopped an individual on suspicion of a crime to ask for
proof of citizenship or residency if they suspected the person was undocu-
mented. The Obama administration announced that the federal offices in Arizona
might not cooperate with police who made such arrests.

The Obama administration followed a two-pronged approach to dealing
with undocumented workers. It stepped up raids on companies suspected of
employing a number of such individuals and, if they were found, deported the
workers. However, by 2011 the administration announced a policy that suspen-
ded deportations of individuals who had not committed crimes. In 2012, the
president, by executive order, suspended for one year any deportation of a
young adult who had been illegally brought to this country by parents before
the child was 16 if that young person had finished high school or was in
post-secondary school or the military or gainfully employed. He ordered fed-
eral agencies to issue work permits to such individuals if they were under
30 years old and had no serious criminal record.

In 2017, President Trump announced that he was ending this program, known
as DACA, in six months. The Congress attempted to write legislation to reform
immigration but failed within the six-month window. A federal judge overturned
the president’s rule and DACA appeared headed for a lengthy legal battle.

The Range of Federal Public Policies
The U.S. government implements policies that have been legislated by
Congress across the entire spectrum of American life. Think about federal
policies that affect colleges and universities: Title IX programs ensure that
women have equal opportunities to play intercollegiate sports, and programs
from the Department of Veterans Affairs provide tuition benefits for returning
military veterans and for members of the reserves and the National Guard.
Almost all aspects of the federal student loan program are regulated by the

Image 15-9
A Newtech Recycling
employee collects e-waste during

Somerset County’s recycle e-waste

program at Newtech Recycling,

Inc., in Somerset, New Jersey. The

federal government regulates the

rare minerals used in the manufacture

of electronics such as these.

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federal government, from eligibility for a subsidized loan to the requirement
that colleges keep accurate records of student attendance and dates of with-
drawal from class.

The national government implements important policies to support the
agricultural industry in this country, to keep the treatment of labor unions fair,
to support school systems in their reform efforts, and to assist states to build
and maintain highways and bridges. In these times of rising public deficits and
seemingly expanding federal programs, a majority of Americans say that gov-
ernment spending and programs should be cut, but the only program a major-
ity of Americans agree should be cut is foreign aid to other nations, one of the
smallest government programs in existence.

Key Terms
domestic policy 524
earned income tax credit

(EITC) program 549
energy policy 540
environmental impact statement

(EIS) 534

food stamps 549
income transfer 546
in-kind subsidy 547
Medicaid 529
Medicare 529
national health insurance 532

single-payer plan 532
Supplemental Security Income

(SSI) 549
sustainability 536
Temporary Assistance to Needy

Families (TANF) 548

Chapter Summary
■ 15.1 Domestic policy consists of all of the laws, gov-

ernment planning, and government actions that af fect
the lives of American citizens. Policies are created in
response to public problems or public demand for gov-
ernment action. Major policy problems discussed in this
chapter relate to health care, poverty and welfare, immig-
ration, the environment, and energy.

■ 15.2 The policymaking process is initiated when poli-
cymakers become aware—through the media or from
their constituents—of a problem that needs to be
addressed by the legislature and the president. The
process of policymaking includes five steps: agenda
building, policy formulation, policy adoption, policy
implementation, and policy evaluation. As the proposed
policy is formulated and debated during the adoption
process, the views of the public, interest groups, and
the government are heard.

■ 15.2 Health-care spending represents about 18 percent
of the U.S. economy, and it is growing. Reasons for this
growth include the increasing number of elderly persons,
advancing technology, and higher demand because costs
are picked up by third-party insurers. A major third party
is Medicare, the federal program that pays health-care
expenses of U.S. residents age 65 and older. The federal
government has tried to restrain the growth in Medicare
spending, but it has also expanded the program to cover
prescription drugs.

■ 15.2 About 15 percent of the population does not have
health insurance—a major political issue. Most uninsured
adults work for employers that cannot afford to offer
health benefits. Hospitals tend to charge the uninsured
higher rates than they charge insurance companies or the
government. The United States has chosen to adopt a plan
that combines government-required health insurance,
private and public insurers, and private provision of ser-
vices. Most Americans prefer this approach because they
wish to choose their own medical providers.

■ 15.3 Pollution problems continue to plague the United
States and the world. Several significant federal acts
have been passed in an attempt to curb the pollution of
our environment. The National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 established the Council on Environmental Quality.
That act also mandated that environmental impact state-
ments be prepared for all legislation or major federal
actions that might significantly affect the quality of the
environment. The Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Clean
Air Act amendments of 1990 constituted the most signifi-
cant government attempts at cleaning up our environment.

■ 15.4 Energy policy in the United States has generally
sought to stabilize the supply of cheap energy to meet
the demands of Americans. When energy sources are
threatened, new policies have been adopted, such as
increasing ef ficiency standards for automobiles, fund-
ing research on new technologies, and suppor ting the

554 P A R T V ● P U B L I C P O L I C Y

use of alternative energy. All energy policies are deeply
interconnected with environmental issues because
the use of fossil fuels contributes to air pollution and
climate change. Reducing the use of energy and using
new technologies for cleaner energy make all energy
more expensive for Americans.

■ 15.5 Despite the wealth of the United States as a whole,
a significant number of Americans live in poverty or are
homeless. The poverty threshold represents the income
needed to maintain a specified standard of living as of
1963, with the purchasing-power value increased year by
year based on the general increase in prices. The official
poverty level is based on pretax income, including cash,
and does not take into consideration in-kind subsidies.

■ 15.5 The 1996 Welfare Reform Act transferred more
control over welfare programs to the states, limited

the number of years people can receive welfare assist-
ance, and imposed work requirements on welfare recipi-
ents. The act succeeded in reducing the number of welfare
recipients in the United States by at least 50 percent.

■ 15.6 America has always been a land of immigrants and
continues to be so. Today, more than 1 million immigrants
from other nations enter the United States each year, and
more than 10 percent of the U.S. population consists of
foreign-born persons. Civil rights legislation has helped
immigrants overcome some of the effects of prejudice and
discrimination. Today, the controversy centers on a reform
of our immigration legislation that will improve our system
for temporary workers and enable undocumented immig-
rants to have a path to citizenship.

Selected Resources

PRINT RESOURCES
Avery, Samuel and Bill McKibben. The Pipeline and the Paradigm:

Keystone XL, Tar Sands, and the Battle to Defuse the Carbon
Bomb (Washington, DC: Ruka Press, 2013). This book researches
the economic, ecological, political, and other issues behind the
Keystone XL pipeline. The authors, through scientific evidence,
link the proposed pipeline to global climate change.

Desmond, Matthew. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
(New York: Crown, 2016). How important is housing policy to
ending poverty in the United States? Desmond follows the sto-
ries of families who are evicted from their homes in Milwaukee
and the issues faced by landlords. The book provides a com-
pelling look at the realities of the lives of poor tenants.

Edelman, Peter. So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty
in America (New York: The New Press, 2013). A longtime
advocate for ending poverty presents the evidence that the
poor and people of color in the United States are continuing
to fall behind the better-off Americans. He argues that the
very structure of the economy leads to this state of affairs.

Emanuel, Ezekiel. Reinventing American Healthcare: How the
Affordable Care Act Will Improve Our Terribly Complex,

Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inef-
ficient, Error Prone System (New York: Perseus, 2014).
Dr. Emanuel, an adviser to the Obama White House and con-
tributor to the writing of the Affordable Care Act, presents his
view of how the new health legislation will greatly improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the health-care system.

Gold, Russell. The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American
Energy Revolution and Changed the World (New York: Simon
and Schuster, 2014). An investigative reporter, Gold traveled
to the oil and gas fields and interviewed executives, workers,
and environmentalists to describe how the new ways of pro-
ducing energy are changing the world economy.

Laufer, Peter and Markos Kounalakis. Calexico: Hope and Hysteria
in the California Borderlands (Sausalito, CA: PoliPointPress,
2009). Calexico is a news-gathering travelogue that explores
the California–Mexico border region, a land of its own
inhabited by people who experience the immigration crisis
in all its dimensions every day. Laufer is a foreign affairs
journalist and radio commentator; Kounalakis is the president
of the Washington Monthly.

MEDIA RESOURCES
Climate of Doubt (PBS 2012)—In this documentary film, the focus

is on the competing groups that espouse global warming
and the “deniers” who oppose this idea. Economic inter-
ests clash with pure activists. https://www.pbs.org/video/
frontline-climate-doubt

Escape Fire (2012)—An award-winning documentary examin-
ing the inefficiencies and cost of the American health-care

system. The film notes, we have a “disease care” system,
not a health-care system. http://www.escapefiremovie
.com/

Gasland Part II (HBO 2013)—HBO’s Gasland II presents even
more evidence about the dangers of fracking and the false
sense of safety and environmentalism that the drillers and
industry project. http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/home

C H A P T E R 1 5 ● D O M E S T I C P O L I C Y 555

Promised Land (2012)—A film starring Matt Damon and John
Krasinski that explores a conflict in a small town over fracking.

Sicko—A 2007 Michael Moore film critical of the U.S. health-
care industry. Rather than focusing on the plight of the unin-
sured, Moore addresses the troubles of those who have
been denied coverage by their insurance companies.

In his most outrageous stunt ever, Moore assembles a group
of 9/11 rescue workers who have been denied proper care
and takes them to Cuba, where the government, perfectly
aware of the propaganda implications, is more than happy
to arrange for their treatment.

ONLINE RESOURCES
Department of Energy, Energy Information Agency—compiles

every possible statistic on energy use, mining, drilling for
oil, and the like: www.eia.gov

Environmental Protection Agency—the department charged
with implementing the federal regulations regarding air and
water pollution, its website documents current programs
and gives valuable information about many environmental
topics: www.epa.gov

Institute for Research on Poverty—offers information on poverty
in the United States and the latest research on this topic:
www.ssc.wisc.edu/irp

National Governors Association—bipartisan organization of the
nation’s governors that promotes visionary state leadership,
shares best practices, and speaks with a unified voice on
national policy, such as the current status of welfare reform:
www.nga.org

U.S. Census Bureau—reports current statistics on poverty in
the United States: https://www.census.gov/topics/income-
poverty/poverty.html

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