Essay 16

The United States congress and the president together have the power to enact federal law. Federal bureaucratic agencies have the responsibility to execute federal law. However, in the carrying out of these laws, federal agencies have policy making discretion. Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws because they do not have the expertise that the agencies have and they are more efficient, making it easier for everyone to come to an agreement.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exercises its policy-making discretion in order to keep our air and water clean.  They can do this by regulating the use of chemicals in domestic and industrial areas.

Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent through hearings, investigations, oversight, and more.  They can change laws and veto certain legislation that they dont agree with.

2006-3 The United States congress and the president together have the power to enact federal law. Federal bureaucratic agencies have the responsibility to execute federal law. However, in the carrying out of these laws, federal agencies have policy making discretion.
(1) Explain two reasons why Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws.
(2) Choose one of the bureaucratic agencies listed below. Identify the policy area over which it exercises policy-making discretion and give one specific example of how it exercises that discretion.
a. Environmental Protection Agency
b. Federal Communications Commission
c. Federal Reserve board
(3) Describe two ways in which Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent.

Essay 15

In recent decades, entitlement programs have constituted a substantial portion of the United States federal budget.  An entitlement program is a government program providing mandated/ guaranteed/ required benefits to those who meet eligibility requirements or qualifications.  Social Security is the largest entitlement program in the US.  The primary source of revenue for Social Security is payroll taxes or taxes based on earned income which would be taken out of legal paychecks.  One major threat to the future of this program may be that outputs will start to exceed inputs, or they may ultimately run out of money.  This is also connected to the threat that their will be too many old people due to the baby boom and older generations living longer, but the number of the workers funding the social security are not increasing along with the older generation.  This results in an unequal ratio and that will result in less money paid in, but more money needing to be paid out.  If people were to work longer, less money would be payed out, more money would be payed in and the reserve would not decline as rapidly as predicted.

2006-2 In recent decades, entitlement programs have constituted a substantial portion of the United States federal budget. Social Security is the largest entitlement program in the US. From the information in the chart above, and your knowledge of the US government and politics, perform the following tasks.
(a) define entitlement program
(b) What is the primary source of revenue for the Social Security program
(c) Identify one threat to the future of the Social security program should the trends depicted in the chart continue
(d) Describe on demographic trend that threatens the future of the Social Security program and explain how it is responsible for the threat that you identified in (c )
(e) Explain how any one of the trends in the chart above would change if the age of eligibility for social security were raised.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/_ap06_gopo_us_sg.pdf

Essay 14

1. The constitution grants the president certain enumerated powers.  Two of these formal powers that enable the president to exert influence over domestic policy are calling congress into session, and legislative powers, such as vetoing and signing legislation.
2.  Mandatory spending is when spending is not controlled by annual budget decisions.  This limits the presidents ability to influence domestic policy making in congress and makes it difficult to make budge cuts tat might accomplish policy goals
Lame-Duck period is a period of time in which an officeholder's term is coming to an end, this can limit the presidents ability to influence policy because his power may be perceived as diminished during this time, and people may become less responsive towards the president.

2008-2)A number of factors enable presidents to exert influence over Congress in the area of domestic policy. However, presidents are also limited in their influence over domestic policymaking in Congress.

-The Constitution grants the president certain enumerated powers. Describe two of these formal powers that enable the president to exert influence over domestic policy.

-Choose two of the following. Define each term and explain how each limits the president’s ability to influence domestic policy making in Congress.

*Mandatory spending

*Party polarization

*Lame-duck period

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_gopo_us_sgs.pdf

Essay 13

Congressional reapportionment is the reallocation of the number of representative each state has in the House of Representatives.  It is import ants to keep updated every ten years so that it is up to date with our societies population.  This will help the states keep their number of electoral votes correct and their amount of influence balanced with their population.  Congressional redistricting is the drawing or redrawing of house and congressional district lines within a state, it does not affect the senate.  During redistricting politicians may gerrymander in the hopes of enhancing their political party's strengths or weakening the opposing party, or protecting their incumbents.  When someone is gerrymandering to maximize their supporting votes they will try to either "pack" or "crack" their voters.  This means they will either try to concentrate their voters into a single electorate district to reduce their influence in other districts, or they will try to spread out their voters among many districts.  These tactics are often used together.  The U.S. Supreme Court has required that districts must be equally populated and compact so that redistricting is fair. 



2008-1) Congressional reapportionment and redistricting are conducted every ten years. When redistricting is conducted, politicians often engage in gerrymandering.
(a) Define congressional reapportionment and explain one reason why it is important to states.
(b) Define congressional redistricting.
(c) Explain two goals of politicians when they gerrymander during redistricting.
(d) Describe two limits that the United State Supreme Court has placed on congressional redistricting.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_gopo_us_sgs.pdf

Essay 12

Divided government is when the presidency and congress are from different political parties, which forms a split in our government.  This can lead to a decline of trust and confidence because many of the policies are not agreed on, creating tension and often leading to gridlock or less policy change.  Our society might start to believe that the government doesn't have the ability to pass necessary legislation and keep our government under control, then they start to lose their trust.  The increased cost of election campaigns has contributed to the decline in trust and confidence in our government because of the perception that they are wasting good money by spending it on things that people believe isn't helping or influencing their election.  This can also lead to a majority of the population believing that you must be a wealth or elite person to be successful in the government or in choosing who you would like to vote for.  Consequences of decline in trust in our government can be decreased voting, increase in protesting, and an increase in independents or third-parties (which could be considered positive or negative).  A decrease in voting could occur because people might think that their vote won't make a difference or it would only be a choice between two wealthy elites, whom they can't relate to.  Many of these reasons can lead to protest because people might think they aren't given a fair option, and they can only resort to protest to try and get their opinions heard. 

2004_4
3) Trust and confidence in government have declined in recent decades.
(a) Explain how divided government has contributed to the decline in trust and confidence in government. Be sure to include a definition of divided government in your response
(b) Explain how the increased cost of election campaigns has contributed to the decline in trust and confidence in government.
(c) Explain two specific consequences of the decline in trust and confidence in government for individual political behavior. 
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/repository/ap04_sg_gopo_us_37090.pdf

Essay 11

Incumbents have a high reelection rate in both the House and Senate, but the House typically has a higher incumbency rate than the senate.  Incumbents usually have an advantage point because of their experience in the field.  This goes along with the fact that they are usually running against a weaker opponent, who isn't as used to the environment and isn't as politically experienced as an incumbent.  This will usually lead to a challenger defeat.  Another factor that can lead to incumbency advantage is the finance advantage they have. They are experienced in fundraising and will usually have people who favor their view and are willing to donate to them, whereas someone who is new won't already have a following or people who know what their political views are. This makes it much easier for an incumbent to run a campaign successfully.  Consequences of incumbency advantage can either be positive or negative.  A consequence that is considered more positive is that it leads to more experienced lawmakers.  This helps because more people making decisions are experienced and know how to get favorable laws passed.  A more negative consequence is that may of the people becoming selected are the same people we have had before, this leads to fewer women and minorities being elected.

(2001_2) the graph above shows reelection rates for incumbents in the House and Senate. From this information and your knowledge of of the US politics, perform the following 
tasks. 
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/repository/sg_govpol_us_01_7046.pdf

Oil Spill Annotations

Source #1:

The Spill. 26 Oct. 2010. Frontline. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-spill/etc/introduction.html>.

Oil company, BP, has managed to create a bad reputation for the face of foreign oil by neglecting to attend to safety concerns. Cost-cutting measures have continued to lower the safety threshold and both injure and kill over 20 people so far. Frontline investigates and describes how this company has slowly decreased in safety and trust. It also shows just how dangerous the oil spills can be, leading to fire, explosions, and the death and injury of many bp employees. Lack of leadership in the company is the main cause of confusion with safety measures and cost-cutting which is making the company untrustworthy and not true to their word that they will bump up the safety measures to keep employees safe. 

Source #2:

Pelley, Scott. "Blowout: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster." CBS News. CBS Interactive Inc., 16 May 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/blowout-the-deepwater-horizon-disaster-16-05-2010/>.

The deepwater horizon disaster refers to the tragic explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by bp, the largest oil company to date. It claimed 11 lives and is particularly terrible because there could have been many things done to prevent this disaster. To cut costs, bp avoided doing things for safety measures, not sealing the cement blocks being the largest of the cost-cutting activities, and that lead to the oil spill heard around the world. There could have been so many things that could have prevented this but bp has a major lack of leadership, starting with the CEO, that have ruined bp forever. 

Source #3:

McClatchy, David. "BP's Troubled Past." Frontline. PBS, 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-spill/bp-troubled-past/>.

For years, bp has been avoiding necessary safety measures to cut costs which has let to the injury and death of multiple employees. Now, there are documents being released that identify that bp truly could have done so much to save the lives of their employees but instead, they thought of the money aspect of it because they are greedy. Not only were people killed in the Texas City explosion, but there was a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people. The sad part of the whole story is that bp just needs new leadership to guide them in the right direction to make their company safe again and to prevent any more disasters from occurring anytime soon.