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3. Understanding Public Policymaking

Exercises

1. Congressional Information Centers
   
   Chapter 3 presents the policy process model as the most widely utilized way of examining public policy in the United States. One stage of this model is policy evaluation. Congress has at its disposal its own mini-bureaucracy to help it get its work done. In addition to the congressional staff who work for individual members of Congress and for various committees and subcommittees, there are congressional offices that provide members of Congress with data, information, analyses, and evaluation of public problems, alternatives, and programs. This exercise introduces one of these organizations and helps explore the wealth of information available.
   
   The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a diversified program evaluation office, which means that it helps policymakers learn whether programs are doing what they are supposed to do. It is also a wonderful repository of data and information, and a large portion of its reports are available online. Go to the GAO site. Click on "Reports and Testimony." Type a key word into the "Keyword or Report #" box, such as homeland security, NASA, national parks, or food stamps. You are likely to get multiple hits from your search. Select one and provide the following:



• What is the report's title?





• What problem is it addressing?





• Why was the report issued? (Who asked for it? Why was it requested?)





• Discuss the report's major findings.

2. The State of the Union (or State) Address and Agenda Setting
   
   Another step in the policy process model is agenda setting--when policymakers begin active discussions about a problem and potential solutions. The president is a prime agenda setter because of the executive office's position and exposure. Likewise, at the state level, governors have similar agenda setting capabilities. One way to see what presidents (or governors) want to see on the agenda is to examine their State of the Union (or State of the State) addresses. The Constitution requires the president to provide information on the state of the union annually. This is the prime event for a president to establish the issues to be addressed in the coming year. This exercise provides resources to access these speeches.



• Go to the ThisNation site to access presidential State of the Union addresses. Choose addresses from two different presidents. For each president, read the president's first address, which corresponds with the so-called "honeymoon" period when a president typically has the most public support and political power. Then select an address from the last year of the president's term. Compare the two speeches for each president. Which issues are similar? Which are different? Are there any issues discussed in both addresses but with different ideas or solutions presented? Explain.





• The National Governors Association (NGA) represents states and their governors. Go to the Stateline.org site to access State of the State addresses. Select one speech from two different states from the same year (for example, one from a governor of your state and one from the governor of a second state) and examine each. Which states did you choose? Which year? Which, if any, issues are similar between the two speeches? Are there any issues mentioned in one address and not in the other? This may help you recognize the disparity between state policymaking and state agendas. Is there an overarching trend or theme common to both addresses?