Political Science

The public policy environment in the United States is shaped by current challenges that the country need to adapt to. For instance, the government must create public policies that address terrorism, health care insurance plan and the economic crisis that threatens to stall economic development. The first part of this paper will describe the current policy making environment in the US in comparison to previous eras. The second part will evaluate three government policies established to address specific problems in the county. The final part will discuss three issues at the top of governments current policy agenda.

The policy making environment in the US today
An important facet of the public policy process is the ability to grasp how different interests are organized and how non state actors respond to different policies (Birkland, 2005, p. 141). The current administration is faced with several policy challenges that must address critical issues such as the global economic crisis and severe recession that threatens U.S economy. The enormous global trade and investment discrepancies and budget deficit limited efforts to solve current problems in health care, climate change, energy distribution, security and education sector. The administrations foreign policy arena must address complex issues such as the withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq, Irans nuclear ambitions a waning Middle East peace process (Mann, 2009). These challenges require new strategies and support from non state actors to achieve any success.

New Era of Responsibility in comparison to earlier eras of public policy making
New presidents that have agenda control usually get off to a good start. Their public policies focus on a restricted number of issues. For instance, the Carter administration sent many proposals to the Capital Hill with little regard for priority. Most of his policy proposals were not approved. On the contrary, The Reagan administration recorded success because public policies were centered on tax cuts and reduced federal expenditure. The Clinton regime allowed the military gay issue to engulf his public policy priorities and underestimated the market when he tabled a small economic stimulus. His proposal was rejected by the senate (Mann, 2009).

To the contrary, the current administration identified financial market stability and recession as the top public policy. The administrations efforts to secure 349 billion in TARP funds, initiate a new plan for distressed banking system and the introduction of a massive economic stimulus plan demonstrated that priority. The current administrations economic recovery strategy is connected to reforms on energy, education and health care policies. Obama maintained that the connection was critical economic prosperity. The economic stimulus bill included massive allocations for renewable energy, education, comprehensive health care plan and technology (Mann, 2009).

 The current budget proposals submitted to the Congress created provision for major health care reforms, increased federal investments in education sector, energy policy and a cap and trade carbon emission scheme. The administration posits that increased federal expenditure would raise aggregate demand and reduce long term fiscal debts (Mann, 2009).

Approaches to Congress
The current administrations approach to congress exhibits several unique patterns. Unlike the Bushs administration, the current administration respects the constitution status of Congress as the foremost branch of government. Usually, the administration seeks views of Congress members from across the political divide. The current President has shifted from Bushs reserved assertions of the intrinsic powers of the presidency. For instance, Obama has attended more personal meetings at the White House and Capitol Hill with Congress members from both political parties than President Bush did when he was at the helm. Obama is contended that the Congress has taken an active role in legislative process and has emphasized the need of concerted efforts in public policy initiatives.

Public support
The public concerns about the poor state of the economy remains the fundamental focus of the current administration. Many companies and financial institutions are in dire need of effective strategies to bail them out of the current financial crisis. The health care sector must be restructured to cover health care costs of Americans. The current administration needs public support to achieve his goals. Obama must reinforce the common public view that he took over an economic disaster from the Bushs regime and it takes time to achieve positive results. He must take brave steps to revive the economy, steady the financial system, and ensure Americans are safe from terrorist threats. He must display confidence that the plan will succeed and the economy will be vibrant again (Mann, 2009).

Public Policies Addressing Specific Problems in the Current Policy Making Arena
The current administration has developed the public vs. private policies, trade regulation policies and energy redistributive policies to address specific problems in the economy. These policies are discussed below.

The Public vs. Private Policy in Higher Education
The high education policy regards high education as a public good which must be provided by the federal government. The decline in academic standards in the US is attributed to the decrease of financial support from the federal government (Dill, 2005). The high education policy is a distributive type of policy because it entails federal expenditure in the education sector. The federal government usually avails funds to this sector in form of appropriation bills in the budget process (Birkland, 2005, p. 141). Distributive policies are usually grants in form of benefits to a specific interest group.

The US policy makers and the public are concerned about the academic standards of American universities. Although several education policies enacted gave many universities authority to vet the quality of higher education, an assessment of these policies indicates that the quality of education remains wanting. The federal government has developed new education policies that encourage all universities to implement self regulation academic standards that promote student learning. The new policies will also ensure that federal grants are provided to all universities and colleges to improve education standards and produce human capital required to run the economy efficiently (Dill, 2005).

Trade Regulatory Policy
Trade policies are forms of regulatory policies that govern business activities. Trade policies may be classified as protective regulative policies that protect domestic industries from unfair competition and consumers from hazards such as air pollution and substandard goods and services. Competitive regulative policies aim to protect industries from unfair business practices and issue license to commercial institutions to ensure high quality of standards are observed (Birkland, 2005, p. 144). 

The federal government has developed trade regulation policies that aim to favor and promote domestic industries over their foreign counterparts. The US businesses that participate in international markets encounter hostile and protectionist regulations from other countries. The trade regulations adopted by foreign countries have contributed to job loss in America and prevented exchange of production technologies in international markets (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2009).

The US government developed a new international trade policy that fused regulatory policies, trade policies and competitions regulations to support US industries and businesses in domestic and international markets. For instance, trade and regulatory officials collaborate under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to eliminate market distortions and open up new markets and ensure fair competition in the international market Competition policy is developed to ensure fair competition in the market. The new trade regulations will create jobs for Americans and spur economic growth (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2009).

Energy redistributive Policy
Energy redistributive policies are federal and state strategies that regulate energy utility companies and ensure reliable energy is distributed to consumers. These policies seek to manipulate the distribution of  energy resources at an affordable price to all diverse groups (Birkland, 2005, p. 145).The Enron fiasco is an example that shows how many energy utility companies fail to prioritize consumer service and energy reliability performance (Warren, 2003).

Energy regulators are concerned about the apparent insufficient investments in energy delivery system infrastructure and the decline of overall consumer service reliability. Regrettably, some of the energy regulatory policies enacted use inapt metrics to achieve energy reliability at a lower cost to energy consumer. The federal government has developed energy redistribution policy that will facilitate collaboration between energy regulators and energy utilities on reliability issues. The new strategy will enable energy regulators to design common measures and metrics that will evaluate performance fairly and homogeneously and append suitable inducements and penalties for performance. The new energy policy will assist utilities manage their expenditure plans on energy reliability and help regulatory bodies achieve their mandate efficiently. The regulators will be better placed to set rational targets rather than setting them too strictly which would force utility companies to construct expenditure on less than best programs or setting them too loose which would permit utility companies evade consumer service and reliability duties (Warren, 2003). Energy consumers are thus expected to reap benefits from uninterrupted power supply under this program.

The economic crisis, terrorism and healthcare insurance plan are the current issues on top of governments policy agenda. These issues are discussed as follows

Economic Crisis
The United States economy is currently faced with the worst economic crisis that occurred in the domestic mortgage market and later spread to corporate junk bonds and real estate. Two important factors have shaped the governments current agenda to address the problem

The decrease in the rate of profit
The decline in the rate of profit seems to be the major cause of the financial crisis that has affected the US economy. The federal government has developed several strategies to address the problem. For instance, the government has reduced expenditure on retirement benefits and health insurance to increase the rate of profit (Moseley, 2009). This means that employees will work harder until old age and pay high health insurance premiums than was before the crisis. Fewer jobs will thus be available to young workers and unemployment rate will increase.

Increased  bankruptcy cases
The economic crisis left many financial institution and other companies such as the American International Group (AIG) in financial calamities. A more current strategy was to use bankruptcy as a way to reduce wages and reimbursements. Companies were allowed to proclaim Chapter 11 bankruptcy which permits them to run, renegotiate their outstanding debts and nullify their unions agreements (Moseley, 2009). However, this recovery strategy will be at the expense of the United States workers.

Terrorism
Homeland security is the top priority of the current administration since the 911 terrorist attacks on US soil. Two critical factors have shaped the governments security strategies the creation of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the establishment of Counterterrorism Center (CTC).
Department of Homeland Security

The DHS was established in the aftermath of the 911 terrorist attack in U.S. The purpose of DHS is to protect American citizens and the countrys infrastructures from further attacks. The department gathers and analyzes intelligence information on terrorist organizations and uses this data to neutralize terrorist threats. DHS is an amalgamation of over 20 federal agencies and boasts of 49 billion annual budget with over 220,000 federal employees to support its goal (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2010).

Counterterrorism Center (CTC).
The Counterterrorism center (CTC) is made up of Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Security Agency. CTC analysts develop threat awareness, give precise projections and timely warning and provide a platform of collaboration among federal agents from different agencies to use intelligence gathered by various federal organizations on potential terrorist threats (Marrin, 2002). The need to strengthen the capability of federal agencies to share terrorism related intelligence cannot be overemphasized as the only solution to safeguard American citizens and infrastructure from future attacks.

Health Care Insurance Plan
The connection between health care costs and the economy cannot be understated. Americans want a health insurance plan that will cover their health care needs. A comprehensive health care insurance plan must address two important factors health care coverage for all Americans and access to affordable health care coverage.

Health Care Coverage
The U.S. is the only urbanized country that does not have a health care coverage for its civilians. For instance, 45 million citizens are not insured and 24 million others are underinsured. Americans families are compelled to pay high premiums to meet their health care needs. The current administration has initiated health care policies that will provide all citizens with affordable health care coverage irrespective of their medical history and financial status. The new policies will also ensure that the insurance market functions efficiently (Baucus, 2009).

Access To Affordable Health Care Coverage
The current health care proposal plan will guarantee every citizen access to affordable health care cover through a nationwide Health Insurance Exchange (HIE). The HIE will serve as a market arena where citizens in need of affordable and guaranteed health care coverage can compare and procure the optimal plan. The new health care plan will eliminate all ethnic health inequalities because all poor Americans will have equal access to Medicaid (Baucus, 2009). A comprehensive health care plan is thus necessary to protect house holds finances and guarantee access to affordable health care plan.

Conclusion
The public policy environment in the United States is shaped by current challenges that the country must address. Homeland security, the Middle East Peace Process and economic crisis are some of the issues. The current U.S administration has proposed several public policies to address the current problems it faces. For instance, public policies on higher education sector are meant to attend to the declining standards of education in the country. On economic front, trade regulation policies aim to promote fair competition in the business arena and protect consumers from substandard good and services. The energy sector is currently faced with ineffective structures that do not guarantee efficient delivery of reliable power to consumers. The energy redistributive policy aims to address this issue. The current economic crisis has severed the countrys economic growth plans. The proposed solution to this impasse include federal cut on retirement benefits and health care insurance  and the enactment of Chapter 11of  bankruptcy code to shield companies from imminent collapse. Homeland security continues to be the governments top priority and the administration has created the DHS and CTC to safeguard Americans from terrorist attacks. Finally, on health matters, the government has proposed a comprehensive health insurance plan that would cover health care needs of all Americans regardless of their financial backing or health status. The government should exhibit its commitment through instant implementation of the public policy proposals. A close evaluation should be done to assess the success of these policies. For further inquiries, please conduct me through this e-mail address  HYPERLINK mailtosvictor240gmail.com svictor240gmail.com.