Bureaucratic systems

a) One key characteristic of the merit system is hiring based on merit and testing rather than favoritism.

b) The structure of the federal bureaucracy contributes to bureaucratic independence by being large, specialized and merit based. Because the bureaucratic agencies are so specialized there is not much intervention by the state. The complexity of public policy problems also contribute because agencies are delegated authority —because Congress and the president cannot handle everything, they delegate authority to the bureaucracy. 

c) Congress, The Courts and Interest Groups can check the bureaucracy based on constitutional provision. Congress can do so by rejecting presidential appointments to the bureaucracy. The courts can judicially review and declare bureaucratic actions unconstitutional. Interest groups can use the first amendment to protest and lobby against the bureaucracy.  

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_us_govt_politics_q2.pdf

Partisanship change over time

a) The percentage of southern seats in the house held by democrats has been steadily decreasing for centuries.
b) Southern voters elected Democratic candidates to Congress more frequently than they elected Democratic candidates to the presidency because of incumbency advantage. Even though southerners started to lean Republican in choosing presidential candidates they felt safer keeping their incumbents, who were often Democrats, in the house. Another reason is differences between state and national parties which are independent of each other. To get votes Democratic congressional candidates responded to local interests, whereas Democratic presidential candidates responded to a national constituency.
c) Parties have changed in composition with respect to Catholics and women. Catholics have become less democratic voters over the years. Women have become more supportive of Democratic candidates and have become a large part of the Democratic voting population.    

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_us_govt_politics_q3.pdf

Bureaucratic Agencies

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.

1) Two reasons why Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws are congress does not want to be blamed for bad policy and agencies have the expertise that congress does not to create new policy.  
2) The Environmental Protection Agency exercises policy-making discretion over clean air and water laws they do this by working with companies like BP to keep our waters clean.
3) Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent by using legislative oversight and budget appropriations.


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

Entitlement Programs

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.

a) Entitlement programs are government-sponsored programs providing mandated/guarantee/required benefits to those who meet eligibility requirements/qualifications.
b)  The primary source of revenue for the Social Security program is taxes of different sorts mostly payroll and earned income taxes,
c) One threat to the future of the Social security program is the increasing number of retirees who can not be sustained by the smaller number of people entering the work force so we are going to run out of money for seniors. The trends in the cart should continue.
d) There are more older people and people are living longer, that is why we may run out of money.
e) If the age eligibility for social security was increased the amount of money we have for social security would stop decreasing at such a fast rate and hopefully even out and start increasing again soon. 



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

BP oil spill bibliography

"The Spill." PBS. PBS, 26 Oct. 2010" Web. 17 Mar. 2014.This PBS frontline video illustrates the shortcuts BP has taken in the last ten years and the consequences of that. BP has been cutting budgets since the nineties and as a result they have had multiple disasters such as the Alaska disaster, the huge fire in Texas, the tanker falling over in the gulf and the huge oil spill in the gulf. All of these happened because BP has been cheep and refused to check and repair issues. PBS Frontline is a reliable source and I plan to reuse this source.

Granatstein, Solly. "Blowout: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 16 May 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. This 60 minutes video explains the issues and mistakes made that resulted in the deep water horizon rig explosion. A survivor of the explosion tells the story of the explosion and what led up to it. The two weeks before, many mistakes were made that were not reported so as to keep costs down. This is typical of BP. I trust this source it is an informational news chanel that creates movies. Although they may be bias the information is factual and I would not hesitate to reuse this site.

 Krauss, Clifford. "Oil and Gasoline." - Petroleum. The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. This is a daily update on oil use and oil companies by The New York Times yesterday's update was on how BP's ban in the gulf was lifted and how they plan to attend the auctioning off of new drilling sites next week. This will be the first auction BP attends since their agreement with the environmental protection agency. There have been 3 auctions since BP spilled millions of gallons into the gulf and killed 11 people. This article also goes over previous BP accidents. This is a reliable source and I plan on using it again.

President influence over domestic policy

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 policy making 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

Two of the formal powers that enable the president to exert influence over domestic policy are legislative powers and appointment powers. With legislative powers the president can exercise use of the pocket veto and chooses whether to sign legislation. He also chooses who to appoint to certain offices such as the secretary of state.

Mandatory spending and party polarization limit the presidents ability to influence domestic policy. Mandatory spending is spending not controlled by annual budget decisions. This limits presidential influence by making it difficult to make budget cuts that accomplish policy goals. Party polarization is increased inter party differences. This results in a lack of moderates to build coalitions with and increased party opposition of policy goals. 


http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q2.pdf

Congressional Reappointment

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.

a) Congressional reapportionment occurs every ten years when the 435 house seats are reevaluated based on the census. It is important to states because as opinions change and numbers of people in states change states want to have a representative congress.
b) Congressional redistricting is when you re draw district lines for the house.
c) Congress gerrymanders during redistricting so as to win certain districts and hold power using packing and cracking and to maintain incumbency.
d) Two limits that the United State Supreme Court has placed on congressional redistricting are they must be equally populated and can not be drawn based on race.


http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q1.pdf