A.P. American Government & Politics
Using your textbook and lecture notes answer the following questions.
Objectives 13.1
1. List four sources of federal revenue. (4 pts.)
2. Briefly explain how the federal government borrows money? (2 pts.)
3. Define and explain why tax expenditures benefit middle and high income taxpayers, using at least one specific tax expenditure as support. Do you think tax expenditures are overly obscure? Justify your answer. (4 pts)
Objectives 13.2
4. Describe the military industrial complex. What is its part in the history of the national security state? How has it affected the budget and the size of government? (3 pts)
5. In your own words, define the national security and social security states. Choose one, and explain why it acts as a barrier to reversing the size of the national budget. Is it also a barrier to decreasing the size of government? Which would be easier to reform, national defense or the social security state? (4 pts)
6. Describe the Social Security system. Between whom is it a contract? Explain the potential effects of increased life expectancy and low birthrates on the social service state. (4 pts)
7. Explain incrementalism and how it paints a picture of the federal budget as constantly growing. Discuss how growth in the federal budget affects growth in the size of government. Clarify whether the size of government is determined by the size of the federal budget? (4 pts)
Objectives 13.3
8. List and explain the main actors in the budgetary process. (20 pts)
9. List and explain the three main provisions of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. (6 pts)
10. Define and explain why Congress passes continuing resolutions. (2 pts.)
11. Describe two ways in which laws are changed to meet the budget resolution. (2 pts)
Objectives 13.4
12. Economists Allan Meltzer and Scott Richard argue that the government grows in a democracy when there is equality in suffrage. Highlight one example when equality of suffrage was responsible for the growth in government size. Extrapolating from this, how does wider suffrage affect the actions of politicians? (2 pts)
13. Explain why the budget is important for debating whether or not the government is too big. In your discussion, use at least one example of the budget to illustrate its effect on the size of government. (4 pts)
Using your textbook, lecture notes and other resources answer the following questions.
14. How has the War on Terrorism influenced the National Budget. Take a side as to the costs and benefits. What has it done to the national debt? Where is the majority of the money being spent? (2 pts)
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