Social Policy
Key Legislation
Social Security Act (1935)
Impact of the Policy (Who was helped? Hurt?
Cost-benefit analysis? Overall Positive or
Negative Impact?)
Purpose/Problem to be Solved
To alleviate the suffering brought by the Depression
by:
 Providing unemployment insurance
payments to those out of work
 To mitigate the negative effects of modern
industrial society by providing federal
assistance to the poor, the aged, and the
blind
 To reduce the poverty rate among
America’s senior citizens by creating a
pension system for all Americans
 To reward America’s senior citizens for the
hard work that helped make America what
it had become
Provisions/What the Law Did
TITLE I: Money to the states for immediate
assistance to impoverished elderly
Informal Institutions Involved in
Passing/Opposing the Law
TITLE II: Old age pensions, paid for by the payroll
tax, to all retired primary breadwinners (later
expanded to all senior citizens) with taxes starting in
1937 and monthly benefits beginning in 1942 (later
moved to 1940)
TITLE III: Unemployment insurance
TITLE IV: Created Aid to Families with Dependent
Bureaucracy Involved and How
Children (AFDC) – aid to American families with little
to no income
TITLE V: Maternal and child welfare
TITLE VI: Provided public health services
TITLE VII: Provided federal assistance to the blind
Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families (1996)
Impact of the Policy (Who was helped? Hurt?
Cost-benefit analysis? Overall Positive or
Negative Impact?)
Purpose/Problem to be Solved
To address the perceived weakness of AFDC –
incentivizing dependency on the government and
discouraging work – by overhauling the entire
welfare system by:



Helping needy families achieve selfsufficiency
Encouraging job training and active job
seeking
Ending assistance to the poor as an
entitlement
Provisions/What the Law Did
-Turned federal welfare payments into block grants
to states to be used as they see fit within the
parameters of the program
Informal Institutions Involved in
Passing/Opposing the Law
-Limited the total number of months an individual
can collect benefits to 60 months (in some states,
less)
-Favors the maintenance of 2-parent households or
homes where children remain with families
-Calls for states to develop programs that promote
job preparation, work, and marriage as well as to
reduce out-of-wedlock births
Bureaucracy Involved and How
No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
Impact of the Policy (Who was helped? Hurt?
Cost-benefit analysis? Overall Positive or
Negative Impact?)
Purpose/Problem to be Solved
To promote excellence in America’s K-12 public
schools by:
 Supporting standards-based instruction in
every state to increase student
achievement
 Expanding the federal role in public
education by linking school performance to
federal aid
 Encourage schools to raise expectations of
both teachers and students in order to help
American compete in the global
marketplace
Provisions/What the Law Did
-Students in grades 3-8 must undergo annual testing Informal Institutions Involved in
Passing/Opposing the Law
in reading and math by 2005-2006
-Students must test in science once in elementary,
middle, and high school
-All schools in every state are required to bring all
students up to the level of “proficient” by 20132014. Failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP) toward that end goal could face monetary and
other penalties
-Chronically failing schools could face a change in
administration, state take-over, or complete closing
-All schools by 2002-2003 must have their own
report cards showing progress toward NCLB goals
-An increase in funding for Reading First programs
-Give states more flexibility in how they spend
federal education money
Bureaucracy Involved and How