Pick one of the following:
1. Whatever happened to the safe-havens program from HR 2018? How would one know whether and how it worked? In your answer, consider the difficulty of appraising such a program.
2. In 2009, President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Why did it pass? How is it working? In your answer, consider the role of the bureaucracy and the difficulty of isolating the impact of a single statute.
3. Read one of the case studies that I am sending you: Build America Bonds, Federal Support for Energy and Housing, Services to Veterans. Appraise the program's performance. In your answer, consider developments since the writing of the case. Be skeptical of claims that policymakers offer within the case.
------------ADDITIONAL OPTIONS AS OF OCTOBER 14------------------------
4. In Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options, the Congressional Budget Office lists 105 ways to cut the deficit. Pick one that you like. Explain why President Obama should seek its enactment and how he could get congressional support for it. In your answer, take account of developments since the document's publication. Consider sources of political opposition as well as substantive policy arguments against the proposal. That is, if this option were both easy and effective, why the government not already taken it?
5. Pick a faith-based government program at the federal or state level. (You may find relevant information here and here.) Evaluate its performance. Does the "faith" component make a difference? How do we know?
Whichever essay you choose, do research to document your claims. Do not write from the top of your head. And whatever your position, seriously consider obstacles and counter-arguments.
- Essays should be typed, stapled, double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page.
- Put your name on a cover sheet. Do not identify yourself on the text pages.
- Cite your sources with endnotes, which should be in a standard style (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style). Endnote pages do not count against the page limit.
- Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.
- Return essays by the start of class, Wednesday, October 26. Late essays will drop a letter grade. I will grant no extensions except for illness or emergency.
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