This is a public policy work

The senators and representatives who
make up the legislative branch each have different agendas, priorities, and
policy initiatives that they wish to usher through the public policy process.
It is clearly not easy for any one member of Congress to have laws enacted to
suit all of his or her policy priorities. In fact, very few bills proposed in
either the House or the Senate ever become law. This week’s Learning Resources
help explain just why a fraction of these proposed bills are actually enacted.
Therefore, the prioritization of public policy is an extremely important part
of the inner workings of the legislative branch. The process by which those
priorities are organized is often the result of compromise, conflict, and
outside pressure both from the president and rulings from the federal courts.
The entire process is fascinating, not only in the development of a national
policy agenda, but also in learning how the legislative branch is able to
promulgate laws in that area.

Select a recent public policy issue
that was either blocked or promulgated by the legislative branch and think
about the controversial aspects of the issue. Consider why the legislative
branch decided to block or promulgate the public policy issue you selected.

The Assignment:

Write a 4- to 5-page double-spaced
paper in which you do the following:

• Describe a recent public policy issue where the
  legislative branch demonstrated its ability to block or promulgate a
  public policy.
• Briefly explain the roles, responsibilities, and
  functions of the legislative branch that allow for the promulgation or
  blockage of the specific policy you selected.
• Explain what the legislative branch did to either
  block or promulgate the policy and why.
• Include three additional scholarly resources
  published in the last three years, in addition to citing this week’s
  Learning Resources.
• Cite all resources in APA format.

  Anderson, J. E. (2015). Public
policymaking: An introduction (8th
ed.). Stamford, CT:  Cengage Learning.

• Chapter 5, “Budgeting and Public Policy” (pp.
  180–224)
• Guess, G. M., & Farnham, P. G. (2011). Cases
  in public policy analysis (3rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown
  University Press.
• Chapter 4, “Forecasting Policy Options” (pp.
  153–237)
• Larocca, R. (2011). The bicameral context of
  presidential agenda setting. Congress & the Presidency, 38(2),
  171–194.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Congress.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2014, from
  http://beta.congress.gov/
• Library of Congress. (n.d.). Bills, resolutions.
  Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://thomas.loc.gov/home/bills_res.html