US Public Policy: Federal Branches, Issues, and Alternative Solutions

This essay provides an overview of public policy in the United States, focusing on the roles of the three branches of the federal government—legislative, executive, and judicial—in the policymaking process. It defines public policy as the means by which the government addresses the needs of its citizens, using the example of healthcare policy to illustrate its importance. The essay discusses the significance of public policy in guiding government actions and enabling citizens to evaluate governmental achievements, highlighting the issue of prostitution as an important policy concern. Furthermore, it critiques the current policymaking approach, advocating for greater citizen involvement and collaboration with agencies like human rights groups to create more effective and inclusive policies. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for consultative processes that consider the perspectives of ordinary citizens who are most affected by policy directives; students can find similar essays and study resources on Desklib.

Running head: PUBLIC POLICY
Public policy
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PUBLIC POLICY 2
Introduction.
In every country, the government is divided into various arms each doing a specific
function. There is the arm that is given the mandate to make and amend policies. However, there
are usually complains from citizens on how the rules are made. The assignment is going to focus
on policy making in USA and alternative ways to make the laws.
What is public policy and what is the primary function of the three branches of the US
federal government
The term public policy refers to the way in which authority solves the needs of the
citizens by making use of the steps defined in the constitution according to Birkland, (2015). For
example, if one may consider the case of the United States of America, the government have
established health insurance as a medical requirement of every citizen. the government had
established that many citizens especially the low-class citizens have difficulty in affording the
health services. The next step that the government took was to analyze the rules in the
constitution and come up with an effective way to assist the mass in getting quality health. It is
evident that for now, every American citizen access quality health care because of the health
insurance policy in reference to Ehrenberg & Smith, (2016).
Draper, (2017) says that, the American constitution establishes three arms of the federal
government with each of them having a distinct function from the other. The first branch is the
legislative arm of the federal government. It is divided into two houses, the house of
representatives and the Senate. The role of the legislative branch of the government is to approve
the nominations from the head of state, make and amend laws and lastly is to declare war
between American and any other country. The executive is the second branch of the government.

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It is made up of the cabinet, vice president and the president in reference to Dror, (2017). The
role of the president is to head the country and be the commander in chief of the armed forces.
On the other hand, the vice president assumes the roles of the president when he or he is away.
The cabinet ministers provide pieces of advice on how to run various sectors of the government.
The third branch of the federal government is the judiciary and its main role is to interpret the
rules in the constitution.
Why is public policy important, and what is a public policy issue that is important?
Public policies guide the authority on how to run the government. When the certain group
of people assumes leadership, they set various targets in form of the public policies. As the term
goes, they try to achieve every objective. Public policies give the citizens an opportunity to
evaluate the achievement of the government. If there were no public policies, the citizens would
be criticizing the government every now and then, however, with the public policies, the
government knows which issues to address and which once not to address according to Dunn,
(2015). The public policies are always set depending on the needs of the citizens. For instance, if
the citizens have been experiencing difficulty in matters of health, the government comes up
with a guideline to assist every citizen access quality health. On the other hand, if it is a matter of
security, it is the duty of the government to use the constitution to enact some laws addressing
the matter of security.
Consequently, one of the public policy issues that are important is the directive passed by
the lawmakers that no person should be found selling his or her body. Selling of the body may
for sex or a body organ. The above directive is important in that it prevents the widespread of
diseases among the youths and other old people. The crowding of ladies in the street would not
be there. Everyone would see a legitimate jo. However, it is important for the government to

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create employment opportunities to assist those people who have been depending on the
prostitution.
Creative solution for policy alternatives or tools to address the issue
The way the government comes up with the public policies is not effective. In many cases
the government institutions do not involve citizens in drafting the laws. For example, the policy
that prohibits the sex workers from operating fails to provide a solution to the victims. There are
many reasons why these people may be selling their bodies. The one reason may be
unemployment. The best mechanism in creating the public policy is to involve the citizens
themselves. The politicians come and go and some of them have selfish interest while debating
on the laws according to Hill & Hupe, (2014). On the other hand, there are several agencies that
the government should partner with while coming up with the policies. For example, the human
rights group. The policies affect the ordinary citizens; therefore, every move should consider the
citizens first.
Lastly, it is important for the process of making laws in every nation to be consultative.
The ordinary citizens are once who are on the receiving end of the directive. Therefore, it is
important for politicians to come up with mechanism that would assist citizen participation in
policy making

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References
Birkland, T. A. (2015). An introduction to the policy process: Theories, concepts, and models of
public policy making. Routledge.
Draper, T. (2017). American business and public policy: The politics of foreign trade. Routledge.
Dror, Y. (2017). Public policy making reexamined. Routledge.
Dunn, W. N. (2015). Public policy analysis. Routledge.
Ehrenberg, R. G., & Smith, R. S. (2016). Modern labor economics: Theory and public policy.
Routledge.
Hill, M., & Hupe, P. (2014). Implementing public policy: An introduction to the study of
operational governance. Sage.

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