Discussion: Agenda Comparison Grids

Discussion: Agenda Comparison Grids

RE: Discussion – Week 1
Collapse
Childhood obesity is a rising problem among our nation. I love that you chose to address this topic! Many positive changes were made by the Obama Administration addressing this issue. In 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act went into effect. There are many facets to this Act, but overall it includes significant improvements that will help provide children with healthier and more nutritious food options, educate children about making healthy food choices, and teach children healthy habits that can last a lifetime (“Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act”, 2013). Many kids receive breakfast and lunch at their local school, as this is more than half their meals consumed in the day, it’s important there are healthy options being provided.

As far as President Trump’s agenda on childhood obesity, it is difficult to find any concrete information about specific things he is addressing on this topic. I found one article talking about how it is a priority for the Office of Community Food Systems to focus on increasing access to local food being provided in schools (USDA, 2020). Of course, this will look different among different communities. It would be interesting to find more specific information on whether President Trump is continuing to hold up the standards of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. (2013, November 20). Retrieved February 26, 2020, from

https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/healthy-hunger-free-kids-act

USDA. (2020, February 6). 10 Facts About Local Food in Schools. Retrieved February 26, 2020, from https://www.fns.usda.gov/cfs/10-

facts-about-local-food-schools

Permalink: https://nursingpaperslayers.com/discussion-agenda-comparison-grids/ ‎

Review the agenda priorities of the current/sitting U.S. president and the two previous presidential administrations.
Select an issue related to healthcare that was addressed by each of the last three U.S. presidential administrations.
Reflect on the focus of their respective agendas, including the allocation of financial resources for addressing the healthcare issue you selected.
Consider how you would communicate the importance of a healthcare issue to a legislator/policymaker or a member of their staff for inclusion on an agenda.
Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid

Use the Agenda Comparison Grid Template found in the Learning Resources and complete the Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid based on the current/sitting U.S. president and the two previous presidential administrations and their agendas related to the public health concern you selected. Be sure to address the following:

Identify and provide a brief description of the population health concern you selected and the factors that contribute to it.
Describe the administrative agenda focus related to the issue you selected.
Identify the allocations of financial and other resources that the current and two previous presidents dedicated to this issue.
Explain how each of the presidential administrations approached the issue.
RE: Discussion – Week 1
Collapse
Identify the Population Health concern you selected. Gun Violence

Describe the Population Health concern you selected and the factors that contribute to it. Gun violence has reached epidemic proportions in some areas of our nation. Gun violence and a lack of gun control go hand in hand. In many demographic groups, such as lower socioeconomic groups, it lowers life expectancy and increases healthcare costs to the entire country. Its price on a personal scale cannot be measured. Lack of education and improper vetting of gun owners has helped to push this increase in gun violence. The lack of action on the part of some of our elected officials has also contributed to the spread of gun violence.

Administration (President Name) (Current President) (Previous President) (Previous President)
Describe the administrative agenda focus related to this issue for the current and two previous presidents. The Trump administration’s focus on gun violence has mostly been haphazard. In his presidential election campaign, it was made clear that he would not take anyone’s firearms away. The Trump administration has publicly pushed for the arming of teachers and then reversed itself on this idea, later saying it would not be a good idea. It has touted the importance of enhancing background checks but not implied how this would be accomplished. In 2017 a bill removing the Obama era legislation to restrict gun ownership to the mentally ill was signed. President Trump also threatened to veto any legislation that would institute universal background checks. President Trump did introduce legislation banning bump stocks (Thomas, 2019).

The Obama administration’s focus on gun violence has been to attempt to enact legislation to help alleviate the extent of this violence. In 2016 President Obama signed executive orders that enhanced existing laws, thereby circumventing a noncooperative congress. These orders strengthened background checks, gave law enforcement better tools to prevent and prosecute gun crimes. These executive orders also improved the quality of coverage that people with mental health issues received. The Obama administration also attempted to end the legislative blocking of gun violence research but were unsuccessful (The White House, 2015). The Bush administration’s focus on gun violence was primarily to focus on the enforcement of existing laws. The Bush administration’s policy was a belief that it was a fundamental right for people to own firearms. In 2001 President Bush introduced legislation called Project Safe Neighborhoods, which integrated state and federal agencies’ investigative powers to provide better enforcement of existing federal laws. The Bush administration called on states to pass gun legislation of their own in response to the public outcry for better gun control legislation (US Department of Justice, 2018). In 2008 legislation was passed that strengthened the instant background check after the Virginia Tech School mass shooting. This was one of the only major pieces of gun legislation to be passed by the Bush administration (Simon, 2008).
Identify the allocations of financial and other resources that the current and two previous presidents dedicated to this issue. The Trump administration has improved research into gun violence. In 2018 the Trump administration included legislation in a spending bill that would allow the financing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research the causes and offer possible solutions to the gun violence epidemic plaguing our nation. This legislation was a new development as, for the past twenty years, the federal funding of this type of research had been prohibited by federal legislation (Prina, 2018).

The Obama administration was very successful in financing new gun control legislation. In 2017 the federal budget included the funding of 200 new ATF agents and 250 new FBI examiners to improve the instant background check systems efficiency. The administration also provided four million dollars in funding so the ATF could investigate illegal online purchases of firearms. The Obama administration also legislated 500 million dollars to increase access to mental health care for the underserved and needy. This legislation also provided for the use of the Social Security Administration to use their database of beneficiaries to ascertain who might not be able to own a firearm because of mental illness (The White House fact sheet, 2016). The Bush administration allocated very little direct funding of new gun control legislation in its tenure. It did introduce legislation to fund a 75 million dollar child safety lock giveaway (Martinelli, 2001). The Project Safe Neighborhoods legislation did provide some federal education grants to states to implement education programs to decrease the amount of juvenile gun violence (US Department of Justice, 2018).
Explain how each of the presidential administrations approached the issue. In the case of the Trump administration, it has approached the issue of gun violence by keeping the status quo. It has not offered any new or significant gun legislation that would offset the increase in gun violence we see today.

The Obama administration’s approach to the issue of gun violence was very proactive. It pushed for new and stronger legislation against gun violence and fought an uphill battle against a congress controlled mainly by its opponents. The Bush administration’s approach to the issue of gun violence was to enforce existing laws while not enacting any new or progressive legislation. This inaction was a direct result of the demands of his constituency to not enact any restrictive legislation on the possession or regulation of firearms.

References

Martinelli, S. (2004). Bush budget provides more guns, less prevention. Violence Policy Center. Retrieved from https://vpc.org/press/press-release-archive/bush-budget-provides-more-guns-less-prevention/

Prina, L.L. (2018). What are funders doing to prevent violence? Health Affairs, 37(5), 821-822. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2018.0371

Simon, R. (2008). Bush signs bill geared to toughen screening of gun buyers. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from https://latimes.com/la-na-guns9dec09-story.html

The White House: President Barack Obama. (2016). Fact sheet: New executive actions to reduce gun violence and make our communities safer. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/01/04/fact-sheet-new-executive-actions-reduce-gun-violence-and-make-our

The White House: President Barack Obama. (2015). Now is the time to do something about gun violence. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehousearchives.gov/issues/preventing-gun-violence

Thomas, E. (2019). A timeline of trump’s record on gun control reform. ABC News. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/politics/timeline-trumps-record-gun-control.reform/story?id=64783662

United States Department of Justice. (2018). Project Safe Neighborhoods. Retrieved from https://justice.gov/usao-vt-/project-safe-neighborhoods

Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis

Using the information you recorded in Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid on the template, complete the Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis portion of the template, by addressing the following:

Which administrative agency would most likely be responsible for helping you address the healthcare issue you selected?
How do you think your selected healthcare issue might get on the agenda for the current and two previous presidents? How does it stay there?
Who would you choose to be the entrepreneur/ champion/sponsor of the healthcare issue you selected for the current and two previous presidents?
Based on the feedback that you received from your colleagues in the Discussion, revise Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid and Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis.

Then, using the information recorded on the template in Parts 1 and 2, develop a 1-page Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief that you could use to communicate with a policymaker/legislator or a member of their staff for this healthcare issue. You can use Microsoft Word or PowerPoint to create your Fact Sheet or Talking Point Brief. Be sure to address the following:

Summarize why this healthcare issue is important and should be included in the agenda for legislation.
Justify the role of the nurse in agenda setting for healthcare issues
Module 1: Agenda Setting (Weeks 1-2)

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Meet the Experts: Pioneers in Policy [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). The Policy Process [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Learning Objectives
Students will:
Compare U.S. presidential agenda priorities
Evaluate ways that administrative agencies help address healthcare issues
Analyze how healthcare issues get on administrative agendas
Identify champions or sponsors of healthcare issues
Create fact sheets for communicating with policymakers or legislators
Justify the role of the nurse in agenda setting for healthcare issues
Due By
Assignment
Week 1, Days 1–2
Read/Watch/Listen to the Learning Resources.
Compose your initial Discussion post.
Begin to compose a draft of your Assignment.
Week 1, Day 3
Post your draft of Part 1 of your Assignment as the initial Discussion post.
Begin to compose your final draft of your Assignment.
Week 1, Days 4-5
Review peer Discussion posts.
Compose your peer Discussion responses.
Continue to compose your final draft of your Assignment.
Week 1, Day 6
Post at least two peer Discussion responses on two different days (and not the same day as the initial post).
Continue to compose your final draft of your Assignment.
Week 1, Day 7
Wrap up Discussion.
Week 2, Day 1–6
Review the responses to your initial post in the Discussion and revise your Assignment accordingly.
Continue to compose and refine the final draft of your Assignment.
Week 2, Day 7
Deadline to submit your Assignment.
Photo Credit: [Anuska Sampedro]/[Moment]/Getty Images

Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Chapter 1, “Informing Public Policy: An Important Role for Registered Nurses” (pp. 11–13 only)
Chapter 2, “Agenda Setting: What Rises to a Policymaker’s Attention?” (pp. 17–36)
Chapter 10, “Overview: The Economics and Finance of Health Care” (pp. 171–180)
Chapter 12, “An Insider’s Guide to Engaging in Policy Activities”“Creating a Fact Sheet” (pp. 217-221)
DeMarco, R., & Tufts, K. A. (2014). The mechanics of writing a policy brief. Nursing Outlook, 62(3), 219–224. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2014.04.002

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
Kingdon, J. W. (2001). A model of agenda-setting, with applications. Law Review, M.S.U.-D.C.L., 2(331).

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
Lamb, G., Newhouse, R., Beverly, C., Toney, D. A., Cropley, S., Weaver, C. A., Kurtzman, E., … Peterson, C. (2015). Policy agenda for nurse-led care coordination. Nursing Outlook, 63(4), 521–530. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2015.06.003

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
O’Rourke, N. C., Crawford, S. L., Morris, N. S., & Pulcini, J. (2017). Political efficacy and participation of nurse practitioners. Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice, 18(3), 135–148. doi:10.1177/1527154417728514

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Enhancing Environmental Health Content in Nursing Practice, Pope, A. M., Snyder, M. A., & Mood, L. H. (Eds.). (n.d.). Nursing health, & environment: Strengthening the relationship to improve the public’s health. Retrieved September 20, 2018.

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
USA.gov. (n.d.). A-Z index of U.S. government departments and agencies. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/a
USA.gov. (n.d.). Executive departments. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.usa.gov/executive-departments
The White House. (n.d.). The cabinet. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-trump-administration/the-cabinet/
Document: Agenda Comparison Grid Template (Word document)
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Setting the Agenda [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Scroll to Top