History and Political Science

Sell Attachment or Instruction

Project description
DIRECTIONS:
Please read the following prompts carefully. After preparing your
response to both, click on the link to the actual assessment. You will
be provided with two hours to complete both. In addition to the
central questions you have been provided ahead of time, you will
also be asked additional questions that will be released upon when
completing the assessment.
If you have any questions, please make sure you ask the instructor
before attempting the exercise. You will not be allowed to retake the
assessment once you have viewed the complete exercise (accessed
the assessment link).
DEADLINE: You have until Sunday, December 8 to complete the
exercise
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Essay 1: Your Moment to Shine
You are a House member of a newly formed bipartisan Joint Deficit Committee. The committee has been
tasked with developing a series of spending cuts and/or tax increases that will eventually lead to a
reduction in the federal budget deficit in the next ten years. A similar joint committee was formed last
year in Congress. Unfortunately, the committee failed to come to an agreement on a series of spending
cuts and tax increases, which eventually led to a series of automatic spending cuts (called sequestration).
Task: Each committee member has been asked to come to the first meeting prepared to work. As such,
you have been asked to bring your personal recommendations to share with your colleagues. You take
this task very seriously because you are up for reelection next November, your constituents are becoming
increasingly anxious about the economy, and you are under immense pressure to prove yourself to your
colleagues in the party. Party leaders have identified you as an “up and coming” leader and the reaction
to your proposal (by both members of your party as well as the opposition) could solidify a bright political
future for you. So, what do you propose?
In a letter urging action, Senate members of the Joint Committee issued the following statements:
“We face a critical challenge in the next few months: balancing the need to reduce the deficit with the need to safeguard important
priorities, particularly protecting our national security, vital domestic programs and our economic recovery,”
“Any deficit reduction package should be “long term” and “provide as much certainty as possible for businesses and consumers.”
[We are] “committed to working together to help forge a balanced bipartisan deficit reduction package to avoid damage to our national
security, important domestic priorities and the nation’s economy.”
When completing the exercise online you will be provided a district and a description of your constituents (region,
demographics, ideology, etc.)
Essay 2: What is the Obama Doctrine?
How would you characterize the foreign policy of the Obama
Administration?
Although we are nearly at the halfway mark of President Barack Obama’s second term, many observers still
disagree on how they would characterize the foreign policy of the administration. How would you characterize it?
In your response, describe two to three major foreign policy decisions/actions made by the current administration.
Are his decisions similar or different from past administrations (consider past foreign policy doctrines described in
your text)?