American Government and Politics in the Information Age: "Chapter 16: Policymaking and Domestic Policies"
Read this chapter. When government decides to act, it mostly does so through public policy, which is a specific course of action that government takes to address a problem, such as the federal budget deficit. A public policy can be conveyed to the public
in the laws passed by Congress and signed by the president, opinions issued by the Supreme Court, and/or rules written by the executive branch. In many ways, public policy tells the public who gets what – and when and how – from government.