This course examines public policies, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and various public assistance programs that emerged from the federal government's attempts to create a "safety net" for American citizens beginning in the 1930s, and from attempts to confront poverty during the 1960s. This course also considers the importance of federal "tax expenditures" in prompting private actors to provide services, such as employer-sponsored health insurance. The course also examines attempts to alter, roll back, or expand the federal role in social policy over recent decades.