40 4.3 – AGENDAS AND AGENDA SETTING
- AGENDAS AND AGENDA SETTING
Once a public problem has been identified, policymakers must choose to embrace that issue before a policy solution can be adopted. How does the problem get the attention of a policymaker? Why do policymakers pay more attention to some issues over others? Visit the website of any Congress member, and you will find a list of “issues” that are a priority for that policymaker. This list is called an agenda, and, whether implicitly or explicitly, every policymaker has one. Agendas include all the issues currently being discussed by the news media, interest groups, constituents, and the public-at-large. John Kingdon (1985) describes the agenda as “the list of subjects or problems to which government officials . . . are paying some serious attention at any given time.”
The word “agenda” often invokes images of sinister plots, conspiracy theories, and corruption, but that is hardly ever the case. Instead, the agendas that we discuss in this chapter are simply plans of action or a list of topics being considered by the public and policymakers. Agendas can come in many forms, from an actual list of proposed bills to a series of principles, values, or beliefs that motivate citizens, organizations, and governments to act. Table 1 provides several examples of legislative agendas. Each policymaker has different priorities, and policymakers base those priorities on their personal interests and the needs of their home district.
| Senator (A) | Congressman (B) | Congresswoman (C) |
| Virginia | Georgia | Minnesota |
| Consumer Protection | Agriculture | Immigrant Rights |
| Cyber Security | 2nd Amendment Rights | Environmental Justice |
| Education and Workforce Training | Health Care Reform | Medicare for All |
| Infrastructure | Pro-Life | Worker’s Rights |
Table 4.1: Examples of Congressional Agendas
Source: Original Work Attribution: Kimberly Martin License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Agenda Levels
The public agenda includes a wide range of issues that may or may not be seriously considered by policymakers. The issues that currently occupy the agenda can be further organized into levels or categories that indicate how close they are to being acted upon by government. The first and broadest level of the agenda is the agenda universe. The agenda universe encompasses all the possible ideas that could be discussed or considered by government (Birkland, 2019). Almost any idea could be floating around in the agenda universe, although some ideas are more or less acceptable based on cultural norms. For example, in the U.S., topics such as child labor or anything overtly racist or communist are generally outside the realm of public consideration and are viewed as unacceptable solutions to public problems. Policy ideas like privatizing social security, allowing health care companies to reject people with preexisting conditions, outlawing firearms, open-borders, or even closed- borders, on the other hand, have recently been included in the agenda universe.The next level of the agenda, the systemic agenda, includes “all issues that are commonly perceived by members of the political community as meriting public attention and as involving matters within the legitimate jurisdiction of existing governmental authority” (Cobb & Elder, 1983). Contrary to the agenda universe, the policies that make it onto the systemic agenda are those that could receive government attention or those that policymakers are willing to consider and address.
Policies will not make it to the systemic agenda if government has no authority over that issue. For example, in 2016, Congress considered regulating the National Football League (NFL) in the wake of revelations about the dangerous effects of concussions on football players (Webster 2017). Ultimately, Congress’s power over the NFL was called into question, and the issue lost its place on the systemic agenda.While many policy goals may seem unachievable now, the ability of policy ideas to gain traction and move successfully through the agenda levels depends on support from policymakers and citizens. Rinfret, Scheberle, and Pautz (2019) describe the border between the agenda universe and systemic agenda as “porous,” meaning that issues flow freely from one level to the next. Not only is the border porous but some issues move from one level to another as what was once unacceptable becomes acceptable. There was a time in U.S. history when the idea of women voting was unimaginable, as was school integration or same- sex marriage. Until 2010, most U.S. citizens opposed marijuana legalization.
By 2018, though, 62% favored legalization (Pew Research, 2018), and, currently, sixteen states have legalized the drug for recreational use.Policies do not have to be popular or free of controversy to make it onto the systemic agenda. Take, for instance, the universal healthcare proposal “Medicare for All.” In the U.S., government- run or single-payer healthcare programs are viewed as socialist. While Democrats favor “Medicare for All,” the concept of socialized medicine is not as popular among Republicans (Silver 2019). Nevertheless, “Medicare for All” is a prominent fixture in the systemic agenda.Policies that progress to the next level of the agenda are included in the institutional agenda. This level contains the “list of items explicitly up for active and serious consideration” (Cobb & Elder, 1983). Technically speaking, policy issues on the institutional agenda are those that make it into bill form and are assigned to a committee (Birkland, 2019).While it may seem like an accomplishment for lawmakers to move potential policies into the realm of consideration, only 3% of originally proposed bills are enacted, and only 6% of resolutions are passed during any given Congress (govtrack.us). For example, environmental groups have been pushing Congress to pass legislation addressing climate change for years. In 2019, Senator Edward Markey (D) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) introduced the Green New Deal which they argued would curb the effects of climate change. The House of Representatives has conducted dozens of climate change hearings on the proposed legislation, although policies addressing this topic have yet to receive a vote in committee (Nawaguna, 2019).Other policies have had greater success moving from the institutional to the final level of the agenda: the decision agenda. The decision agenda “describes those problems for which government is actively debating a solution and taking specific actions and making decisions, like taking a vote” (Rinfret et al. 2019). The policies at this level include bills or resolutions that are about to be acted upon by Congress or other government entities. For example, the CARES Act was an economic stimulus bill, passed through Congress with support from both parties, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Act exemplifies a policy that was considered on the decision agenda. 
Figure 4.2: Agenda levels and sample policies.Source: Original Work Attribution: Kimberly Martin License: CC BY SA 4.0
