Revision & Exam Practice for the “legacy” A Level qualifications including:

• Edexcel (Unit 3C – Representative Processes in the USA, Unit 4C – Governing the USA)
• AQA (Unit 3A – The Politics of the USA, Unit 4A – The Government of the USA)
• OCR (F855 – US Government & Politics)

How to use these questions for revision and exam practice:

1. For short-answer questions, write a 3 paragraph response using the PEEACH paragraph structure (P=point, E=evidence, E=explain, A=argument, C=counter argument, H=how does this answer the question?)
2. Once you have completed your question, read the indicative content and the mark scheme.
3. Complete the “Make It Better” (MIB) Task:
   1. Highlight the parts of the indicative content your were able to fully explain and exemplify in green.
   2. Highlight the parts of the indicative content you partially explained and/or exemplified in yellow.
   3. Highlight the parts of the indicative content which you did not include in red.
4. Using the mark scheme, award yourself a level and a mark – compare this to your target grade – are you on track to achieve this in the examination?
5. There is also a space for you to add additional notes and/or examples that don’t appear in the indicative content, or add better explanations, or include additional, points from the indicative content.

Explain the issues that have created the deepest divisions between the two major parties since 2008. (15)

Indicative Content

The issues which have created divisions between the two major political parties since 2008 include:

• health care reform – Republicans in Congress were united in their opposition to the passage of ‘Obamacare’ and the Republican-controlled House of the 112th Congress passed legislation 33 times repealing i
• level of federal spending and taxation – Republicans opposed the stimulus package passed in 2009 and there have been a series of confrontations subsequently over e.g. the raising of the debt ceiling, the extension of the payroll tax ‘holiday’ and the extension of the Bush tax cuts
• the Dodd-Frank bill reforming the finance industry – Mitt Romney pledged to repeal it
• START ratification – a majority of Senate Republicans voted against START ratification in December 2010
• gay rights – Republicans were opposed to the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ in December 2010 and the intention of the administration announced in February 2011 to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act
• national security – Republicans were critical of the administration’s plan to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court, abandoned in 2011, and of the alleged lapses in security which led to the murder of the US ambassador in Benghazi in 2012
• nominations – the President’s nominations to the Supreme Court and his administration have frequently been opposed by Republicans
• immigration reform – the DREAM Act was nearly unanimously opposed by Republicans in the Senate in 2010 • ‘Fast and Furious’ – the Republican controlled House conducted a lengthy and highly critical investigation into a mishandled government operation
• union rights – Democrats have been critical of the attempts by a number of Republican governors, e.g. Governor Walker of Wisconsin, to remove union rights from state employees in the first few months of 2011