How do issues and problems get placed on the public agenda? Why do some issues never make it to the agenda stage? How are agenda issues formulated into public policies? How are those policies shepherded through the political process? Why are some adopted into law while others are tabled or die? What happens to policies after they are adopted? This course will examine how public policy is made with special emphasis on agenda setting, policy formulation, the legislature process, and the budget process. Students monitor public policies and prepare their own. Special attention will be devoted throughout the course to comparing the public policy processes, politics, and policies during the times of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.