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US Government > 2: Interactions among Branches > Flashcards

2: Interactions among Branches Flashcards

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1
Q

Qualifications for House

A
  1. 25 years old
  2. US citizen for 7 years
  3. Resident of the state at election time
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2
Q

Qualifications for Senate

A
  1. 30 years old
  2. US citizen for 9 years
  3. Resident of the state at election time
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3
Q

Speaker of the House

A
  1. Appoints special committees and can remove committee chairs
  2. Determines the agenda
  3. Administrative head of the chamber and leader of majority party
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4
Q

President of the Senate

A
  1. VP
  2. Does not vote except to break a tie
  3. President pro tempore presides in VP absence (longest sitting majority party Senator)
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5
Q

Constitutionally mandated Congressional leadership positions

A
  1. Speaker of the House
  2. President Pro Tempore of the Senate

Neither designated as party leader

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6
Q

Style of representatives: Trustee

A
  1. Base their vote on personal judgments and ideological alignments
  2. Not easily swayed by public opinion
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7
Q

Style of representatives: Delegate

A

Base their vote on how they think people in their district would want them to vote

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8
Q

Style of representatives: Partisan

A

Always vote along party lines

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9
Q

Style of representatives: Politico

A
  1. Combination of trustee, delegate, and partisan

2. Vote in ways that are politically expedient and personally beneficial

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10
Q

Explicit powers of Congress

A

Directly stated in Constitution, examples:

  1. Taxes
  2. Coin money
  3. Borrow money
  4. Raise army and navy
  5. Create post offices and federal courts
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11
Q

Implied powers of Congress

A

Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Section 8)

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12
Q

Origination clause

A

Article I, Section 7

House retains the right to being the revenue-raising process

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13
Q

War Powers Act

A

1973

  1. POTUS can commit troops anywhere in the world for 60 days; must inform Congress within 48 hours
  2. Congress can vote to extend 60 days, or refuse and troops must be brought home within 30 days
  3. Ineffective, most presidents ignore it; argue that it clashes with CinC authority
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14
Q

Filibuster

A
  1. Senate
  2. Rarely used today except in partisan manner
  3. Designed with deliberative nature of Senate in mind
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15
Q

Cloture

A
  1. Break filibuster
  2. 3/5 majority vote
  3. Adopted 1917
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16
Q

Hold

A
  1. Senate only

2. Allowing one or more senators to block a motion

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17
Q

Pork barrel spending

A
  1. AKA earmarks

2. Add funds for projects in legislators’ home districts

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18
Q

Logrolling

A

Understanding between two or more Congressmen to vote for one another’s bills

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19
Q

House vs Senate: Determining legislative considerations

A

House - Rules Committee

Senate - Unanimous consent

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20
Q

Closed rule

A

House - sends bill to floor for a vote but doesn’t allow debate

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21
Q

House vs Senate: Debate time

A

House - limited

Senate - unlimited

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22
Q

House vs Senate: Committee control over bill

A

House - committee control nearly absolute

Senate - committee consideration not mandatory

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23
Q

House vs Senate: Order of consideration for bills

A

House - Speaker determines

Senate - Rulings from leadership can be opposed

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24
Q

House vs Senate: Recognizing members

A

House - Speaker recognizes who can speak

Senate - Presiding officer wields far less power

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25
Q

House vs Senate: Ending debate

A

House - majority vote

Senate - Filibuster can delay indefinitely

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26
Q

House vs Senate: Concluding

A

House - end of day

Senate - recesses rather than adjourns

27
Q

Mandatory spending

A

No appropriations required

  1. Social Security
  2. Medicare & Medicaid
  3. Interest on national debt
28
Q

Discretionary revenue

A

Amount of income that remains after all mandatory spending is funded

29
Q

Discretionary spending

A

Non-essential spending

Largest proportion - military & defense

30
Q

Standing committees

A
  1. Permanent subject matter committees
  2. Consider bills and make recommendations
  3. Ex: Agriculture, Banking & Finance, VA
31
Q

Joint committees

A
  1. Permanent legislative joint-task committees with both House members and Senators
  2. Often conduct admin and studies rather than consider legislative bills
  3. Ex: Economics, Taxation
32
Q

Conference committees

A

Temporary joint committee that drafts compromises between House and Senate versions of bills

33
Q

Select committees

A
  1. Temporary legislative committees that address a specific investigation or study outside the scope of standing or joint committees
  2. Senate uses “special” committee
  3. Ex: Intelligence, Indian Affairs, Watergate
34
Q

House Rules Committee

A
  1. Speaker uses to control activity on the floor
  2. Original jurisdiction and special orders
  3. Most time spent on special orders
35
Q

Original jurisdiction

A

Administrative House matters

36
Q

Special orders

A
  1. House Rules Committee issues special rules that set terms for debate on legislation
  2. Can refuse to grant a rule - renders legislation dead
37
Q

Open rules

A

Allows 5 minutes for debate, permitted during any amendment

38
Q

Modified open rules

A

Minor restrictions on otherwise open rules

39
Q

Structured rules

A

Allow strict consideration of certain amendments and debate restraints

40
Q

Closed rules

A

Disallow consideration of amendments

41
Q

Discharge petition

A
  1. Bill referred to committee and 30 days have passed without bill being reported to floor
  2. Majority vote (218) required
  3. Very rare
42
Q

Reapportionment

A
  1. Constitutionally mandated redistribution of House seats to account for population changes
  2. Based on Census
  3. Every state’s population viewed relative to that of all others
43
Q

Redistricting

A
  1. Drawing of Congressional district boundaries after reapportionment
  2. Done by state legislatures
44
Q

Gerrymandering

A
  1. Intentional process of drawing district lines to benefit one party or voting bloc
  2. Purpose is to create safe seats
  3. Done via packing, cracking, or both
45
Q

Packing

A

Drawing boundaries so that voters within a given bloc are concentrated into as few districts as possible, to ensure the surrounding districts are safe

46
Q

Cracking

A

Drawing boundaries so that given blocs are broken up and distributed throughout several districts so their votes are too few to have an impact

47
Q

White House staff: Hierarchical model

A
  1. Chief of Staff in place
  2. Access to POTUS controlled by CoS
  3. Greater efficiency (+)
  4. Unelected official (CoS) given tremendous power (-)
48
Q

White House staff: Circular model

A
  1. No Chief of Staff
  2. Everyone in WH staff has free access to POTUS
  3. Avoids excessive filtering of information (+)
  4. Can be chaotic (-)
49
Q

Executive Office of the President

A

3 most important agencies:

  1. OMB
  2. NSC
  3. Council of Economic Advisers
50
Q

International Economic Powers Act

A

1977

Authorizes POTUS to impose sanctions

51
Q

Federalist No 70

A
  1. Alexander Hamilton

2. Strong unitary executive

52
Q

Federalist No 78

A
  1. Alexander Hamilton

2. Judicial branch is weakest

53
Q

Article III

A

Judicial power

Section 1. Supreme court and establishment of lower courts
Section 2. Jurisdiction of federal courts
Section 3. Definition of treason

54
Q

Writ of Certiori

A

Requests review by the Supreme Court

55
Q

Rule of Four

A

4 of 9 Justices agree with writ of certiori

56
Q

Judicial review

A
  1. Challenges constitutionality of legislative and executive actions
  2. Established in Marbury v Madison
57
Q

Stare decisis

A
  1. Foundation for the rule of precedent

2. If lower court renders a decision, higher court will defer to its ruling

58
Q

Judicial activism

A

Legislating from the bench (usually liberal)

59
Q

Judicial restraint

A

Interpret the Constitution literally (usually conservative)

60
Q

Original cabinet

A
  1. State
  2. Treasury
  3. War
61
Q

Rule-making authority

A
  1. Administrative Procedures Act

2. Agencies have to make regulations public, provide time for comments, publish in CFR

62
Q

Discretionary authority

A

Allows agencies to use expertise to make rules that are effectively law unless challenged in court

63
Q

Iron Triangle

A
  1. Department/agency
  2. Congressional subject matter committee
  3. Interest group

US Government (7 decks)

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