AP Gov. Ch.6 Viridian Leal

Question 1

bicameral legislature

Answer 1

a two-house legislature

The US has a bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Question 2

apportionment

Answer 2

the process of allotting congressional seats to each state according to its proportion of population, following the decennial census.

Apportionment of the seats are divided using 10 year intervals within the population.

Question 3

bill

Answer 3

a proposed law.

A popular bill passed during Obama’s presidency was the Affordable Health Care Act.

Question 4

impeachment

Answer 4

the power delegated to the House of Representatives in the Constitution to charge the President, vice president, or other “civil officers,” including federal judges, with “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes, and Misdemeanors.” This is the first step in the constitutional process of removing government officials from office.

President Bill Clinton was impeached for having sexual intercourse with his secretary Monica Lewinsky.

Question 5

Edmund Burke

Answer 5

Conservative British political philosopher of the eighteenth century who articulated the view that elected representatives should act as “trustees” and use their own best judgement when voting.

Edmund Burke was a member of the Whip Party.

Question 6

trustee

Answer 6

Role played by an elected representative who listens to constituents’ opinions and then uses his or her best judgment to make a final decision.

A modern trustee would be known as a senator.

Question 7

delegate

Answer 7

role played by a representative who votes the way his or her constituents would want, regardless of personal opinions; refer to an elected representative to Congress or a representative to the party convention.

Currently there are 4,051 pledged delegates.

Question 8

politico

Answer 8

an elected representative who acts as a trustee or as a delegate , depending on the issue

Politico is another word for politician and a politico could be the president or someone in congress.

Question 9

incumbency

Answer 9

already holding an office

President Donald J. Trump is the current incumbent of the presidential office.

Question 10

redistricting

Answer 10

the process of redrawing congressional districts to reflect increases or decreases in seats allotted to the states, as well as population shifts within a state

Redistricting follows compactness, contiguity, equal population, preservation of existing political communities, partisan fairness, and racial fairness.

Question 11

gerrymandering

Answer 11

the drawing of congressional districts to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to the shape of the district

Gerrymandering is the creation of a smaller voting district to take away votes from a certain candidate.

Question 12

majority party

Answer 12

the political party in each house of Congress with the most members.

The Democratic and Republican Party are majority parties.

Question 13

minority party

Answer 13

the political party in each house of Congress with the second most members.

The Green Party is a popular minority party.

Question 14

party caucus (or conference)

Answer 14

a formal gathering of all party members

At the caucus, delegates are chosen to represent the state’s interests at the national party convention.

Question 15

Speaker of the House

Answer 15

the only officer of the House of Representatives specifically mentioned in the Constitution; the chamber’s most powerful position; traditionally a member of the majority party.

Nancy Pelosi is the current speaker of the house.

Question 16

majority leader

Answer 16

the head of the party controlling the most seats in the House of Representatives or the Senate; is second in authority to the Speaker of the House and in the Senate is regarded as its most powerful member.

Majority democratic leader of the House of Reps is Steny Hoyer.

Question 17

minority leader

Answer 17

the head of the party with the second highest number of elected representatives in the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Minority Republican leader of the House of Reps is Kevin McCarthy.

Question 18

whip

Answer 18

party leader who keeps close contact with all members of his or her party, take vote counts on key legislation, prepares summaries of bills, and acts as a communications link within a party.

The whip leader of the House of Reps is Democrat Jim Clyburn.

Question 19

president pro tempore

Answer 19

the official chair of the Senate; usually the most senior member of the majority party

Orrin G. Hatch is the 2018 president pro tempore of the United States Senate.

Question 20

standing committee

Answer 20

committee to which proposed bills are referred; continues from one Congress to the next.

Some popular standing committees include agriculture, armed service, banking, housing and urban affairs.

Question 21

joint committee

Answer 21

standing committee that includes members from both houses of Congress set up to conduct investigations or special studies.

The four joint committees include Joint Economic Committee, the Joint Committee on the Library, the Joint Committee on Printing, and the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Question 22

conference committee

Answer 22

special joint committee created to reconcile differences in bills passed by the House of Senate

In 2019, a conference committee was set in order to dissolve the disputes between Democrats and Republicans about President Donald J. Trumps “wall”

Question 23

select (or special) committee

Answer 23

temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose

The House of Representatives currently has one select committee.

Question 24

Hillary Clinton

Answer 24

First female major party candidate for president of the US, a Democrat, who ran against President Donald J. Trump in the 2016 Presidential elections. Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. New York Senator fro 2001 to 2009; former first lady.

Hillary Clinton is spouse to Ex U.S President Bill Clinton.

Question 25

House Committee on Rules

Answer 25

the influential “Rules Committee” determines the scheduling and conditions, such as length of debate and type of allowable amendments, for all bills in the House of Representatives but not in the Senate.

Pete Sessions is current chairman of the House Committee and has served the House of Reps since 1997.

Question 26

discharge petition

Answer 26

petition that gives a majority of the House of Representatives the authority to bring as an issue to the floor in the face of committee inaction.

Republican party leaders want to discharge petition DACA under President Trumps wishes.

Question 27

seniority

Answer 27

time of continuous service on a committee

Nancy Pelosi, age 76, is the highest ranking “senior” democratic Minority Leader as of January 2019

Question 28

markup

Answer 28

a session in which committee members offer changes to a bill before it goes to the floor

A bill can be referred to a subcommittee for a markup.

Question 29

Committee of the Whole

Answer 29

a procedure that allows the House of Representatives to deliberate with a lower quorum and to expedite consideration and amendment of a bill

100 members of the House form the quorum for The Committee of the Whole.

Question 30

hold

Answer 30

a procedure by which a senator asks to be informed before a particular bill or nomination is brought to the floor. This request signals leadership that a member may have objections to the bill (or nomination) and should be consulted before further action is taken.

The Brexit plan in Britain was put on hold.

Question 31

filibuster

Answer 31

a formal way of halting Senate action on a bill by means of long speeches or unlimited debate.

The record for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina’s J. Strom Thurmond who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Question 32

cloture

Answer 32

mechanism requiring the vote of sixty senators to cut off debate.

Cloture establishes a 30-hour window before a final vote must be held, and eliminating the possibility of opposing senators to filibuster.

Question 33

veto

Answer 33

the formal, constitutional authority of the president to reject bills passed by both houses of Congress, thus preventing them from becoming law without further congressional action.

Ex U.S President George Washington has the record for the highest vetoed bills ever by a single president.

Question 34

pocket veto

Answer 34

if Congress adjourns during the ten days the president has to consider a bill passed by both houses of Congress, the bill is considered vetoed without the president’s signature

Ex U.S President Ulysses S. Grant holds the record for the most used pocket vetoes by a single president, 263.

Question 35

Richard M. Nixon

Answer 35

the 37th president, a Republican who served from 1969 to 1974. Nixon advocated detente during the Cold War and resigned rather than face impeachment and likely removal from office due to the Watergate scandal

Ex President Richard M. Nixon also served as president from 1953 to 1961.

Question 36

Congressional Budget Act of 1974

Answer 36

Act that established the congressional budgetary process by laying out a plan for congressional action on the annual budget resolution, appropriations, reconciliation, and any other revenue bills.

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 created the House and Senate budget committees.

Question 37

reconciliation

Answer 37

a procedure that allows consideration of controversial issues affecting the budget by limiting debate to 20 hours , thereby ending threat of filibuster.

Reconciliation is the process is the way of finding two ideas to exist or be true at the same time.

Question 38

pork

Answer 38

legislation that allows representatives to bring money and jobs to their districts in the form of public works programs, military bases, or other programs.

The term pork barrel politics usually refers to spending which is intended to benefit constituents of a politician in return for their political support.

Question 39

programmatic requests

Answer 39

Federal funds designated for special projects within a state or congressional district. Also referred to as earmarks.

It is guidance solicited by the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees from Members of Congress.

Question 40

divided government

Answer 40

the political division in which different political parties control the presidency and at least one house of Congress

Kansas has a divided government.

Question 41

War Powers resolution

Answer 41

Passed by Congress in 1973; the president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a 60 day period in peacetime (which can be extended for an extra 30 days to permit withdrawal) unless Congress explicitly gives its approval for a longer period.

The Wars Power Resolution Act was passed to override President Nixon’s veto.

Question 42

congressional review

Answer 42

a process whereby Congress can nullify agency regulations within a 60-day window passing a joint resolution of legislative disapproval. The president’s approval of the resolution or a 2/3 majority vote in both houses to overrule a presidential veto is also required

The law empowers Congress to review, by means of an expedited legislative process, new federal regulations issued by government agencies and, by passage of a joint resolution, to overrule a regulation.

Question 43

senatorial curtesy

Answer 43

a process by which presidents generally allow senators from the state in which a judicial vacancy occurs to block a nomination by simply registering their objection

Senatorial courtesy is a long-standing unofficial political custom in the United States describing the tendency of U.S. senators to support a Senate colleague in opposing the appointment to federal office of a presidential nominee from that Senator’s state.

Question 44

unified government

Answer 44

the political condition in which the same political party controls the presidency and Congress.

Kansas City, Kansas has a unified government.

Question 45

logrolling

Answer 45

vote trading; voting to support a colleague’s bill in return for a promise of future support.

In an academic context, the Nuttall Encyclopedia describes logrolling as “mutual praise by authors of each other’s work”.

Question 46

Congressional Research Service (CRS)

Answer 46

created in 1914, the non-partisan CRS provides information, studies, and research in support of the work of Congress, and prepares summaries and tracks the progress of all bill.

The Congressional Research Service is known as Congress’s think thank and works directly with the members of Congress.

Question 47

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Answer 47

established in 1921, the GAO is an independent regulatory agency for the purpose of auditing the financial expenditures of the executive branch and federal agencies; until 2004, the GAO was known as the General Accounting Office

The Government Accountability Office provides auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for the US Congress.

Question 48

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Answer 48

created in 1974, the CBO provides Congress with evaluations of the potential economic effects of proposed spending policies and also analyzes the president’s budget and economic projections.

CBO broadly defines private health insurance coverage as a comprehensive major medical policy