APGovCh.6.Alyssa.Lujano Flashcards
Bicameral Legislature
A two-house legislature.
Sentence: Bicameral Legislature can be any law making body that consists of two separate houses.
Apportionment
The process of allotting congressional seats to each state according to its proportion of the population, following the decennial census.
Sentence: Apportionment changes the number of seats given to each state.
Bill
A proposed law.
Sentence: A bill cannot become a law without the consent of both houses.
Impeachment
This is the first step in the constitutional process of removing government officials from office.
Sentence: The Senate are the only ones allowed to conduct impeachment trials.
Edmund Burke
Conservative British political philosopher of the 18th century who articulated the view that elected representatives should act as ¨trustees¨ and use their own best judgment when voting.
Sentence: Edmund Burke believed that it was his duty to represent the interests of the entire nation.
Trustee
Role played by a representative who votes the way his or her constituents would want, regardless of personal opinions; may refer to an elected representative to Congress or a representative to the party convention.
Sentence: A trustee is trusted by the constituents to make a final decision, based off of their judgment.
Delegate
May refer to an elected representative to Congress or a representative to the party convention.
Sentence: Delegates must know how their constituents feel about an issue.
Politico
An elected representative who acts as a trustee or as a delegate, depending on the issue.
Sentence: A combination of a delegate and a trustee can be described as a Politico.
Incumbency
Already holding an office.
Sentence: Incumbency helps members of the office stay in office once they are elected.
Redistricting
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.
Sentence: Gerrymandering is involved in the Redistricting process.
Gerrymandering
The drawing of congressional districts to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to the shape of the district.
Sentence: The Gerrymandering term is term is derived from the name of Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.
Majority Party
The political party in each house of Congress with the most members.
Sentence: The Majority Party has the most significant leadership positions.
Minority Party
The political party in each house of Congress with the second most members.
Sentence: The Minority party has a smaller role than the mainstream parties.
Party Caucus
A formal gathering of all party members.
Sentence: In a Party Caucus, they talk about political policies.
Speaker of the House
The chamber’s most powerful position; a member of the majority party.
Sentence: The House of Representatives elects the Speaker of the House at the beginning of a new Congress.
Majority Leader
The head of the party, is second in authority to the Speaker of the House and in the Senate, is regarded as its most powerful member.
Sentence: The Majority Leader controls the most seats in the house.
Minority Leader
The head of the party with the second highest number of elected representatives in the House of Representatives or the Senate.
Sentence: The Minority Leader is either a Democrat or Republican most of the time.
Whip
`Party Leader who keeps close contact with all members of his or her party, takes vote counts on key legislation, prepares to summaries of bills, and acts as a communication link within a party.
Sentence: The position of the Whip originated in the British House of Commons.
President pro tempore
The official chair of the Senate; usually the most senior member of the majority party.
Sentence: Once the President Pro tempore is elected, they stay in office until the majority party of the Senate changes.
Standing Committee
Committee to which proposed bills are referred; continuous from one congress to the next.
Sentence: There are standing committees on education.
Joint Committee
Standing Committee that includes members from both houses of Congress set up to conduct investigations or special studies.
Sentence: Joint Committees focus public attention on matters like economy.
Conference Committee
Special Joint committee created to reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate.
Sentence: A Conference Committee compromises members from the House and Senate Committees that considered the bill.
Select (or special) committee
Temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose.
Sentence: A Select committee can be partisan.
Hillary Clinton
First female major party candidate for President of the United States. Former first lady, New York senator from 2001 to 2009.
Sentence: Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State.
House Committee on Rules
” Rules Committee”, determines the scheduling and conditions for all bills in the House of Representatives.
Sentence: The House Committee on Rules reviews most bills after they come from a committee.
Discharge Petition
Petition that gives a majority of the House of Representatives the authority to bring an issue to the floor in the face of committee inaction.
Sentence: The Discharge petition can force bills out of a House committee.
Seniority
Time of continuous service on a committee.
Sentence: Seniority ensures that candidates show party loyalty.
Markup
A session in which committee members offer changes to a bill before it goes to the floor.
Sentence: Markup may reject the bill before it goes to the floor in either house.
Committee of the Whole
A procedure that allows the House of Representatives to deliberate with a lower quorum and to expedite consideration and amendment of a bill.
Sentence: Committee of the Whole includes all the members of the house.
Hold
A procedure by which a senator asks to be informed before a particular bill or nomination is brought to the floor.
Sentence: A hold can be public or anonymous, it can also be placed for any reason.
Filibuster
A formal way of halting Senate action on a bill by means of long speeches or unlimited debate.
Sentence: The use of Filibusters have increased in recent years in politics.
Cloture
Mechanism requiring the vote of sixty senators to cut off debate.
Sentence: Once a Cloture motion passes, members are only allowed to debate about the legislation at issue, for thirty more hours.
Veto
The formal, constitutional authority of the president to reject bills passed by both houses of congress.
Sentence: When the President is of a different party of the majority of the Congress, it is more likely of him to veto a bill.
Pocket veto
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.
Sentence: Once a pocket veto has been applied, the bill would have to be reintroduced in the next session of Congress in order to become a law.
Richard M. Nixon
The thirty-seventh president, a Republican, served from 1969-1974. Nixon advocated detente during the cold war and resigned.
Sentence: President Richard M. Nixon often refused to spend the appropriate amount of money on social problems.
Congressional Budget Act of 1974
Act that established the congressional budgetary process by laying out a plan for congressional action on the annual budget resolution, appropriations, and any other revenue bills.
Sentence: The Congressional Budget office (CBO), was created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
Reconciliation
A procedure that allows consideration of controversial issues affecting the budget by limiting debate to twenty hours, thereby ending threat of a Filibuster.
Sentence: Reconciliation was used in 2010 by Congress to pass the healthcare reform bill.
Pork
Legislation that allows representatives to bring money and jobs to their districts in the form of public works programs, military bases, or other programs.
Sentence: Both earmark and Pork involve spending money on certain projects.
Programmatic requests
Federal funds designated for special projects within a state or Congressional district. Also referred to as earmarks.
Sentence: Programmatic requests can also be known as a member request.
Divided Government
The political condition in which different political parties control the presidency and at least one house of Congress.
Sentence: A divided party exists when the presidency controls one party.
War Powers Resolution
Passed by Congress in 1973, the president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a sixty-day period in peacetime.
Sentence: The War Powers Resolution requires the president to notify Congress within forty-eight hours of taking troops to foreign soil.
Congressional Review
A process whereby Congress can nullify agency regulations within a 60-day window by passing a joint resolution of legislative disapproval.
Sentence: The Congressional Review was signed into law by President Clinton.
Senatorial Courtesy
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.
Sentence: Senatorial Courtesy has in important role in the appointments of official positions.
Unified Government
The political Condition in which the same political party controls the presidency and Congress.
Sentence:In the Unified Government Congress is controlled by the same party, in divided government they can be controlled by a different party.
Logrolling
Vote trading;voting to support a colleague’s bill in return for a promise of future support.
Sentence: Logrolling often targets money to selected Congressional districts.
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Created in 1914, provides information, studies, and research in support of the work of Congress, and prepares summaries and tracks the progress of all bill.
Sentence: The Congressional Research Service is administered by the Library of Congress.
Government Accountability Office(GAO)
Established in 1921, and independent regulatory agency for the purpose of auditing the financial expenditures of the executive branch and federal agencies.
Sentence: The Government Accountability Office provides legal opinions and also sets Government Standards for Accounting.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
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.
Sentence: The Congressional Budget Office provides Congress with a valuable second opinion to use in budget debates
