Ch.12: Congress Flashcards
Qualifications of a seat in the House:
25 years and up 7 years of US citizenship term 2 years depends on population constituency is local
Qualifications of a seat in the Senate:
30 years and up 9 years of US citizenship term 6 years 2 each local and statewide
Congressional districts are often very ___________
Members of Congress therefore tend to specialize in one committee.
homogenous
States are far more_________
Senators have to be generalists
heterogeneous
shares demographic traits, experiences, and interests with constituents
social representation
representative has electoral incentive to act on constituent interests
agency representation
Who runs for congress?
Candidates must “self-select” to run
Some encouraged by parties more than others
Strong candidate qualities include:
Good name recognition Success in prior elected offices Ability to raise funds Willingness to campaign Ability to reach out to voters
Incumbency advantage
Constituency services
Ranking privilege
Name recognition and title
Pork-barrel spending for district
The vast majority of incumbents represent “______ _______,” where most voters support one party
Primaries are therefore the critical elections in these districts
safe districts
Apportionment and redistricting happens every ___ years
10
Parties in the House:
Speaker of the House is the leader of the majority party.
Both parties also elect a majority and minority leader and whip.
The parties determine which of their members sit on various committees.
Parties in the Senate:
The vice president officially chairs the Senate, but only presides at ceremonial events and in the event of a tie vote.
Real power rests with the majority leader, although he or she is weaker than the Speaker of the House
Committee system include:
Standing committees
Select committees
Joint committees
Conference committees
Formed temporarily to focus on a specific issue
Cannot present bills to the chamber
Bring attention to a specific subject
Select committees
Formed from members of both chambers
Gather information
Cover issues internal to Congress
joint committees
For a bill to become a law, the same wording of the bill must be passed by both chambers.
________ __________ are formed to write the final wording when both chambers pass similar bills that need to be reconciled.
Conference committee
determines committee assignments.
Chairs can be removed by the party caucus.
Chairs are term-limited.
Seniority
Specific topic or issue expertise
Constituent services
Congressional staffers
Staff agencies include
The CRS, GAO, and CBO
Groups of senators or representatives who share common goals or interests; may be bipartisan.
congressional caucuses
if there are less than ten days left in the congressional calendar and the president does not sign the bill into law, it dies and must begin again from scratch in the next session.
Pocket veto
Vetoes can be overridden by a ____ ____ _____ in each chamber.
two-thirds vote
The president is given ___ days to veto a law.
10
factors influence members of Congress
Constituents are most important
Interest groups may also play a role
Party leadership might care if it is a partisan vote
Tools party leaders have at their disposal:
Leadership PACs Committee assignments Access to the floor The whip system Logrolling Presidency
Congress is expected to oversee the activities of the executive branch in order to ensure funding is spent and laws are enforced properly.
oversight
The Senate must confirm top-level executive appointments, ambassadors, and federal judges.
Approves all treaties
Advice and Consent
If high officials are thought to have committed “Treason, Bribery or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors,” they can be impeached.
The House acts as a grand jury.
The Senate conducts the actual trial.
impeachment
