Chapter 10: Congress Flashcards
constituency
the residents in the area from which an official is elected
delegate
*interpretation of a congressional official’s job
*a rep who votes according to the preferences of their constituency
trustee
*interpretation of a congressional official’s job
*a representative who votes according to what they believe is best for their constituency
descriptive representation
*principle postulating that a representative with the same ethnic, religious, educational, occupational, etc. background as their constituency can accurately represent their interests
substantive representation
*form of representation in which reps are held accountable to their constituency when failing to represent their interests correctly
*incentive for reps to provide good representation when having a different bakcground to that of thier constituents
pork barrel
*appropriations made by legislative bodies/legislators for local projects; often not needed but provide credibility for reps running for re-election in home districts
apportionment
*process occuring after every decennial census, that allocates congressional seats among the 50 states
redistricting
*process of redrawing election districts and redistributing legislative representatives
*happens every 10 years to reflect population shifts
gerrymandering
*redistricting done to give an unfair advantage to a political party of racial/ethnic group
conference
*gathering of house republicans every 2 years to elect house leaders
*democratic referred to as “caucus”
caucus
normally closed political party business meeting of citizens or lawmakers to select candidates, elect officers, plan strategy, or make decisions regarding legislative matters
speaker of the house
*chief presiding officer of the House
*most important house/party leader
*can influence legislative agenda, fate of individual and members’ positions within the house
majority leader
elected leader of the majority party in the house/senate
*in the house, subordinate to the speaker
minority leader
elected leader of the minority party in the house/senate
whip
party member in the house/senate responsible for coordinating the party’s legislative strategy, building support for key issue, and counting votes
standing committee
permanent committee with the power to propose and write legislation that covers a particular subject (finance, agriculture, etc.)
select committee
(usually) temporary legislative committees set up to highlight or investigate a particular issue or address an issue not within the jurisdiction of existing committees
joint commitees
legislative committees formed of members of both house/senate
conference committees
joint committees created to work out a compromise on house/senate versions of a piece of legislation
*usually bypassed in favor of a bill being sent back and forth until compromise is reached
markup
session in which a congressional committee rewrites legislation to incorporate changes discussed during hearing on a bill
staff agencies
legislative support agencies responsible for policy analysis
*provide resources/expertise independent of executive branch (congressional research service, government accountability office, congressional budget office, etc.)
bill
a proposed law that has been sponsored by a member of congress and submitted to the clerk of the House/Senate
open rules
allows any member to offer an amendment that complies with the standing parliamentary rules of the House (as well as Budget Act)
Modified Open Rules
*allows only amendments that have been preprinted in the congressional record
*may put a time limit on consideration of amendments
structured rules
limits amendments offered to a bill to only those designated in a special rule
closed rules
prohibits amendments being offered other than those recommended by the committee reporting out the bill
filibuster
*prevents action on legislation through prolonged speaking once a senator is given the floor
*3/5 vote of senate required to end filibuster
cloture
rule/process in legislative body aimed at ending debate on a given bill
*requires 3/5 of senate to agree on imposing a time limit
roll-call vote
vote in which legislators yes/no votes are recorded as the clerk calls member names alphabetically
pocket veto
*bill dies when pres decides not to sign and congress adjourns
*if congress remains in session, the bill becomes law after 10 days
unorthodox lawmaking
set of legislative procedures that deviate from regular order
*reflects greater level of control on part of party leaders
*trades deliberation for speed
multiple referral
practice of referring a bill to multiple committees for consideration
ping-ponging
sending amendments between relevant house/senate committees to reconcile differences between bills without convening a conference committee at all
appropriations
amounts of money approved by Congress in statutes (bills) that each unit/agency of fed gov’t can spend
omnibus apporpriations bill
bill combining all or many of smaller appropriation bill into a single package
*can be passed with a single vote in each chamber
*minority party usually excluded from omnibus process
party unity vote
roll-call vote in house or senate where at least 50% of members of one party take a position opposed to at least 50% of members of other party
polarization
deep ideological distance between parties
oversight
*power of congress to excercise control over executive agencies through hearings, investigations, etc.
impeachment
*formal charge by house that gov’t official has committed “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”
*House acts as grand jury, indicting gov’t official
*Senate acts as trial jury, convicting gov’t official
