Chapter 11 Flashcards
There are ________- members of Congress.____ in the senate. 2 from each state and _______ in the House of representatives.
535
100
435
There is a very high proportion of ______ In Congress with _______ and ___- being the predominant occupations.
Millionaires
Business
Law
Less than_______ percent of Congress are African American American. there are only_______ Hispanics in the house and ____in the Senate. Only___ Senators and ____-members of the House are women
10
25
3
78
20
Why are incumbents almost
always re-elected?
Outspent opponent 12 to 1
higher visibility
credit claiming
Opponents are weak/ lack of idendification
A___________- legislature is a legislature divided into two houses. This means that no bill can be passed unless both the House of Representatives and the Senate vote to approve the bill.
Bicameral
The House is ______times larger
More than 4
__% of incumbent congressmen win when seeking re-election
90
The _____ is selected by the majority party. This is the only legislative office mandated by the constition. The_____-is third in line to the presidency if the president and vice president dies , resigns or is impeached
Speaker of the house
the speaker of the house
The _____presides over the house; makes committee assignments, appoints party leadership staff, and controls which bills go to coomittees
Speaker of the House
Congressional____ conduct most of the work in Congress. They do the following:
Committees
theyhandles a specific duty rather than the general duties of Congress
List the types of committees:
Standing committes, Joint committees, conference committees, select committees, ways and means committees
________committee- separate subjsect matter committees in each house that handle bills in different policy aeras(Eg, agriculture, armed services, budget, judiciary)
Standing
__________ committe -membership is drawn from senate and housed broader areas policy(ex, economy and tax
Confederence committe
_____ committee-formed wioth members of both houses to iron out the differences in a bill
JOINT
_________is th eprocess of monotoring the administration of passed legislation. Thid is aslo the job of the committe which sponsored the legislation.
Legislative
Every committe includes members og bothe parties, but the majority of the members of each commitee as well as the committe chairman(leader) come from the ___ party in Congress
Majority
A——–is an informal groupings of members from both parties and/or houses of congress, which members share an interest or characterestic. A _____-can be based on regional groupings, ideological groupings or economic interests(eg, the African American caucus, the steel caucus, the sun belt caucus
caucus
caucus
A___________is proposed law drafted in precise legal language. There are about_______bills introduced to each congress. Only members of the House and Senate can formally submit________for consideration
bill
9.000
BILL
The_______will often try to influence Congress to pass or not pass a bill into law by lobbying Congress of posing the threat of a veto
President
________is also a big inluence on congressional voting, especially in social welfare and economic policy. The constituency of each member also influences his vote although most constituents are unaware of the voting record of their congressmen
Party ideology
There are over___________lobbyists representing nearly _________ORGANIZATIONs . This massive lobbying effort prompted congress to pass a law requiring anyone hiring lobbyists to lobby members of Congress, to disclose what issues they are seeking to influence, how much they are spending on the effort and the identiy of their clients
12,000
12,000
Aspects of Congress which make it unrepresentative of the American people include
Its members are America elite. Its leadership is chosen by its own members not by any votes of the citizen. voters have little direct influence over the individuals who chair key committees or lead congrassional parties.
Senate is approportioned represent states, not population, citizens in less populated states, therefore have greater say in key decisions
