Chapter 12 - Congress in Action

Question 1

Gives no money to candidate for presidency by will spend money on behalf or against candidate

Answer 1

Super PAC

Political Action Committee

Question 2

Party functions in the pre-elections?

Answer 2

Nominating candidates
Organizing campaign/competition
Organizing voters (electorates)

Question 3

Party is attractive to all different groups

Answer 3

Big Tent

Question 4

Party functions in post elections

Answer 4

They are majority party
Presences become policy
Loyal Opposition

Question 5

Perks of being majority party?

Answer 5

Easier to pass laws, choosing Constitutional leaders (Speaker of the House and Senate Pro Temp), Committee chairs/majority seats

Question 6

Money in campaigns, money donated to candidates is protected by 1st amendment. (Free speech)

Answer 6

Buckley v Valeo

Question 7

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA or McCain-FeinGold Bill)

Answer 7

No soft $

No electioneering ads —later changes and no longer applies

Question 8

What is the start date of a session of Congress? Which Amendment set the date?

Answer 8

January 3rd

20th Amendment

Question 9

Who tends to become the Speaker of the House?

Answer 9

Long standing member of the majority party

Question 10

Duties of the Speaker?

Answer 10

Run the house, motion leaders, maintain order

Unofficially—help their party

Question 11

Speaker’s role in floor vote?

Answer 11

Has the tie-breaking vote

Question 12

2nd in charge after VP in Senate, member of majority party, given by seniority

Answer 12

President Pro Tempore

Question 13

Closed meeting of party members in each house

Answer 13

Party caucus

Question 14

What are functions of floor leaders?

Answer 14

Legislative strategists
Chief spokesman
Control floor business (majority leader)
Steer floor action to party’s benefit

Question 15

What are the assistants called? What is their purpose?

Answer 15

Whips.

Liaise with rank and file and organize votes.

Question 16

Purpose of committees?

Answer 16

Review, debate, report on bills coming through the house

Question 17

The most important posts are held by members who have served the longest (chairman)

Answer 17

Seniority rule

Question 18

Standing committees do what?

Answer 18

The most work in considering bills and recommending changes

Question 19

All tax bills go what?

Answer 19

House Ways and Means Committee (House)
Finance Committee (Senate)

Question 20

What are subcommittees for?

Answer 20

Specific work on bills—handle the details of legislation

Question 21

What is the rule of the House Rules Comittee? Why is it powerful?

Answer 21

Sets rules for amendments, debate, votes
Committee decided whether Bill even makes it to floor and how debate will go; it can rule a bill passed or can rewrite parts of bill

Question 22

Select (special) committees?

Answer 22

They are est. for a specific purpose and a limited time; usually used to investigate issues in order to learn more about it or bring public’ attention to it

Question 23

Members of both houses and can investigate or deal with routine issues

Answer 23

Joint committee

Question 24

Temporary joint committee used to hammer out differences between house and senate version of a bill before sending it to president

Answer 24

Conference committee

Question 25

Where do most bill come from?

Answer 25

Executive Branch

Question 26

• proposed law

- a “bill” for special or temporary matters; involving something that does not require full legislation

Answer 26

• a bill

- joint resolution or resolution

Question 27

An amendment attached to a bill; do not have to directly relate to the bill itself & would likely not pass on its own merits; “Christmas Tree Bills”

Answer 27

Rider/Earmark

Question 28

How could rider make it harder to pass a bill?

Answer 28

Cannot just veto the rider. All or nothing. Defeating the rider would mean defeating entire bill

Question 29

Five courses of action a committee may take on bill?

Answer 29

1. Report favorably
2. Report in amended form
3. Refuse to report
4. Report with an unfavorable opinion
5. Report a committee bill (completely new bill by committee itself)

Question 30

Who decided if/when a bill reaches House floor debate?

Answer 30

The House Rules Committee

Question 31

Committee of the Whole

Answer 31

Entire house of reps. meet as a committee to debate as a whole.
meant to speed things up and streamline process in house

Question 32

What is a quorum and why is it necessary?

Answer 32

A majority; in order to debate bills and conduct votes

Question 33

Most common; “ayes” and “mates are given aloud and counted
Each name is called and they voice their vote
Becoming more common answering yes, no or abstained on screen

Answer 33

Voice vote
Roll call vote
Electronic vote

Question 34

How is Senate different from House

Answer 34

Senate is less formal and allow more room for debate bc Senate is smaller and more political experience

Question 35

Filibuster

Answer 35

Attempting to talk bill to death

Question 36

What is Cloture Rule? Why is it important?

Answer 36

Can be passed at beginning of debate to limit total time to 30 hours; it effectively guaranteed a vote will come at some point

It can counter a filibuster before it gets underway

Question 37

When are conference committees used?

Answer 37

They are convened when House and senate cannot agree on a final version of bill to send to president

Question 38

What are president’ scour options when given a bill?

Answer 38

1. Pass it
2. Veto it
3. Ignore bill and let it pass if Congress is still in session after 10 days
4. Ignore the bill and let it die if congress adjourns within ten days; this is a pocket veto

Question 39

Is president veto easy to override? Why/why not?

Answer 39

NO!

IT required 2/3 vote in both houses and that majority is hard to achieve

Question 40

Clinton v New York

Answer 40

That’s was a challenge to the Line Item Veto as a violation of the Presentment Clause in Art. 1

The court ruled it was and the line item veto was declared unconstitutional and a bill passed by congress must be signed in whole or vetoed in whole by president