Chapter 12 Legislative Branch

Question 1

Who leads the Legislative Branch?

Answer 1

Congress

Question 2

The Legislative Branch (Congress) is bicameral, meaning…

Answer 2

There are two houses in Congress: The Senate and the House of Representatives

Question 3

How many Senators are there in the Senate of Congress?

Answer 3

100, two from each State elected directly by each State’s citizens

Question 4

How many members are there in the House of Representatives?

Answer 4

435, the number from each state varies because it is based on population, elected by Congressional District. There is at least one representative for each state (Vermont has 1, Florida has 25, Texas has 32, and California has 53)

Question 5

How many members are there in Congress?

Answer 5

535 total. (100 + 435)

Question 6

Who oversees the Senate?

Answer 6

The Vice President of the United States (currently Joe Biden)

Question 7

Who oversees the House of Representatives?

Answer 7

The Speaker of the House (currently John Boehner [pronounced BAYNER, not boner])

Question 8

How long is the Term of a Senator?

Answer 8

6 years

Question 9

How long is the term of a member of the House of Representatives?

Answer 9

2 years

Question 10

What is an Incumbent?

Answer 10

Someone currently holding office.

Question 11

It is rare for an Incumbent to lose an election against a challenger, why?

Answer 11

Incumbents have a lot more power at their disposal because they run on the accomplishments they did while in office, and if they are still popular among the people they represent, then it is hard for a challenger to win against them

Question 12

What is a Constituent?

Answer 12

The people who are being represented by an elected official

Question 13

What is Patronage?

Answer 13

Support (in the form of money, favors, or services) given to someone

Question 14

What is Pork-Barrel spending?

Answer 14

A bad thing. Pork-Barrel spending (aka “pork”) is money the government spends on local projects in order to bring money to that district. So when a bill is passed, there are a lot of conditions (pork) in it in order to garner votes from other members of Congress so that it will become a law.

Question 15

What is the rank of the members within the House of Representatives (top to bottom)?

Answer 15

Speaker of the House (usually the leader of that political party), then the Majority Leader (can also be the Speaker of the House), then the House Majority Whip (organizes members to gain votes to pass/kill bills), and finally actual members of the house

Question 16

What does a House Whip do?

Answer 16

Organizes members to vote on passing/killing bills

Question 17

What is a President Pro Tempore?

Answer 17

Second most powerful position within the Senate (under the Vice President) and presides over the Senate in the absence of the Vice President

Question 18

What is the purpose of the Vice President within the Senate?

Answer 18

To basically be a tie-breaker for votes, but presides over the Senate

Question 19

What type of system does Congress run on?

Answer 19

Committee system

Question 20

What is the Committee system?

Answer 20

Think of this as one big group project. Different committees pass different types of bills. A committee researches and writes up bills to be voted on later in the Congress

Question 21

What are the 4 types of Committees in Congress?

Answer 21

Standing committees
Select committees
Joint committees
Conference committees

Question 22

In which of the 4 committees is most legislation written?

Answer 22

Standing Committees

Question 23

What are Standing Committees?

Answer 23

Permanent Committees that are still present even after a law is passed or killed. (Like Budget Committee, Ways and Means Committee, Agricultural Committee, etc.)

Question 24

What are Select Committees?

Answer 24

Temporary committees dealing with immediate/specific issues that bring attention to such issues within Congress

Question 25

What are Joint Committees?

Answer 25

These committees primarily deal with issues in Congress itself, and are made up of members from both the Senate and the House.

Question 26

What are Conference Committees?

Answer 26

For a bill to become a law, the same wording of the bill must be passed by both chambers. Conference committees are formed to write the final wording when both chambers pass similar bills that need to be reconciled (synthesize the two bills so that they are both identical).

Question 27

How do various members get assigned to Committees?

Answer 27

Seniority. Members of Congress who have been there longer get to pick what Committees they are on.

Question 28

What are Congressional Staffers?

Answer 28

The people who work for Congressmen. They do a lot of the research and draft bills for their boss (Senator/Representative). These jobs are given to constituents as way to return favors.

Question 29

About how many bills actually become laws?

Answer 29

Only about 5%

Question 30

What is a Congressional Caucus?

Answer 30

Kind of like an Interest Group, but within Congress. They are groups of Senators and Representatives who share a common goal or ideology, and work together to come up with bills to achieve their goals. Examples are the Black Caucus (all democrats), Tea Party Caucus (all republicans), among others

Question 31

Basically, how does a bill become a law?

Answer 31

1st, a Congressman proposes a bill
2nd, the bill goes to Committee
3rd, the Committee sends it to the floor and they all vote on it
4th, then the bill goes to the other house and they vote on it
5th, then it goes to a Conference Committee and they rectify it
6th, then it gets sent to the President to be signed into a law

Question 32

What is the Congressional Research Service?

Answer 32

Research arm of Congress

Question 33

What is the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)?

Answer 33

Assess program costs and income from tax plans

Question 34

What is the General Accounting Office?

Answer 34

Audits federal agencies and programs