Chapter 7 Flashcards
legislation (law making), representation, and oversight
LRO(basic legislative functions, lecture)
the privilege of free mail service provided to members of congress
Franking Privilege
a reallocation of congressional seats among the states every then years, following the census
Reapportionment
redistricting to benefit a particular group
Gerrymandering
decides the rule for the camber, leadership positions (speaker of the house), majority leader for senate, easier to get the bills passed, member advancement.
Party (role of life in Congress)
1 Speaker, 2 Majority leader, and then 3 Minority leader.
Leadership structure
the accumulation of power and authority in conjunction with the length of time spent in office
Seniority system
congresses way of dividing work among smaller groups within congress, allowing members to specialize in certain areas of policy and thus bills to be considered more efficiently
Committee system
- Drafting & Introduction of Legislation 2. Committee Examination and Debate 3. Floor debate/Amendment/Passage 4. Conference Committee 5. Filibuster
Legislating
publicly recorded votes on bills and amendments on the floor of the House or Senate
Roll call voting
the tendency for the presidential party to lose congressional seats in off-year elections
Midterm loss
when districts are drawn with unequal populations
Malapportionment
made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate; bicameral
Basic structure of Congress
public work projects and grants for specific districts paid for by general revenues
Pork barrel
process of dividing states into legislative districts
Redistricting
Senate = superior white inherited wealth advanced degrees. House = more diverse.
Congressional demographics
when differences between parties become great and ideologies within those separate parties harmonize
Polarization in Congress
the leader of the majority party who serves as the presiding officer of the House of Representatives
Speaker of the House
to be able to make people see things your way by any means.
Senate majority leader (“the treatment”)
permanent committees responsible for legislation in particular policy areas
Standing committees
reversal of a presidential veto by a two-thirds vote in both houses of congress
veto override
practice of legislators becoming experts and taking leadership roles in specific policy areas
Policy entrepreneurship
legislative work on behalf of individual constituents to solve their problems with government agencies and programs
Casework Representation
congressional work to advance the issues and ideological preferences of constituents
Policy Representation
congressional work to secure projects, services, and funds for the represented district
Allocative Representation
efforts of members of congress to stand for American ideas or identify with common constituency values
symbolic representation
redistricting to enhance or reduce the chances that a racial or an ethnic group will elect members to the legislature
Racial Gerrymandering
the process in a particular state legislature whereby the majority party draws districts to maximize the number of house seats their party can win.
Partisan Gerrymandering
“off-year” elections, those congressional elections that fall between the parties and increased ideological consensus within the parties.
Midterm elections
- Min. Age: House= 25 yrs; Senate= 30 yrs 2. U.S. Citizen: House= 7 yrs; Senate= 9 yrs 3. Length of Term: House= 2 yrs; Senate= 6 yrs 4. #Rep. Each State: House= 1-53 per state (depends on pop.); Senate= 2 per state 5. House= local; Senate= local and national
House v. Senate
