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AP Gov > Chapter Ten: Congress > Flashcards

Chapter Ten: Congress Flashcards

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1
Q

Appropriations Committee

A

standing committee in House of Representatives and the Senate that look at discretionary budget bills and deny or approve them - spending - in house can originate budget bills but senate can’t

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2
Q

Rules Committee

A

standing committee in House of Representatives that controls over how bills are moved through the House of Representatives - sets closed and open rules

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3
Q

Ways and Means

A

standing committee in the House of Representatives -

bills on revenues and taxes

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4
Q

Senate Judiciary Committee

A

approve judicial appointments

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5
Q

Power of legislative branch

A

Most powerful branch in the government (bicameral - 2 house)

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6
Q

Constituents views

A

AKA delegate - a congressman makes decisions based on the will of the people that elected him

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7
Q

Party views

A

AKA partisan - a congressman makes decisions based on the platform of his party

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8
Q

Personal views

A

AKA trustee - a congressman makes decisions based on his own personal opinion of the matter

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9
Q

Congress’ expressed powers in the Constitution

A
  • lay and collect taxes
  • borrow money
  • regulate commerce
  • establish rules for naturalization and bankruptcy
  • coin money
  • fix standards of weights and measures
  • establish a post office and post roads
  • issue patents and copyrights
  • create courts (other than SCOTUS)
  • define and punish piracies
  • declare war
  • raise and support and army and navy
  • provide for a militia
  • exercise exclusive legislative powers over DC and other federal facilities
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10
Q

Elastic clause

A

AKA necessary and proper clause - Congress has the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying out their expressed powers

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11
Q

Exclusive powers given to the House

A
  • Revenue bills must originate in the House

- House can make charges for impeach government officials

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12
Q

Exclusive powers given to the Senate

A
  • Major Presidential appointments are confirmed by the Senate
  • Senate approves treaties with foreign nations
  • Tries the impeachment of officials
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13
Q

Other differences between House and Senate

A
  • House terms = 2 years Senate terms = 6 years (1/3 of Senate up for reelection every two years)
  • House = 453 members (by pop. of states) Senate = 100 members (2 per state)
  • House requirements = 25 yo (years old), 7 yc (years a citizen) Senate requirements = 30 yo, 9 yc
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14
Q

Evolutionary powers

A

Congressional powers that evolved over the years because of the elastic clause

  • Oversight of the budget
  • Investigation
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15
Q

Oversight of the budget power

A

Congress reviews and restricts the annual budget prepared by executive - Congress must pass an authorization bill that states the maximum amount of money available - when budget is set, only Congress can set the appropriations (actual amount available in a fiscal year)

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16
Q

Investigation power

A

Congress may investigate both issues that warrant study and wrong doings by public officials e.g. Watergate Scandal and Clinton-Lewinsky

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17
Q

Leadership in Congress

A

Party with most representatives is the majority, and the other is the minority - Speaker of the House is the most important leadership position in the House

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18
Q

Powers of the Speaker of the House

A
  • recognizing members who wish to speak
  • ruling on questions of parliamentary procedure
  • appointing members to select and conference committees
  • Directs business on the floor
  • Exercises political and behind-the-scenes influence
  • Appointing members of the committees who appoint members to standing committees
  • Exercising substantial control over which bills get assigned to which committees
  • Appointing the party’s legislative leaders
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19
Q

Majority Leader

A

Speaker’s most important colleague - stepping stone to the Speaker’s position - responsible for scheduling bills and for rounding up votes for bills the party favors

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20
Q

Minority Leader

A

party power not parliamentary power

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21
Q

Party whips

A

Assist the floor leaders - serve as go-betweens for the members and the leadership - inform members when important bills will come up for a vote, do nose-counts for the leadership, and pressure members to support the leadership

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22
Q

President of the Senate

A

the Vice President

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23
Q

President Pro Tempore

A

usually the most senior member in the party

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24
Q

Senate Leaders

A

majority leader and minority leader

25
Q

Standing committees

A

semi-permanent - most important type of committee because they handle bills in different policy areas, thus shaping legislation - may fluctuate but tend to “stand” for a long time

26
Q

Select committees

A

formed for specific purposes and are usually temporary - some long standing select committees eventually become standing committees

27
Q

Joint committees

A

similar purpose to select committees, but consist of members of both houses of Congress - help to focus public attention on major issues

28
Q

Conference committees

A

consist of members from both houses and are formed to hammer out difference between House and Senate versions of similar bills - the newly formed compromise bill is sent back to both houses for final approval

29
Q

Pigeonholed

A

bills forgotten for weeks or forever, and never make it out of a committee

30
Q

Marked up

A

a changed or rewritten bill

31
Q

Committee membership

A

party appointment - primarily controlled by the majority party - the chairman and majority of each standing committee come from the majority party

32
Q

Committee chairmen

A

most important shapes of the committee agenda - selected by seniority system from 1910-1970s and then changed to secret ballots from all the majority members - most still get their positions through seniority

33
Q

Seniority system

A

the committee member with the longest continuous service on the committee was placed automatically in the chairmanship

34
Q

Closed rule

A

AKA gag rule - sets strict time limits on debate of the bill and forbids any amendments on the bill

35
Q

Open rule

A

permits amendments and has less strict time limits on debate of the bill

36
Q

Congressional caucuses

A

groupings of members of Congress sharing the same interests or points of view - currently more than 70 who all try to shape the agenda of Congress by elevating their issues or interests to a prominent place in the daily workings of Congress

37
Q

Staff

A

more than 30,000 people work in paid bureaucratic positions for Congress

38
Q

Congressional demographics

A
  • 90% are male
  • most are well educated
  • most are from upper income backgrounds
  • most are protestants
  • most are white
  • average age is 60 for senators and 55 for house reps
  • 40% are lawyers, others business owners or officers, professors and teachers, clergy, and farmers
39
Q

Incumbency advantage

A

incumbents’ names are more recognizable than their challengers, so they are more likely to be elected

40
Q

Malapportionment

A

districts of unequal sizes and populations - some people were more able to access their representatives than others - Wesberry v. Sanders

41
Q

Wesberry v. Sanders

A

SCOTUS ruled that districts be drawn so that one person’s vote would be as equal as possible to another - “one man, one vote”

42
Q

Gerrymandering

A

district boundaries are drawn in strange ways in order to make it easy for the candidate of one party to win the election in that district

43
Q

Bill

A

legislative act with long-term legal effect

44
Q

Simple resolution

A

passed by either house, usually establishes rules, regulations, or practices that don’t have the power of law - not signed by POTUS

45
Q

Concurrent resolution

A

comes from both houses and often settles housekeeping and procedural matters that affect both houses - not signed by POTUS and doesn’t have power of law

46
Q

Joint resolution

A

requires approval by both houses and signature of POTUS and is essentially the same as a law - may be used for immediate action on an important issue e.g. 9/11

47
Q

Discharge petition

A

brings a bill out of a committee to the floor

48
Q

Congressional calendars

A

for a bill to come before either house, it . must first be placed on a calendar

49
Q

Committee of the Whole

A

every member of Congress or whatever house the bill is in, sits as one committee to discuss a bill

50
Q

Germane

A

relevant to the topic of the bill

51
Q

Rider

A

amendment that is not relevant to the topic of the bill

52
Q

Filibuster

A

the practice of talking a bill to death - debating so long that the bill is killed

53
Q

Cloture

A

can stop a filibuster with 3/5 approval of the entire Senate membership

54
Q

Christmas-tree bill

A

a bill with many riders

55
Q

Roll call vote

A

consists of people answering “yea” or “nay” to their names - can be called for by 1/5 of the House membership

56
Q

Veto

A

Presidential action on a bill that kills it - can be overridden by 2/3 of both houses

57
Q

Pocket veto

A

If POTUS receives a bill within 10 days of adjournment of Congress, he may simply not respond and the bill will die

58
Q

Pork

A

benefits for a Congressman’s district - pork barrel legislation was legislation that a Congressman wanted passed to please his constituents in hope of being reelected

59
Q

Logrolling

A

when a member of Congress supports another member’s pet project in return for his or her own project - “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”

AP Gov (14 decks)

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