Exam 2 Flashcards
What can interest groups do to promote their interest?
- Lobbyers- interest groups hire people to talk to legislators- can offer to endorse that candidate, lobbyers develop a close relationship by creating a relationship with a member of congress, sharing information about their issue with them, congress members rely on their interest groups friends for speeches
- electioneering- taking part in a campaign and convincing people to vote for a certain candidate
- litigating- take to court
- share information on the interest
Which interest groups have the lowest and highest success rates?
- Public interest groups have the lowest success rates - National affordable housing management association, National center for homeless education, American foundation for AIDS research
- American Medical association has a very high success rate, also NRA, and NAM (national association of manufacturers), all of these groups are big because of stagnation and gridlock, they don’t want more legislation, against change and the government can’t do much so this is why they are successful
Compare the senate and house of representatives
- The house and senate usually have different personalities and have the ability to block each other
- Each house must pass the exact same bill
Senate-
o 100 members- two per state, high representation for low population states
o More functional as 100 members respect one another
o Committees are less important- floor is more important
o Less “partisan” (adherent to party- more moderate relating to which party controls it)
o 6-year term
House of Reps-
o 435 members- even representation for state populations
o Less functional
o committees are much more important- where the action is done,, floor is less important
o More “Partisan” (adherent to party- more extreme- more conservative if republicans more liberal if democrats )
o 2-year term
Filibuster
Allows a senator to engage in unlimited debate and talk for as long as they need to prevent the senate from voting on a bill- emotional closure can end the filibuster
Appropriations committee
Responsible for appropriating funding for most functions of the federal government, the money and idea for a proposal
Budgeting committee
Decides who gets to spend money on what
Rules committee
Has the power to change the process for desired pieces of legislation
Bicameral legislature
Having two houses, created to make government difficult
If the president is republican, which party will likely win the house during midterms?
Democrats will likely win the house because democrats are more likely to be upset and vote during midterms
Why might it be difficult for legislators in the house of reps to focus on governing?
They must focus on re-election since they only have a 2-year term
Gerrymandering
Manipulating boundaries to favor a party, can cause a candidate to win in states because they are in a state of their party
Committee chair members
Leader of a committee, In the house of reps are always members of the majority party
What are the phases of committee work
Hearings, markup, report – phases occur in every subcommittee and committee
Party whips
Work with majority leader, convey the party’s position to rank-and-file congresspersons, count votes before they are passed
Reconciliation bills
Tweaking a piece pf legislation rather than making something new- must make an argument with a parliamentarian that you are only tweaking the legislation, prevents gridlock
Iron triangles (subgovernments)
Informal act of communication between three different votes in attempt to make small changes- mutual, helpful relationships- between house committee chair, interest group leader, and bureau chief- runs around policy when you are administering something small- prevents gridlock/ pluralism
Majority leader
The Speaker’s principal partisan ally in the house or the party’s manager in the senate
Executive Order
Method president can use to control the bureaucracy
Why might Americans be confused when voting for a president of a particular party?
The President is seen as the leader of their party and of the nation itself, they get most public attention of American Government, and this causes confusion for Americans because congress has more power than the president in reality
What’s the president’s power related to the military?
The president in in charge of armed forces, control of the military gives him authority relating to foreign policy
Commander in chief- has the constitutional right to wage war
Veto power
Package veto- all or nothing, the president can’t change the legislation they must only say yes or no
-Congress must have 2/3 votes in both houses to override veto
-congress will likely try to change bill to get president to sign it
–If a president doesn’t veto after 10 days, it will pass
War powers act
Reappropriates control for congress, the president must tell congress in advance of foreign attack, but congress would likely lose if they tried to use it because the president as commander in chief is in the constitution
Pocket veto
if a president doesn’t sign a bill after 10 days, it dies and can’t be overridden
What could Harris have done differently/ what should she have said she’d do differently?
She could’ve said she’s not going to continue Biden’s presidency, because many undecided voters voted republican simply because they’re not currently happy
The federal executive branch
Works for the president, organizes agencies into four basic types: cabinet departments, independent regulatory commissions, government corporations, and independent executive agencies
- White house staff is growing in size
Chief of staff
The second most important person in the white house other than the president- she is the access to the president
Food safety
There are pesticides in our food and we have high cancer rates
Why is American public policy thin compared to what it could be?
Because people will think its useless and expensive and have the power to block it
- Our shortage of policy damages people, people are hurt when they don’t have good emotional, financial support
Why might the president get frustrated relating to policy?
He has power and control over foreign policies because he can reach an understanding with another nation without permission from congress, but gets frustrated because he can’t change the American policies he advocates for because of gridlock. So the president had more power with foreign policy than domestic policy.
Poverty
We have extremely unequal distribution in income and unaffordable housing- we could increase min wage to combat inflation
How is our healthcare system unfair?
It’s unfair to those of the lower class, higher class receives the best healthcare, which is why we have low health rates (high death rates) compared to other countries even though we have the highest quality healthcare
Social security
Assistance to people with inadequate income (retired to people with disabilities)- the largest cause of national debt, especially as the older population is growing and not as many people are the working age
Fair education
Schools are still segregated by race even though it’s not legal- schools in poorer communities such as Hartford have less White students than more privileged communities
Global heating
The heating of the Earth, a life or death matter, will impact our lives the most dramatically but politicians often divert the publics attention to smaller issues
Crime
We have the highest rate of people in prison
Gun safety
We have so many guns and they aren’t secured as well as they should be, mass shootings and accidents happen way too often- intersection of American qualities and the guns- poverty, abuse, damage + guns= bad marriage
What’s the current U.S. standing with Ukraine?
-Biden is currently helping Ukraine by sending weapons (advanced missiles), but they are losing a lot of territory to Russia
-Trump wants a peace settlement- he promised to get Russia and Ukraine to make an agreement
- Western Europe is nervous about this war so they will help Ukraine if the U.S. doesn’t, and Ukraine would be safer if they could join NATO because then Europe and the U.S. would have their back- Putin wouldn’t let Ukraine join NATO for tiny pieces of land but Ukraine needs NATO for security
What’s the current U.S. standing with Taiwan?
The U.S. supports Taiwan against China
Israel
America is concerned with the balance of power among the nations, we don’t necessarily fight for Gaza/ Palestinians
-Trump wants a peace settlement, in peace Israel is fighting each other, in war they’re fighting other countries
- Iran wants time to become stronger with nuclear weapons
What’s Trump’s opinion on how we should act towards these wars?
he believes in empowering America only and not other countries and wants peace settlements, but it may make us weaker if it seems like we don’t care
What are the “two presidencies”?
foreign policy and domestic policy, the president has more power with foreign policy
What is a negative power of the president and of the senate?
Veto, filibuster
The federal bureaucracy
the sum total of all executive agencies and personnel, implements laws and policies made by elected officials
- President is in charge of the federal bureaucracy, but is it difficult for them to control the bureaucracy because of gridlock
Describe the structure of the federal courts
U.S. district courts (trial courts) > U.S. Court of Appeals (Intermediate Appellate courts) > U.S. Supreme Court(Highest court of appeal)
What are the two chambers of congress?
The house of representatives and the senate
What is the supreme court?
-Highest court of appeal
- 9 justices
- It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal jurisdictions and justices interpret the constitution and the federal law to make decisions
What’s the process for appointing a supreme court justice ?
The president nominates a supreme court justice and the senate votes to confirm or reject the nominee
What’s the difference between appellate courts and trail courts?
A trial court hears a new case and makes a decision based on the facts of the case, and appellate courts ensure the procedures of the trial court on a case was done fairly and the law was applied correctly. Appellate courts do not hear new evidence for a case.
The speaker of the house
- Presides over the House when it is in session
- Plays a major role in making committee assignments, which are coveted by all members to ensure their reelection
-Appoints or plays a key role in appointing the party’s legislative leaders and the party leadership staff
-Exercises substantial control over assigning bills to committees
-responsible for ensuring that the House passes legislation supported by the majority party
-second in line to become president after the vice president
Judicial review
Power of the courts to interpret the constitution and determine if laws and regulations violate it- Marbury vs. Madison decided the country would function with judicial review
precedent
A court decision that can decide future cases with similar facts and laws, such as Roe. v. Wade
In any given year, what’s the most important piece of legislation passed by congress?
The federal budget, what the government spends
Interest groups
A group of people that seeks to influence public policy on the basis of a particular common interest or concern
Which party won the house and senate and roughly by how much?
- Republicans won the house very closely, 220 to 215
- Republicans also won the senate closely, 53 to 47
What were the results of the presidential election?
Trump did not get a majority of the popular vote (under 50%), but he got more than in past election and won by far with the electoral college
