Legislative Flashcards
What is a Bicameral Legislature?
Bicameral- two chambers:
House of Representatives
Senate
What is a majority leader?
Elected leader of a party that has the majority of seats in Congress
minority leader
Elected leader of a party that has the minority of seats in Congress.
What are standing committees?
Permanent committees that oversee specific issues.
What are select committees?
Are special committees that are formed to deal with a particular issue or policy
What are joint committees?
Are composed of members of the House and Senate. They coordinate work of both houses but do not deal with bills directly
What are conference committees?
Committees that iron out differences between similar bills passed in the House and Senate.
What is a veto?
(sends it back to Congress)
to forbid or reject a law
What is a pocket veto?
If President doesn’t sign a bill within 10 days and Congress in
s not in session
What is the president pro-tempore?
the third in line to President honorary position. Longest standing member of the majority party.
Who is Paul Ryan?
The New Speaker of the House
What is the Speaker of the House? and his four roles?
The Presiding officer.
1) Selects who speaks
2) Selects committee chairs
3) Selects what bills will be discused and voted on
4) Preserves order and decorum
Who is Nancy Pelosi?
House Minority Leader
Who is Kevin McCarthy?
House majority leader
Who is Cathy McMorris Rogers?
The House of Representatives Member for Washington
Who is Patty Murray?
The runners for our senator in washington
Who is Mike Crapo?
The senators running for idaho
Who is Raul Labrador?
A republican running for the house of representatives in Idaho
Who is Orin Hatch
New President Pro-tempore
Who is Mitch McConnell
Senate Majority Leader
Who is Harry Reid
Senate Minority Leader
What is the Whip?
A Congressman elected by their party who helps the party leader stay informed on how voting will go
What is a fillbuster?
a prolonged speech that obstructs progress of alegislative assembly
What is reapportioning?
the assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. State legislatures reapportion state legislative disticts
What is redistricting?
the redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census, to accomodate population shifts and keeps districts as equal as possible in population.
(dividing into new districts)
What is gerrymandering?
the drawing of legislation districts for partisan advantage.(manipulating boundaries; making favoritsm towards one party)
How many members are in the United States Senate? House of Representatives?
The senate consists of 100 members
The House of Representatives has 435 members
What is the term of office (years) for a member of the House of Representatives? The term of office for a member of the Senate?
House members have a 2 year term
Senate members have a 6 year term
What are the minimum ages necessary for a U.S. Senator and Representative?
U.S. senator: 30 years old
Representative: 25 years old
What is the citzenship requirement for a U.S. Senator and Representative?
U.S. Senator: 9 years of citzenship and resident of the same state.
U.S. Representative: 7 years of citzenship and resident of the same state.
what is habeus corpus?
Latin for “you shall have the body”
legal action or writ by means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment. (There must be evidence for imprisonment)
What is U.S. census?
census determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Counting of population every ten years)
incumbent
(of an official or regime) currently holding office.
Why does the Speaker of the House have more power than the President Pro Tempore of the Senate?
The speaker of the house has more control over the rules of the house because there are more members
Why do committees have significant congressional power? Whoch ones in particular? What are their duties and responsibilities?
Committees help to organize the most important work of Congress — considering, shaping, and passing laws to govern the nation. (They determine which bills make it onto the floor).
Rules, Budget, Appeopriation, Ways and Means
What are Ways and Means duties and responsibilities?
The Ways and Means is the cheif tax writing committee in the House of Represntatives.
What are Rules duties and responsibilities?
The Rules Committee is known as the Speakers Committee, because it is the mechanism the speaker uses to maintain order on the House floor
What are Appropriations duties and responsibilities?
The appropriation committee decides what is going to be funded during the fiscal year
What are Budgets duties and responsibilities?
The Budget Committee decides the annual budget resolution
Describe the BASIC process of passing a bill to create a law
1) Speaker of house sends the bills to committees
2) Bill goes to committee
3) The Bill os reported in committee
4) The Bill is debated and changed
5) The Bill os voted on
6) The Bill is reffered to the Senate
7) The Bill os sent to the Presdient
8) The Bill becomes a law
Why must revenue raising bills originate in the House of Representatives?
Under the Original structure of the US Congress, the House of Reps was elected by and represents the people. The people’s representatives were given sole power to tax the people. It cannot originate in the senate because the senate represents the states.
Why is the Rules committee so powerful in the House of Representatives?
Because since the House is so large, debate would quickly become chaotic without the organization and structure provided by this committee.
How can a President’s veto be overridden?
The Presidents veto can be overridden with two-thirds vote in the House and the Senate
General: Identify the stages in the legislative process at which a bill could be delayed or killed
If President Vetos it, a pocket veto occurs,
Why does it take so long for Congress to act on legislation?
It takes a long time for Congress to act because Congress has to ensure representation of the people. The Checks and Balances system. Also, if it wasn’t hard to act on legisltion Congress would have way to much power. If Congress had to much power personal liberties would be taken away.
Who impeaches and who holds trials for impeached officials?
The House of Reps. impeaches
The Senate holds trials
Know at least 3 of the 10 Important Acts of Congress
Civil Rights Act: Prohibits race discrimination and enforces the 14th amendment
Clean Air Act: Establishes national air quality standards, funds for air quality standards, gives power to federal government
No Child Left Behind Act: Requires set standards to improve individuals outcomes in education, Expands federal role in education, requires states to develop assesments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades.
Know at least 5 powers of Congress based off of our class memes.
1) To create bankrupcy laws
2) To regulate taxes
3) To grant patients and copyrights
4) To establish post offices
5) To regulate commerce
Who is the incoming minority leader in the senate?
Chuck Schumer
impeaches?
House
impeachment trials?
Senate
Who is Maria Cantwell?
A senator running for washington
Who is Jim Risch?
a senator running for idaho
