Legislative Branch Flashcards
What type of political system is the Leg. Branch
Bicameral Legislature
Two Powers of Legislative Branch
Representation (hints HOR)
Law Making
What are the two chambers
House of Representatives (HOR)
Senate
Term length in HOR
2 years
Term length in Senate
6 years
Number of Reps in House
435 members
Age requirement in HOR
25
Citizenship requirement in HOR
7 years
HOR = 435 -> (43) (5) -> (43): 4+3 = 7 = yrs of citizenship required
-> (5) remains
Term yrs = 2 -> Placing (2) & (5) together = 25
-> 25 = Age requirement
- HOR: 435 members – must be 25 – 7 year citizen
Number of Reps = 435, therefor…
–> (43) (5) – (43): 4+3 = 7 –> Leftover =
7 = years of citizenship required
Differences between HOR & Senate
TWO
Institutional structure
Culture
What are the 5 main distinctions of the HOR in comparison to the Senate
- Congressional Districts
- Timed Debate
- Rules Committee
- Shorter Terms
- Speaker of the House
Congressional Districts
Only in HOR (Senators = Rep. Of entire State)
Member represents a section of their home state (AKA District)
Terms are revolved around Districts
- Redistricting
- Reapportionment
In the (SKETCH AS FUCK) politics of Redistricting, districts must be …
Contiguous (share common borders/ touching)
Congruent ( in agreement or harmony)
–> Very sketch and crooked; lots of corruption in regards to distributing wealth amount districts
What is Gerrymandering
- Prime example of Political corruption in US politics
- It’s the intentional manipulation in dividing districts within a state
- The intent is to give one political party a majority vote within some districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.
Gerrymandering (In simple Terms)
- Goal is to maximize the effect of supporters’ votes, and to minimize the effect of opponents’ votes
Types of Gerrymandering
TWO
- -> Know together as “Packing and Cracking”
- Packing
- Diluting
--> Recent and local example = TRAVIS COUNTY (Austin)
Packing (Gerrymandering)
- To concentrate as many voters of one type into a single electoral district to reduce their influence in other districts.
Diluting aka Cracking (Gerrymandering)
- Involves spreading out voters of a particular type among many districts in order to deny them a sufficiently large voting bloc in any particular district.
- Reason is to give opponent less odds of winning
Gerrymandering is legal if it…
… based on partnership
Gerrymandering is illegal if…
… it is based on race
In which Chamber does a Filibuster take place
Senate
Origin of Filibuster
- Initially conceived of as a way to ensure that minority opinions were heard and understood before the Senate voted on an issue
Rule all Senators must bide during Filibuster
- All Senator must remain during debate
- Federal Marshall’s prevent all from leaving
What are the 2 options for ending a Filibuster
- Wait Senator out
2. Winning a cloture vote
Conditions of cloture vote
- Senator proposes to have a cloture vote
- Immediately vote
- 60 + Senator vote = Filibuster ends
Important Examples of Filibusters
–> IMPORTANT (teacher is Woman so remember the woman!!!!
- WENDY DAVIS
- Rand Paul
- Strom Thurmond
Wendy Davis Filibuster
June 25, 2013
- Senate Bill 5 –> REGARDS ABORTION
The bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy - Require abortion clinics to meet the same standards that hospital-style surgical centers do
- Mandate that a doctor who performs abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital
Powers of HOR
TWO
- Origin of Bills
(ALL BILLS ORIGINATE IN THE HOUSE) - Impeachment Vote
Powers of the Senate
FOUR
- Impeachment Trail
GRANT APPROVAL FOR:
- Treaties
- Presidential Appointments
Two methods of Representation
- Proportional
- Single Member Districts (AKA) Winner-take-all
5 Conditions on the Filibuster
- -> NO SPECIFIC ORDER
1. Cannot sit down
2. Must stand and talk on floor
3. Cannot leave floor for any reason
4. If stops talking or leaves he gives up floor and filibuster continues
5. CAN eat during time on floor
