Lesson 7 Test Flashcards
How does a bill become a law? (9)
1) Bill is introduced by a member of Congress
2) The bill is assigned to a committee by the Speaker or majority leader
3) In the committee, amendments are offered
4) Bill goes to Rules Committee (in the House!!)
5) Bill goes to floor for debate
6) On the floor, amendments are offered
7) Bill is voted on
8) If passed, the bill goes to Conference Committee or straight to the President for final consideration
9) President either signs bill or vetoes it
Why is there no Rules Committee in the Senate ?
Because the Senate has open debates on bills
What is a filibuster?
Action of talking a bill to death
-traditional is talking filibuster
Cloture Motion
- cuts off debates
- has to be 60 votes to happen
Talking Filibuster vs. Silent
Talking: actually talking to stall
Silent: threatening to filibuster
Since 2013…
The senate has disallowed the filibustering of presidential nominees
How often are congressional districts redrawn?
Every 10 years, after census
What does gerrymandering lead to? And what does that lead to ?
Less competitive House races… Which leads to a more partisan House, which leads to more gridlock and less legislating
Who usually oversees the process of redistricting? What is this like?
The state legislature which is highly partisan
What do parties try to create when redistricting? How many house districts are competitive?
- “safe districts” in which it is unlikely that a candidate from the opposition party will ever be elected
- 40/435
What is one of the most important activities of Congress? Define it
Legislative Oversight: the review, monitoring, and supervision, of federal agencies by Congress
How is oversight typically handled?
Through hearings by the committees that birthed the relevant legislations
Why is oversight performed?
To ensure that the executive branch (usually a specific bureaucracy) enforces a law that Congress has passed
If members of Congress are unconcerned with a laws implementation and the bureaucracy is uninterested in enforcing it, what recourse remains for citizens desiring enforcement of the law ?
Litigation
What are in both chambers? What are they devoted to?
- committees
- exclusively to oversight
Members of Congress seek standing committee assignments that will assist them with what 3 goals?
1) Reelection
2) Influence in Congress
3) Opportunity to make policy an area of expertise
Standing Committees always consist of…..
BUT
- members from both parties
- the majority party in Congress always gets more seats on a committee, as well as the all important chairman position
How is the committee chair usually assigned?
By seniority, but since the 1970s it has become easier for junior members to win the chair
What is a caucus ?
An informal group of legislators that form around specific issue areas and attempt to influence policy
How many caucuses are in congress?
600
How many staffers work in Congress?
- 12,000
- 1/2 of these work in the home districts or states of the rep or senator they serve
Staff members are also employed for…
Each committee and subcommittee
Staff members…(assist members of congress)
1) organize hearings: crucial to legislative oversight
2) research info on legislation
3) help write legislation
4) assist the legislative oversight
Three Important Staff Agencies that assist staffers with their duties
1) Congressional Research Service (CRS)
2) General Accounting Office (GAO)
3) Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
Congressional Research Service (2)
- administered by library of Congress
- employs highly skilled researchers (many with Ph. D.) to provide legislators with reliable, fact based info they can use to decide how to vote on bills
General Accounting Office
- monitors the executive branch, assisting Congress with legislative oversight
- monitors policy implementation
Congressional Budget Office
- analyzes presidents budget
- calculates the cost of proposed policies
- estimates the economic effects of government taxing and spending
Where is every bill introduced assigned? Then where does this place assign them?
-standing committee who usually then assigns it to a subcommittee
What to committees/subcommittees do to the bill?
“Mark up” (revise, rewrite) the bill and submit it to the full chamber for a vote
Committee/subcommittee members serve as? What else do they do?
- floor managers of the bill
- they will also sit on any conference committee that may form
What are all of the places a bill can go to die? (5)
1) hopper
2) in committee
3) on the floor
4) in conference committee
5) on the president’s desk
How many bills are introduced to Congress annually? How many get signed into law?
- about 5,500
- 200 or so
Who can draft a bill?
- anyone; white house and interest groups are common
- but only a member of congress can introduce one in congress(bill’s sponsor(s))
Most bills…
Die long before becoming a law
Riders (3)
1) used to pass bills without sufficient stand-alone support
2) must pertain to issue of the bill
3) in the senate… Can be totally unrelated to bill’s content
The President is the…
The President….(3)
- chief legislator
1) wields the veto
2) tries to persuade congress to take up as much of the prez’s agenda as possible
3) has most success in Congress earlier in term than later
Why has Congress grown more polarized? (5)
1) gerrymandering
2) media coverage of politics
3) changes in political culture
4) big money in politics
5) low voter turn out in elections
What does Congress consist of?
Weak political parties, which means political parties do not have any way to control the citizens or politicians who belong to them
Three Different Models of Congressional Representation
1) instructed delegate: vote on bills as your constituents demand
2) trustee: vote on bills as you see fit and as your own philosophy dictates
3) politico: blends the instructed delegate and trustee models
On high-profile issues…
On low profile issues…
- members of Congress take a large risk in ignoring constituent opinion
- the influences of lobbyists and personal conviction loom larger
Two Different Theories of Representation
1) descriptive: rep/senator shares a race, religion, and other vital characteristics with majority of constituents
2) substantive: rep/senator shares a political ideology with majority of constituents
What are the 3 main things Congress does to increase the odds of reelection?
1) advertising
2) position taking
3) credit claiming
Advertising
Takes the form of visible presence in the state/district
Position Taking
Involves taking public positions on issues; matters the least
Credit Claiming
Usually takes the form of casework and pork barreling
Define casework
Helping constituents deal with the bureaucracy
Define pork barreling
Bringing back earmarks to the state/district
Incumbency
- being an elected officeholder and not the challenger
- strongest guarantor or reelection
How many house members are reelected? When do reps usually win?
- 90% with over 60% of the vote
- often win even when their positions align less wit the voters’ than do the challenger’s
Why do senators win re-election less frequently and by slighter margins? 3)
1) face higher profile challengers
2) face more media coverage and closer scrutiny of their actions
3) more difficult to consistently win a whole state than a most likely non competitive House District
Most of the turnover in Congress is the result of…
Seats that come open through retirement… The candidate who spends the most $$ in the election usually wins
Why can incumbency be good? Why can it be bad?
- good: it promotes stability and experience in Congress
- bad: promotes careerism and anti-democratic tendencies
Lobbyists (2)
1) work on behalf of interest groups to persuade members of Congress to support policy favorable to the interest group
2) paid lobbyists must register with Congress
How many lobbyists work in D.C.? Where are the lobbying operations?
- more than 35,000
- many are located on K Street in the capitol
How often do members of congress meet with lobbyists ?
Frequently
Congress consists of…
They…
-generalists making policy in specialized issuer areas; this empowers lobbyists
Many former members of congress….
Work as lobbyists; this is controversial
Johnson Rule (1960)
Allowed each senator a seat on at least one prestige committee
What happened in the 1970’s?
-the power of committee chairs was diminished; power was decentralized
Some components of the 1994 Contract with America major effort at reform (4)
1) balanced budget amendment
2) line-item veto
3) vote on term limits
4) welfare reform
The typical American voter is an…
Ideological conservative but an operational liberal
Divided Government
One party controls the executive, the other party the legislative
Person who introduces bill to congress
Sponsor of the bill; can be many
