Midterm Flashcards
Quorum
Minimum number of individuals for House and Senate that must be present for business to be done
Disappearing Quorum
No longer allowed but in the past they were used by the minority party when a bill was being voted on, members would not answer a quorum call in order to obstruct and delay House business
Quorum Call
The clerk calling for attendance of the House or Senate. Any member located within the building is counted as present
Expulsion
Removing a member from Congress for issues of misconduct by a 2/3 majority
Censure
Formal disapproval of a Member of Congress with a majority vote passing a resolution disapproving a Member’s read in front of the rest of the chamber
Reprimands
Resolution disapproving a Member’s action but Member does not have to stand in front of the Chamber
Ethics Committee
Express disapproval of certain conduct in informal letters or communication of a Member
Apportionment
Process of determining the number of representatives each state is entitled to based on the census
Actual enumeration
The census needs to be an actual count of the population, not based off a sample
Public Bill
Written bill to deal with general societal matters
Private Bill
Written bill to deal with personal matter, this is rare now
ex. Citizenship status
Concurrent Resolutions
Adopted by both the Chambers but does not recruiters the signature of the president and does not have the forced law
Resolutions
Legislation introduced to either house and may be limited to effect only one chamber and does not require president’s signature or have the force of law
Authorization Bill
Creates programs, eligibility requirements, administration of program, and authorizes the amount of money for the program
Appropriations Bills
Funds the programs the authorization bill creates and allocates the money
Cosponsorship
Allows members to have their name on legislation to show their support so members are not writing the same bills
Dear Colleague Letter
Internal correspondents sent by one member to another typically to support a bill
Standing committee
Legislative authority and permanent status with legislative jurisdiction specified in Chamber rules and precedents. They write and report legislation on any matter within their jurisdiction
Multiple referral
Legislation sent to several committees
Markup
Committee debates, amends, no rewrites proposed legislation
Suspend the Rules
(House) Requires a 2/3rds vote in which the bill will be immediately considered without amendments and a 40 minute debate
Discharge Petition
(House) If a bill has been in standing committee for 30 session days or 7 session days in Rules Committee, members can sign discharge petition with majority vote and it will be taken out of committee and put on the floor
(Senate) Nongermane Amendment
Amendment that is not relevant to the original bill
Senate Rule XIV
(Senate) allows individual Senators to reject a bill going to committee and immediately put on the floor for debate but does not guarantee it will be voted on
Rule
Establishes the order in which bills will be considered but also restrictions and qualifications for bills
Open Rule
Allows any and all amendments to bills as long as they follow the Rules
Modified Open Rules
Weak restriction on total use of amendments
Closed Rule
No amendments can be made on the bill and will be voted as is and brought to the floor
Restrictive Rule
Anything that is closed or structured
Queen of the Hill Rule
Allows several amendments to be voted on and one with the most votes is adopted
Unanimous Consent Agreements
(Senate) limits the amount of amendments, time of debate, etc and all Senators must agree on this
Filibuster
Right of unlimited debate
Cloture
Signatures needs to stop debate and vote on bill, 60 votes are needed
Holds
Individual Senator requests to the party leader that. Bill not be put up for a vote so Senators can study the bill, but now used as a way to defeat legislation
Nuclear option
When Senate changed rules that cloture only needs 60 votes for lower court nominees
Nuclear Option Part 2
Cloture vote only need 60 votes for Supreme Court nominee
Fast-Track Trade Authority
President can negotiate treaties and once they are submitted they are considered for a vote without amendments
The Closing of Military Bases
Commission BRAC that identifies bases to close without amendment and requires yes or no vote
Motion to Recommit
(House) last chance for the minority to amend the bill with or without instructions
Ping-ponging
Sending amendment
S between the House and Senate to resolve difference between the two bills
Conference Committee
Temporary and have legislative responsibilities to resolve differences between House and Senate versions of legislation
Veto
President returning a bill back to the chamber that first past it with message indicting objection to the legislation in its present form
Folkways
Unwritten rules of the Senate
Apprenticeship
New senators should be seen but not heard
Legislative Work
Be a work horse not a show horse
Specialization
Become an expert on a certain policy or topic
Courtesy
Senators should respect one another
Reciprocity
Senators should help others out and return favors
Institutional Patriotism
Senators should respect the Senate and not say bad thing about it
Standing Committees
Legislative authority and permanent status, legislative jurisdiction is specified in ch,amber rules and precedents, and they write and report legislation on any matter within their jurisdiction
Ad Hoc Committee
Created and appointed to design and report legislation, but they are temporary and often dissolve either at a specified date or after reporting the legislation for which they were created
Conference Committee
Temporary and have legislative responsibilities and appointed to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of legislation
Joint Committee
Permanent but lack legislative authority and are composed of member form both chambers and only deal with house keeping decisions
Select or Special Committee
Temporary committees without legislative authority and used to study problems that fall under the jurisdiction of several standing committees, to symbolize Congress’s commitment to major consistency groups, or reward particular legislators
Detailees
An executive branch employee who works for a federal agency and is borrowed by a congressional committee while the federal agency pays the wage
Johnson Rule
In the Senate, no Senator should receive a 2nd major committee assignment until all Senators have received 1 major committee assignment
Property rights
Once a member is appointed to a committee, they can stay there for as long as they want
Transfer ratio
The number is transfer onto a committee divided by the sums of transfers onto and off the committee, used to study patterns of committee changed to try to understand which committees are more desirable, runs 0-1 with higher number being more desirable
Information Model
Begins with the insight that all members benefit from more information but issue with how to incentivize members to honestly share information and how to get members to work hard at their responsibilities
Distributive Model
Argues that committees exists to facilitate gains from trade, members are exchanging information to get re-elected, expectation is that committee members will be preference outliers
Partisan Model
Begins with the assumption parties are legislative cartels a small group that bands together to benefit themselves, and a tool of the majority party, party loyalty will be a key determinant of who is placed on what committee
House Minority Leader
Doesn’t have specific powers and doesn’t sit on a committee, reactive position and responsible for developing parliamentary decisions based on majority actions
House Majority Leader
Works closely with the Speaker of the House on scheduling and getting votes
Whips
Have the responsibility for counting votes, keep track of member whereabouts, and collect information to inform leadership and members
President Pro Tempore
Presides in the absence of the VP, chairs an important committee, and senior member of the majority party
Right of first recognition
Senate practice that when a debate begins, majority leader will be recognized first
Fill the amendment tree
In the absence of the unanimous consent agreement, majority will propose meaningless amendments to fill up the tree and vote for cloture to shut off minority participation
Conditional party government theory
When preference homogeneity and preference conflict are met, the majority leader will have more power
Preference homogeneity
The majority party agrees amongst themselves
Preference conflict
Majority party has a very different view than the minority party
Caucuses
Voluntary organizations of members of Congress that have links to, but ultimately exists part from, both committees and parties
Party Caucuse
Groups within a party or intra-party groups with ideological differences
Personal Interest Caucuse
People sharing interest in something, non-controversial, bipartisan, and bi-cameral
National Constituency Caucuse
Demographic group within the US where members are part of that demographic
Regional Caucuse
Members from a given region United around policies that affect that area
State/District Caucuse
Unite members whose district shares similar characteristics, doesn’t have to be in the same region
Industry Caucuse
Where members districts might have a large sector of a workforce, people associate with labor and business, bi-partisan
Negative Agenda Control
Parties keeping think of the agenda that their membership will not support
Roll Rates
Percentage of time a majority of the majority party opposes a bill, but it is passes anyway
Federal Contested Elections Act
After a state certifies results, if a candidate feels they have been wronged, they can appeal. The other candidate must respond within 30 days and the House Administration Committee will have the hearing and issue a report sent to the floor
Sophomore Surge
Researchers looking at how much better an incumbent does in r-election vs. 1st election
Retirement Slump
Measures how much worse that party does when that parties candidate is running for an open seat
Slurge
The combination of sophomore surge and retirement slump
Scare off Effect
A quality challenger will wait for the best chance to win and run in the most favorable circumstances, thus not running frequently against an incumbent
Surge and Decline
Idea that in presidential elections both core and peripheral voters go to the polls and peripheral voters vote down the ballot as the same party of the president and during midterm elections only core voters go to the polls who are partisan
Referendums
Midterm election is expression of approval or disapproval of the president
Balancing
Midterm election is used to balance out the president
Baker v Carr
Determined the over representation of rural area violates the 14th amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the law
Wesberry v Sanders
States are required to make all Congressional districts roughly equal in population
Gerrymandering
Drawing districts in unusual ways to help a particular party
Partisan Assymetry
Similar shares of votes should equal similar shares of seats for both parties
Lopsided Wins T-test
A state the is gerrymandered will be marked by the majority party winning a lot of seats by comfortable margins and minority party winning few seats by large margins showing packing
Simulated elections
Take the goal vote across states and randomly sample districts to record the break down by party and get an average congressional delegation compared to actual
Rucho v Common Cause
Supreme Court rules that disputes of gerrymandering should be resolved by elected officials and not the courts, SC found they were gerrymandered but said the the constitution was written after gerrymandering was in practice and gives the power to the state legislature to agree upon what an acceptable map is
Voting Rights Act 1965
Outlawed series of discriminatory practices to dilute minority votes, issue was intention had to be proven
Voting Rights Act 1982
Same as the 1965 law, but now only had to show the the redistricting had the effect of diluting votes not the intention
Shaw v Reno
The case involving a district drawn to link together Black communities and court decided that drawing district can’t be on the basis for having a majority of a race
Responsible Party Governemnt
Where a party proses an agenda before an election and goes through with the agenda for public to use elections to determine if the party was successful or not
