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Pols 206 > Test 2 Congress (4.0 and Go notes) > Flashcards

Test 2 Congress (4.0 and Go notes) Flashcards

1
Q

Bicameral Legislature

A

a two house legislature created by the Great Compromise

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2
Q

House of Representatives

A
  • based on the population of the state
  • 2 year terms
  • 25 years or older
  • Resided in the US for at least 7 years
  • Be a legal resident of the state they are elected to represent
  • lower house
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3
Q

Senate

A
  • 2 per state
  • 6 year term
  • 1/3 are elected every two years
  • 30 years or older
  • Resided in US for at least 9 years
  • Be a legal resident of the state they are elected to represent
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4
Q

17th amendment

A

Senators were originally elected by state legislatures, but was changed to direct election by people of states

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5
Q

Apportionment

A

after each US census, the number of House seats allocated to the states is adjusted to reflect population shifts

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6
Q

Redistricting

A

redrawing congressional district lines to reflect increases or decreases from apportionment

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7
Q

Powers of Congress

A

Make the laws

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8
Q

Bill

A

a proposed law

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9
Q

The role of political parties

A

play a major role in the committee system

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10
Q

Before each congress begins the political parties meet in caucuses or conferences to determine:

A
  • party officers
  • committee assignments
  • party policy
  • party discipline
  • party themes
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11
Q

Party Caucus or conference

A

formal gathering of all party members

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12
Q

Majority party

A

the party with the most members in each house

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13
Q

Minority Party

A

the party with the second most members

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14
Q

Speaker of the House

A

only House position in constitution

is elected by all members of House, usually from the majority party

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15
Q

Majority leader

A

elected party leader from majority party
Second in authority to the speaker
Most powerful member in the Senate

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16
Q

Minority Leader

A

elected party leader from the minority party in the House

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17
Q

Whips

A

elected by party to enforce party positions in the House

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18
Q

The Senate

A

the vice president is the constitutionally appointed presiding officer of the Senate. NOT a member, and can only vote in cases of a tie, rarely attends

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19
Q

President pro tempore

A

constitutionally appointed presiding officer in senate if VP not in attendance. Usually, the most senior member of the majority party, an honorific position, but also rarely presides

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20
Q

Senate also has party positions of leader and whip same as house

A

Majority leader in senate has more power, but not as much as the Speaker of the House

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21
Q

The committee system

A

where the real work of Congress occurs

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22
Q

Standing committee

A

continue from one Congress to the next, are where the bills are referred for consideration
{investigate, research, amend, or kill bills}

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23
Q

Joint committees

A

include members from both houses who conduct investigations or specific studies. Used to expedite business and help focus public attention

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24
Q

Conference committees

A

members from each house iron out differences in similar bills

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25
Q

Select (or special) committes

A

temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose

26
Q

Discharge petition

A

can force a bill out of committee with majority of House members signatures

27
Q

House vs. Senate involvement in committees

A

House members more specialists (only serve on 1 or 2)

Senators more generalists (serve on as many as 7 or 8)

28
Q

House relies more on committee ________

A

recommendations

29
Q

Senate more likely to change bill on _____

A

full floor

30
Q

Committee membership

A

representatives request certain committees based on their own expertise, relation to home district, pork, prestige.

31
Q

Pork

A

public projects, or programs congressmen can bring back to home district or state

32
Q

Committee chairs

A

have tremendous power and prestige:
select subcommittee chairs
call meetings
recommend majority members for conference committees
set schedule
{usually chosen from majority party with most seniority on committee{

33
Q

Seniority

A

Continuous service on committee, or in one of the houses

34
Q

Members of Congress try to please both…

A

their constituents and their party & colleagues in DC.

35
Q

Incumbency

A

Being in office gives a candidate an advantage to win future election
have a 90-95% change of being reelected

36
Q

Congressional Demographics

A

Most members are wealthy white male and college educated

37
Q

Trustees

A

after constituent input - use their own judgement to make decisions they feel appropriate

38
Q

Delegate

A

simply do what constituents want

39
Q

Politico

A

Mix of both trustee and delegate

40
Q

How members make decision based on: party

A

members often receive clues how to vote from their party leadership
Party line votes lead to divided government

41
Q

How members make decision based on: Constituents

A

the people in legislator’s home district always have to consider constituents when voting

42
Q

How members make decisions based on: Colleagues and Caucuses

A

members rely on advice from other members about legislation that does not affect their district
Will trade votes to get projects for their home district

43
Q

Logrolling

A

vote trading

44
Q

How members make decisions based on: Interest groups

A

provide info to legislators, pressure legislators through grassroots efforts (getting constituents to call, mail) provide campaign contributions

45
Q

How members make decisions based on: Staff and Support Agencies

A

rely heavily on staffers for information

46
Q

The law making function of Congress

A

anyone can suggest a bill, but only a member of the House or Senate can actually introduce a bill
{most die}

47
Q

How a bill becomes a law

A
  • a bill is introduced
  • the bill is assigned to a committee
  • the bill is then normally assigned to a subcommittee where they decide whether to hold hearings {research/investigate}
  • Subcommittee votes to approve or defeat the bill
  • full committee can do all the subcommittee actions again, then markup the bill, vote and if approve send to the full house
  • Before going to the full HOR, must go to Rules committee
  • the full houses debate bill, offer changes, debate is limited in HOR
  • Once it is passed by both houses, it has to go to a conference committee to hammer out any differences
  • Then back to each house for an up or down vote with no amendments. If yes by both, sent to president
  • The president has 10 days to consider a bill and has 4 options
48
Q

Markup

A

offer changes to the bill before sent to full house

49
Q

Hold

A

only in the Senate
a senator asks to be informed before a bill can be brought to the floor, signals there might be some objections that need to be addressed

50
Q

Fillibuster

A

only in the senate

talks a bill to death

51
Q

Cloture

A

mechanism requiring 60 members to stop a filibuster and have a vote

52
Q

Presidents options for a bill

A

Veto, Sign as law, pocket veto, wait out 10 days and do nothing

53
Q

Shifting Balance of Power

A

the balance of power between the two branches has gone back and forth overtime
executive has gain more power in expense of the legislative branch

54
Q

oversight

A

congressional reviews of the activities of an agency, department, or office

55
Q

Congressional review

A

a process whereby Congress can nullify agency regulations by a joint resolution of legislative disapproval

56
Q

Foreign policy and National security

A

divided between executive and legislative branches {president can wage war and negotiate treaties and congress can declare war and senate ratifies treaties}

57
Q

War Powers Act

A

the president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a 60 day period in peacetime unless congress explicitly gives it approval for a longer period
{Every president since Nixon has claimed the War Powers Act is unconstitutional}

58
Q

Confirmation of Presidential Appointments

A

the Senate has to approve presidential appointments

59
Q

impeachment

A

House can charge a federal official with “Treason Bribery or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”
The Senate tries impeachment and removes the person from office if found guilty by 2/3

60
Q

Congress determines the number of judges on…

A

the Supreme Court

61
Q

Senatorial Courtesy

A

a process by which the presidents, when selecting district court judges, defer to the senator in whose state the vacancy occurs

Pols 206 (12 decks)

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