Test 2 Congress (4.0 and Go notes) Flashcards
Bicameral Legislature
a two house legislature created by the Great Compromise
House of Representatives
- 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
Senate
- 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
17th amendment
Senators were originally elected by state legislatures, but was changed to direct election by people of states
Apportionment
after each US census, the number of House seats allocated to the states is adjusted to reflect population shifts
Redistricting
redrawing congressional district lines to reflect increases or decreases from apportionment
Powers of Congress
Make the laws
Bill
a proposed law
The role of political parties
play a major role in the committee system
Before each congress begins the political parties meet in caucuses or conferences to determine:
- party officers
- committee assignments
- party policy
- party discipline
- party themes
Party Caucus or conference
formal gathering of all party members
Majority party
the party with the most members in each house
Minority Party
the party with the second most members
Speaker of the House
only House position in constitution
is elected by all members of House, usually from the majority party
Majority leader
elected party leader from majority party
Second in authority to the speaker
Most powerful member in the Senate
Minority Leader
elected party leader from the minority party in the House
Whips
elected by party to enforce party positions in the House
The Senate
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
President pro tempore
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
Senate also has party positions of leader and whip same as house
Majority leader in senate has more power, but not as much as the Speaker of the House
The committee system
where the real work of Congress occurs
Standing committee
continue from one Congress to the next, are where the bills are referred for consideration
{investigate, research, amend, or kill bills}
Joint committees
include members from both houses who conduct investigations or specific studies. Used to expedite business and help focus public attention
Conference committees
members from each house iron out differences in similar bills
Select (or special) committes
temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose
Discharge petition
can force a bill out of committee with majority of House members signatures
House vs. Senate involvement in committees
House members more specialists (only serve on 1 or 2)
Senators more generalists (serve on as many as 7 or 8)
House relies more on committee ________
recommendations
Senate more likely to change bill on _____
full floor
Committee membership
representatives request certain committees based on their own expertise, relation to home district, pork, prestige.
Pork
public projects, or programs congressmen can bring back to home district or state
Committee chairs
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{
Seniority
Continuous service on committee, or in one of the houses
Members of Congress try to please both…
their constituents and their party & colleagues in DC.
Incumbency
Being in office gives a candidate an advantage to win future election
have a 90-95% change of being reelected
Congressional Demographics
Most members are wealthy white male and college educated
Trustees
after constituent input - use their own judgement to make decisions they feel appropriate
Delegate
simply do what constituents want
Politico
Mix of both trustee and delegate
How members make decision based on: party
members often receive clues how to vote from their party leadership
Party line votes lead to divided government
How members make decision based on: Constituents
the people in legislator’s home district always have to consider constituents when voting
How members make decisions based on: Colleagues and Caucuses
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
Logrolling
vote trading
How members make decisions based on: Interest groups
provide info to legislators, pressure legislators through grassroots efforts (getting constituents to call, mail) provide campaign contributions
How members make decisions based on: Staff and Support Agencies
rely heavily on staffers for information
The law making function of Congress
anyone can suggest a bill, but only a member of the House or Senate can actually introduce a bill
{most die}
How a bill becomes a law
- 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
Markup
offer changes to the bill before sent to full house
Hold
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
Fillibuster
only in the senate
talks a bill to death
Cloture
mechanism requiring 60 members to stop a filibuster and have a vote
Presidents options for a bill
Veto, Sign as law, pocket veto, wait out 10 days and do nothing
Shifting Balance of Power
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
oversight
congressional reviews of the activities of an agency, department, or office
Congressional review
a process whereby Congress can nullify agency regulations by a joint resolution of legislative disapproval
Foreign policy and National security
divided between executive and legislative branches {president can wage war and negotiate treaties and congress can declare war and senate ratifies treaties}
War Powers Act
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}
Confirmation of Presidential Appointments
the Senate has to approve presidential appointments
impeachment
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
Congress determines the number of judges on…
the Supreme Court
Senatorial Courtesy
a process by which the presidents, when selecting district court judges, defer to the senator in whose state the vacancy occurs
