Test Two Flashcards
Suspension of the rules only deals with bills from the _____ and ______ calendars.
House, union
How can you get a bill brought to the floor and be voted on immediately from the union and house colandar?
Suspending the rules, 2/3 majority is needed to do that.
What are the 5 privileged standing committees in the HR?
1) Appropriations
2) Budget
3) house administration
4) rules
5) standards of official conduct
What privilege do the 5 privileged standing committees in the HR possess?
Direct access to the floor for selected bills
5 privileges of the house rules committee
1) move legislation forward on calendars
2) govern the length of floor debates
3) dispenses w/ first reading of the bill
4) limits # of amendments
Ends debate and amendment period, and orders on final passage–“orders previous question”
4 types of special rules?
1) . Open rule
2) . Closed rule
3) . Modified open rule
4) . Modified closed rule
Open rule is a special rule that days
Germane amendments to bills may be debated with now limit
Closed rule is a special rule that says
Floor amendments are prohibited
Modified open rule is a special rule that says
Majority of the bill is open to debate for germane amendments
Modified Closed rule is a special rule that says
Majority of the bill is closed to debate for germane amendments
What is the rules committee intending to do when they submit a closed rule along with a bill
Trying to secure the bill as is
What is the rules committee intending to do when they submit a open rule along with a bill?
1) kill the bill
2) attempt to make the bill reflect medium ideology
Calendar Wednesday is when standing committee chair holders have an opportunity to
Call up legislation onto the floor without the rules committee approval
Since 2/3 majority is required for bills out of calendar Wednesday to be passed, committee chair won’t use unless
Majority of house wants to vote on the bill while rules committee does not
House parliamentary is
The person in HR who says whether something is in accordance w/ the rules or not
Sergeant at arms
Person in the house who ensures there is order. Used by speaker of the house to get constitutional quorum.
Constitutional quorum
50% of HR needs to be on the floor
What takes place during committee of the whole; how many people are necessary?
There is a quorum of 100 people who are able to speak, vote and participate. There are debates and amendments are proposed.
If “rules” of bill say no debate allowed….
Committee of the whole won’t happen
In senate, bills go directly from committee to
Floor, at the discretion of senate majority
Who are the two most powerful leaders in senate?
Majority leader and minority leader.
De facto leader of the senate
Senate majority leader
Floor debates occur through _____. This gives every senator power to ______.
Unanimous consent agreement, block bill
Senate has no ______ unless said otherwise in the _______.
Debate limit, unanimous consent agreement
Bills without unanimous consent can be ______.
Filibustered
Who uses the filibuster most frequently?
Minority party?
Filibustered are used to prevent votes on (2)
Bills or amendments
How do you end a filabuster?
Cloture
How many signatures are required to make a cloture motion.
60
All a minority needs is _______ members in order to block a cloture
41
What type of filibusters are illegal?
When dealing with presidential nominations
President has _____ days to act on a bill. He can do one of three things:
10; sign it, veto it, ignore it
Who has line item veto power?
Many state legislatures, not the president.
What’s do pocket vetoes do and why does it exist?
Prevent ignored bills in last 10 days of congressional session into becoming a law. It exists because congress could just wait till the end of their congressional session to pass a lot of bills that the president would not be able to read, thus making him by default ignore them, and thus making the bills turn into laws unfairly.
All revenue bills, according to the constitution must originate in
The HR
Which HR committee has jurisdiction over revenue bills?
Ways and means committee
What gave president veto power and statutory responsibility for preparing an annual national budget?
Budgeting and accounting act of 1921
Congress alone can authorize (3)
Collection of taxes, borrowing money, and making expenditures
3 types of uncontrollable expenditures
Interest on the public debt, entitlements, govt contacts
When was the last year the govt didn’t run a deficit?
2000
Govt is not required to pay off ____ only the _____
Debt, interest
3 examples of entitlements given in class
1) social security
2) Medicare
3) govt pensions
Entitlements are programs that have laws that require _____ by gov to all ______.
Mandatory payments, eligible individuals
What percent of the us is on Medicare?
35
When was social security passed? And what was the average lifespan at that time?
1935; 61.7
Who audits agency spending? (3)
OMB, cbo, GAO
Congress doesn’t tell agencies how to____ only _____
Spend their money, how much money they can spend
What is impoundment and which president is guilty of it?
When president says you can’t spend money; Nixon
Which 3 committees are exclusive? Meaning a member can only serve on that one committee?
1) . House rules
2) . Ways and means
3) . Appropriation
How many subcommittees are there in the appropriation committee? And what do they control?
12; government spending in specific areas
Chair of subcommittee in appropriation are called
Cardinals of congress
Appropriations approved by congress is called budget authority which does what to agencies?
Budget authority; money is given to agencies
3 options of the “college of cardinals”
1) . Provide all funds recommend
2) . Propose reductions in amounts authorized
3) . Refuse to provide any funds
1874 budget act created (3)
1) . House budget committee
2) . Senate budget committee
3) . CBO
