Unit 2 Flashcards
Legislation that directs specific funds to
projects within districts or states.
Pork-barrel spending
Trading of votes on legislation by members of
Congress to get their earmarks passed into legislation.
Logrolling
A body of voters in a given area who elect a
representative or senator.
Constituency
Oversight
Efforts by Congress to ensure that executive branch
agencies, bureaus, and cabinet departments, as well as their
officials, are acting legally and in accordance with congressional
goals.
The process of determining the number of
representatives for each state using census data.
Apportionment
The intentional use of redistricting to benefit
a specific interest or group of voters.
Gerrymandering
– Drawing of district boundaries into
strange shapes to benefit a political party.
Partisan gerrymandering
Majority-minority district
A district in which voters of a
minority ethnicity constitute an electoral majority within that
electoral district.
Malapportionment
The uneven distribution of the population
among legislative districts.
Institutional advantages held by
those already in office who are trying to fend off challengers in an
election.
Incumbency advantage
Speaker of the House
The leader of the House of Reps,
chosen by an election of its members.
House Majority leader
The person who is the second in
command of the House of Reps.
Whip
A member of Congress, chosen by his or her party
members, whose job is to ensure party unity and discipline.
Minority leader
The head of the party with the second-
highest number of seats in Congress, chosen by the party’s
Senate majority leader
The person who has the most power
in the Senate is the head of the party with the most seats.
Committee chair
Leader of a congressional committee who
has authority over the committee’s agenda.
Discharge Petition
A motion filed by a member of Congress to
move a bill out of committee and onto the floor of the House of
Representatives for a vote.
A powerful committee that
determines when a bill will be subject to debate and vote on the
House floor, how long the debate will last, and whether
amendments will be allowed on the floor.
House Rule committee
Committee of the Whole
Consists of all members of the House
and meets in the House chamber but is governed by different rules,
making it easier to consider complex and controversial legislation.
Hold
Delay on legislation SENATE
Unanimous consent agreement
An agreement in the Senate
that sets the terms for consideration of a bill.
A tactic through which an individual senator may use
the right of unlimited debate to delay a motion or postpone action
on a piece of legislation.
Fillibuster
Cloture
A procedure through which senators can end debate on
a bill and proceed to action, provided 60 senators agree to it.
Entitlement program
Program that provides benefits for those
who qualify under the law, regardless of income.
Spending required by existing laws that is
“locked in” the budget.
Mandatory Spending
Discretionary spending
Spending for programs and policies at
the discretion of Congress and the president.
Delegate role
The idea that the main duty of a member of
Congress is to carry out constituents’ wishes.
Trustee Role
The idea that members of Congress should act as
trustees, making decisions based on their knowledge and judgment.
Politico
Representation where members of Congress
balance their choices with the interest of their constituents and
parties in making decisions.
Bipartisanship
Agreement between the parties to work together
in Congress to pass legislation.
A slowdown or halt in Congress’ ability to legislate and
overcome divisions, especially those based on partisanship.
Gridlock
Control of the presidency and one or both
chambers of Congress split between the two major parties.
Divided Government
Lame-duck period
Period at the end of a presidential term
when Congress may block presidential initiatives and nominees.
The annual
speech from the president to Congress updating
that branch on the state of national affairs.
State of the Union Address
An informal veto caused when the
president chooses not to sign a bill within ten
days, during a time when Congress has adjourned
at the end of a session.
Pocket Veto
Presidential authority to
release individuals convicted from a crime of legal
consequences and forgive an individual and set
aside punishment for a crime.
Presidential Pardon
Executive Privilege
A right claimed by
presidents to keep certain conversations, records,
and transcripts confidential from outside scrutiny,
especially that of Congress.
Executive Agreement
An agreement between
a president and another nation that does not have
the same durability in the American system as a
treaty but does not require Senate ratification.
Signing Statement
Written comments issued
by presidents while signing a bill into law that
usually consist of political statements or reasons
for signing the bill but that may also include a
president’s interpretation of the law itself.
Executive Order
Policy directives issued by
presidents that do not require congressional
approval.
A law passed over
President Nixon’s veto that restricts the power of
the president to maintain troops in combat for
more than sixty days without congressional
authorization.
War Powers Resolution
Impeachment
The process of removing a
president from office, with articles of
impeachment issues by a majority vote in the
House of Representatives, followed by a trial in
the Senate, with a two-thirds vote necessary to
convict and remove.
Informal tool
used by the president to persuade members of
Congress to support his policy initiatives.
Bargaining and persuasion
Presidential appeals to the public
to pressure other branches of government to
support his policies.
Bully Pulpit
A tactic through which presidents
reach out directly to the American people with the
hope that the people will, in turn, put pressure
upon their representatives and senators to press
for a president’s policy goals.
Going Public
The highest level of the
federal judiciary, which was established in
Article III of the Constitution and serves as
the highest court in the nation.
Supreme Court
The authority of a
court to act as the first court to hear a case,
which included the finding of facts in the case.
Original Jurisdiction
The authority of a
court to hear and review decisions made by
lower courts in the system.
Appellate Jurisdiction
Argument by Alexander
Hamilton that the federal judiciary would be
unlikely to infringe upon rights and liberties
but would serve as a check on the other two
branches.
Federalist 78
A Supreme
Court decision that establishes judicial review
over federal laws.
Judicial Review
Criminal Law
A category of law covering
actions determined to harm the community.
Civil Law
A category of law covering cased
involving private rights and relationships
between individuals and groups.
Stare decisis
The rule of precedent,
whereby a rule or law contained in a judicial
decision is commonly viewed as binding on
judges whenever the same question is
presented.
Concurring opinion
An opinion that
agrees with the majority decision, offering
different or additional reasoning, that does
not serve as precedent.
A philosophy of
constitutional interpretation that justices
should be cautious in overturning laws.
Judicial Restraint
A philosophy of
constitutional interpretation that justices
should wield the power of judicial review,
sometimes creating bold new policies.
Judicial Activism
The departments and
agencies within the executive branch that carry out
the laws of the nation.
Federal bureaucracy
Filling of administrative
positions as a reward for support, rather than solely
on merit.
Political patronage
Pendleton Act
An act of Congress that created
the first U.S. Civil Service Commission to draw up
and enforce rules on hiring, promotion, and tenure
of office within the civil service (also known as the
Civil Service Reform Act of 1883).
A system of public employment
based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.
Spoils system
A system of hiring and promotion
based on competitive testing results, education, and
other qualifications rather than politics and personal
connections.
Merit System
Webs of influence between
interest groups, policymakers, and policy advocates.
Issue network
The bureaucracy’s role in
putting into action the laws that Congress has
passed.
Implementation
Bureaucratic discretion
The power to decide
how a law is implemented and what Congress
meant when it passed the law.
Regulation
The process through which the
federal bureaucracy makes rules that have the force
of law, to carry out the laws passed by Congress.
Bureaucratic adjudication
When the federal
bureaucracy settles disputes between parties that
arise over the implementation of federal laws or
determines which individuals or groups are covered
under a regulation or program.
Department
Usually the largest organization in
government with the largest mission; also the
highest rank in Federal hierarchy.
Independent (stand-alone) agency
A
government entity that is independent of the
legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
Independent regulatory commission
A
government agency or commission with regulatory
power whose independence is protected by
Congress.
Government corporation
A government
agency that operates like a business corporation,
created to secure greater freedom of action and
flexibility for a particular program.
Hatch Act
Federal statute barring federal
employees from active participation in certain kinds
of politics and protecting them from being fired on
partisan grounds.
Oversight
Legislative or executive review of a
particular government program or organization. Can
be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of
routine review.
Think tank
A nongovernmental organization that
seeks to influence public policy through research
and education.
