Unit 3 Exam Flashcards
What is the main function of Congress?
they have the power to alter many of the rules that determine who wins and who loses in American political life and the narratives that define the conflicts
Why does America have a love-hate relationship with Congress?
the behavior that helps a member of Congress keep their job doesn’t always give the institution more population, however, voters want their representatives in Washington to take care of their local or state interests and to ensure that their home districts get a fair share of national resources… the rules that determine how Congress works were designed by the founders to produce slow, careful lawmaking based on compromise that can often seem motionless to an impatient public
What is representation?
the efforts of elected officials to look out for the interests of those who elect them
What is national lawmaking?
the creation of policy to address the problems and needs of the entire nation
What is Partisanship?
loyalty to a party that helps shape how members see the world, define problems and identify appropriate solutions
What is constituency?
the voters in a state or district
What is policy representation?
refers to congressional work for laws that advance the economic and social interests of the constituency. FOR EX. house members and senators from petroleum-producing states can be safely predicted to vote in ways favorable to the profitability of the oil companies members from the Plains states try to protect subsidies for wheat farmers etc.
What is Allocative Representation
congressional work to secure projects, services and funds for the represented district
What are Pork Barrel Projects?
aka earmarks. provisions in various appropriations documents or the budget that direct funding for quite specific purposes. FOR EX. high way construction or the establishment of a research institution
What is Casework?
legislative work on behalf of individual constituents to solve their problems with government agencies and programs. FOR EX. Senators and representatives also represent their states or districts by taking care of the individual problems or constituents especially problems that involve the federal bureaucracy
What is Franking?
allows members to use the US mail at no charge, even though this perk is less valuable as members take greater advantage of social media to present themselves to their constituents
What is symbolic representation?
efforts of members of Congress to stand for American ideals or to identify with common constituency values
What is hyperpartisanship?
the raising of party above all other commitments
What is party polarization?
the greater ideological differences between the parties and increased ideological consensus within the parties
What is bipartisanship?
working with members of the opposite party, is increasingly rare, especially when the very act of cooperating with the other side can be seen as a betrayal of one’s own. (people tend to get butthurt)
What is Bicameral Legislature?
A legislature with two chambers ex. british parliament made up of the house of commons and the house of lords
What’s the difference between Senate and House?
Senate is less formal with only 100 members whereas House has 435 members and rules hierarchy in order to function efficiently. House impeached whereas the Senate tries the official. Senate is given the responsibility of confirming appointments to the executive and judicial branches and of sharing the treaty-making power with the president.
What does Congress give the power of?
to regulate commerce, the exclusive power to raise and spend money for the national government, the power to provide for economic infrastructure (roads, postal service, money, patents etc.), and significant powers in foreign policy including the powers to declare war, ratify treaties, and to raise and support the armed forces
What is Congressional oversight?
a committee’s investigation of the executive and of government agencies to ensure they are acting as Congress intends
Advice and Consent
The constitutional obligation that the Senate approve certain executive appointments (senators sometimes use their confirmation powers to do more than advise on and consent to the appointment at hand)
Reapportionment
the process in which the 435 House seats are reallocated among the states after each ten-year census yields a new population count
Redistricting
districts within the states have to be redrawn to keep them relatively equal in population
Gerrymandering
the process of drawing district lines to benefit one group or another and it can result in some extremely strange shapes by the time the state politicians are through
Partisan Gerrymandering
the process in a particular state legislature whereby the majority party draws districts to maximize the number of House seats their can win
Racial Gerrymandering
occurs when district lines are drawn to favor or disadvantage an ethnic or racial group. FOR EX. many years states in the Deep South drew district lines to ensure that black voters would not constitute an African American to Congress
1965 Voting Rights Act
intended to ease the way for African Americans to exercise their voting rights
Strategic Politicians
Office-seekers who base the decision to run on a rational calculation that they will be successful
What questions do strategic politicians ask when acting rationally and carefully in deciding whether a race is worth running?
Is this a district or state I can win? Who is my opponent likely to be? Can I get the funds necessary to run a winning campaign? What kind of year is this?
What is the Coat-tail effect?
the added votes received by congressional candidates of a winning presidential party
Incumbency Advantage
refers to the edge in visibility experience, organization and fundraising ability possessed by the people already hold the job
Midterm Loss
the tendency for the presidential party to lose congressional seats in off-year elections
Descriptive Representation
the idea that an elected body should mirror demographically the population it represents FOR EX. the 1990s representation of women and people of color began to improve though not of poor or less educated Americans
Majority Party
Decides the rules for the chamber and gets to fill the top leadership posts such as the Speaker of the House, the majority leader in the Senate, and the chairs of all the committees and subcommittees
What is Speaker of the House?
elected by the majority party as the person who presides over floor deliberations is the most powerful House member
Seniority System
the accumulation of power and authority in conjunction with the length of time spent in the office. This was reformed in the 1970s by a movement that weakened the grip of chairs and gave some power back to the committees and subcommittees but especially to the Speaker and the party caucuses
Congress’ four types of committees
Standing, Select, Joint and Conference
Standing Committee
permanent committees responsible for legislation in particular policy areas
House Rules Committee
A committee that determines how and when debate on a bill will take place; exists only in the House of Representatives: provides a “rule” for each bill that specifies when it will be debated, how long debate can last, how it can be amended, and so on. Because the house is so large, the debate would quickly become chaotic without the organization and structure provided by the committee
Select Committee
a committee appointed to deal with an issue or a problem not suited to a standing committee; committees are usually temporary and do not recommend legislation per see. They are used to gather information on specific issues. For example their subcommittee on the Covid Crisis that Pelosi established in 2020 to oversee the $2 trillion CARES Act or to conduct an investigation as did the select committee on Benghazi, established by Boehner in 2014 to investigate the deaths or four American diplomates in Libya in 2012
Joint Committees
temporary committees made up of members of both houses of Congress commissioned to resolves these differences, after which the bills go back to each house for a final vote
Fragmentation
how legislation is broken into bits, each considered individually in committees
Norms of Conduct
informal rules that establish accepted ways of doing things
Legislative Agenda
the slate of proposals and issues that representatives think it worthwhile to consider and act on
Policy Entrepreneurship
the search for the right issues to push at the right time - important in setting the congressional policy agenda, and it can reap considerable political benefits for those associated with important initiatives
Legislative Process: Moving Through Committee:
First: the bill has to be referred to a committee, Second the bills move on the subcommittees, where they may or may not get serious consideration. Third: bills that subcommittees decide to consider will have hearings, testimony from experts, interest groups, executive department secretaries and undersecretaries and even other members of Congress
Head of State
the symbol of the hopes and dreams of the people, responsible for enhancing national unity by representing that which is common and good in the nation EX Great Britain’s queen (now king)
Head of Government
Presidents are supposed to run the government, make law, and function as the head of a political party
Chief Administrator
the president is the chief executive officer of the country the person who more than anyone else is help responsible for agencies of the national government and the implementation of national policy
Cabinet
people who report to the president and oversee the work of implementation
Commander in Chief
the head of the command structure for the entire military establishment. The constitution gives congress the power to declare war, but as commander in chief the president has the practical ability to wage war
Chief foreign policy maker
this role is not spelled out in the constitution but this is how the president is the primary shaper of relations with other nations
executive agreements
presidential arrangements with other countries that create foreign policy without the need for senate approval
state of the union address
delivered before the full congress every January is a major statement of the president’s policy agenda
Presidential Veto
A president who objects to a bill passed by the house and the senate can veto it, sending it bak to congress with a message indicating the reasons
Executive Orders
supposed to clarify how laws passed by Congress are to be implemented by specific agencies
Signing Statements
a quasi-legislative that can significantly increase the president’s role as a policymaker, independent of Congress
Senatorial Courtesy
the tradition of granting senior senators of the president’s party considerable power over federal judicial appointments in their home states
Solicitor General
the third-ranking member of the Justice Department, a presidential appointee whose job is to argue cases for the government before the Supreme Court
Pardoning Power
allows a president to exempt a person, convicted or not from punishment or crime FOR EX. Kim Kardashian getting Trump to pardon Alice Johnson for a first-time offense
Traditional Presidency
the founder’s vision of limited executive power
Inherent Powers
presidential powers implied but not stated explicitly in the Constitution
Modern Presidency
the trend toward a higher degree of executive power since the 1930s
Weak Presidency
refers to presidents who do not excel at managing their executive offices
Expectations gap
the gap between popular expectations of what presidents can and should do and their constitutional powers to get things done
Going Public
based on the expectation that public support will put pressure on other politicians to give presidents what they want
Cycle Effect
refers to the tendency for most presidents to begin their terms of office with relatively high popularity ratings, which decline as they move through their four-year terms
Honeymoon period
the time following an election when a president’s popularity is high and congressional relations are likely to be productive
Legislative Liaison
the office that specializes in determining what members of Congress are most concerned about, what they need, and how legislation can be tailored to get their support
Divided Government
the situation that exists when political rule is split between two parties, in which one controls the White House and the other controls one or both houses of Congress
Executive Office of the President
a collection of organizations that form the president’s own bureaucracy
Office of Management and Budget
helps the president to exert control over the departments and agencies of the federal bureaucracy by overseeing all their budgets
White House Office
the more than four hundred employees within the EOP who work most closely and directly with the president
Council of Economic Advisors
to predict for presidents where the economy is going and to suggest ways to achieve economic growth without much inflation
National Security Council
gives the president daily updates about events around the world
Chief of Staff
who is responsible for the operation of all White House personnel
Presidential Style
the image that presidents project act represents how they would like to be perceived at home and abroad
What are the characteristics of a Parliamentary System?
No direct vote for a chief exec from citizens; vote only for one or more members of the legislature then the legislators choose a prime minister then the prime minister then designates a cabinet; Legislative and Executive functions are FUSED, can be fast; Used by Britain
Presidential System
Used by the US; citizens vote “directly” for a chief executive; executives designate cabinet members, who are NOT current members of the legislature; Legislative and Executive functions are separate (divided government) and tends to move very slowly
What is the structure of Congress?
Bicameral- two bodies or chambers
Senate
elected statewide, 2 per state regardless of population, 6 year terms
House
elected out of 435 regional districts according to population. approximately 750,000 people per district. 2 year terms
What resolved term limits in the US
US term limits, INC vs Ray Thornton 1995
What are the 4 major types of committees?
Standing, Select, Joint, and Conference
What are the roles/functions of committees?
to manage workload, to be arenas for real debate, to foster expertise, and policy incupators
Representation
the process of bringing the people(s) voices to light
Delegates
does what the people want directly
What are the functions of Congress?
Representation, Delegate, Trustee, and Politico
Trustee
Entrusted with good judgement - makes a good judgement for the whole (Switzerland)
Politico
Both the Delegate and Trustee
Tools for Representation
Caucuses, interest groups, parties/party leaders, the president, staff and staff agencies
caucuses
people in a common meet or when people with a certain political party register their affiliation to vote
Descriptive Representative
age, education, income/occupation, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, and partisanship
Gerrymandering
manipulating boundaries to distort voter results
Oversight
the process by which the legislature reviews the activities of the executive agencies responsible for implementing the laws it authorized
Education
the process of informing the public about the affairs of government
What are the tools used for Education
elections and campaigns, committee hearings, government publications and documents, and floor debates
Process of Lawmaking
Draft/Introduce Legislation, Committee Assignment/Examination/Debate, Floor Debate/Amendment/Passage, and approval of executive
Three Themes of Presidency
growth of executive power, expectations gap “puny giant,” shift from formal to informal power
Three Theories of Presidential Power
Literalist Theory, Stewardship and Prerogative
Literalist Theory
presidents can only do what is in the document/constitution
Stewardship Theory
Servant of the people, do what they want unless the constitution forbids it.
Prerogative Theory
Do what it takes, ask for forgiveness later
Formal Presidential Powers (pre WWII)
Require Approval of/Negotiation of Congress
Informal Presidential Powers (post-WWII)
don’t require the approval of/negotiation from Congress
Executive Power
the responsibility to carry out the laws; includes appointment power of cabinet secretaries and others
Executive Orders
directives to public employees that carry the weight of law unless they contradict acts passed by Congress (can be undone after presidency)
Tools for the Power to Persuade
Agenda Setting, Surrogates, Spin Doctors and Honeymoon Period/Approval Ratings
Agenda Setting (tools)
State of the Union, Press conferences and other speeches
Surrogates
First Lady, Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries, Past Presidencies
Spin Doctors
A person who publicizes favorable interpretations of the words and actions of a public figure
Signing Statement
A public statement written by the president and attached to a particular bill to outline the president’s term goals
Commander in Chief
Head of the Army Navy etc. But, Congress has to approve the declaring of War
Chief of State
Ambassador, organizes treaties and executive agreements which only requires a presidential signature
What are the original cabinet roles?
Secretary of State, Secretary of War, Attorney General
Presidential Succession Act of 1947
Decided who takes over as President, (more in-depth letter of who takes the President’s seat) written in the 25th Amendment
White House Staff
A group of people whom the President relies on to organize and plot political legislative and international strategies
Executive office of the President
A collection of 9 organizations that help the President with policy and political objectives
What are the three main executive offices of the President?
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), National Security Council (NSC) all heads must be approved by president
Presidential Character Theory
Argues and suggests that you can predict a President’s performance based on his (or her) psychological makeup. Which is learned in their life.
Active Positive
high self-esteem; FDR and Kennedy
Passive Positive
Not as active in the role but enjoys it; GW Bush
Active Negative
Compulsive, openly aggressive; Nixon and Johnson
Passive Negative
withdrawn, oriented to dutiful service; Eisenhower
Cabinet Departments
report to the President/confirmed by Senate; vary in size, function, and structure. 15 current departments
Government Corporations
hybrid inside the national level, roughly 3 dozen of them for example corporation for public broadcasting (PBS) or USPS
What are the common characteristics of Government Coporations?
flexible with budgets, the government still controls their activities, complete tasks private companies won’t do (or well enough) aka unprovided public goods
Independent Agencies
a few dozen of them, vary in size and mission, unprovided public goods ex CIA NASA EPA
Independent Regulatory Commissions or Boards
Regulation of big areas of our economy, a few dozen of these. ex Federal Election Commission, FCC, securities, and exchange commissions and federal reserves system
Bureaus
smaller units inside bigger ones ex offices
Administration
Execute and Enforce Laws
Service Provision
Deliver Services
Regulation
Makes rules to protect the public
Licensing
set standards (similar to regulation)
Information Gathering
gathers information (duh)
What are the 4 kinds of bureaucratic policy-making?
Discretionary Implementation, Agency Adjudication, Rule Making and Advisory Roles
Discretionary Implementation
deciding how and when policies will be applied
Rule Making
filling in the gaps left by elected policy makers ex making a very broad rule so someone will eventually take and pass it
Advisory Roles
for example the net neutrality battle from when private companies wanted to block some things online while others are against it
Judiciary Law
a collection of rules laid down by the government, binding all members of the state including the government itself
Judiciary Legal System
an organized set of legal principles composed of two parts, a recognized body of law and an enforcement apparatus
What is the recognized body of law pyramid?
US Constitution -> National Statutes -> State Constitution -> State Statutes
What is the Enforcement apparatus pyramid?
supreme court -> appellate court(s) -> trial courts
What is the primary function of courts and legal systems?
to resolve legal conflicts or cases and disputes over the meaning, application, or violation of laws. also to resolve conflict between laws
What are the different types of law?
Criminal, Civil, Constitutional, Administrative, International
Criminal Law
acts which disturb the social order, threaten the public welfare
Civil Law
disputes between individuals and/or groups, usually over matter of rights, responsibility or obligation ex marriages, divorce, custody
Constitutional Law
The application of constitutional principles to statutory and administrative actions ex ObamaCare, debt relief, immigration laws, gay marriage
Administrative law
oversees the regulatory actions of government agencies ex challenges against social security or FDA vs tobacco
International Law
consists of treaties, convention accords and long-established customs recognized by most nation-states
What are the different types of courts
The trial court, Court of Appeals, Supreme court
Trial Courts
375000 cases per year, hears arguments and evidence and collect factual data
Court of Appeals
50000 cases per year, review records from lower courts, judges hear and rule in three - sometimes they hear en banc
Supreme Court
7000 cases per year requested from lower courts (only about 1%) basically the nanny of the US court system
Neutral Competence
represents the effort to depoliticize the bureaucracy or to take politics out of administration by having the work of government done expertly, according to explicit standards rather than personal preferences or party loyalties
accountability
Who is responsible for seeing that things get done, and to whom does that person answer? aka the principle that bureaucratic employees should be answerable for their performance to supervisors, all the way up the chain of command
Red Tape
aka bureaucratic hurdles, the complex procedures and regulations surrounding bureaucratic activity for ex. applying for a drivers license, applying for loans, or seemingly unnecessary rules and regulations
Spoils system
the nineteenth-century practice of firing government workers of a defeated party and replacing them with loyalists of the victorious party
patronage
a system in which a successful candidate rewards friends, contributors and party loyalists for their support with jobs, contracts, and favors
civil service
nonmilitary employees of the government who are appointed through the merit system for ex allowing elected executives to use jobs to pay off political debts
Pendleton Act
the 1883 civil service reform that required the hiring and promoting of civil servants to be based on merit, not patronage
Hatch Act
the 1939 law that limited the political involvement of civil servants to protect them from political pressure and keep politics out of the bureaucracy
Departments
one of the major subdivisions of the federal government, represented in the president’s cabinet
Clientele groups
groups of citizens whose interests are affected by an agency or a department and who work to influence its politics
Independent agencies
government organizations independent of the departments buy with a narrower policy focus
independent regulatory boards and commissions
government organizations that regulate various businesses industries or economic sectors
Regulations
limitations or restrictions on the activities of a business or an individual
government corporations
companies created by Congress to provide to the public a good or service that private enterprise cannot or will not profitably provide
bureaucratic discretion
bureaucrats’ use of their own judgment in interpreting and carrying out the laws of Congress
Federal Register
the publication containing all federal regulations and notifications of regulatory agency hearings
bureaucratic culture
the accepted values and procedures of an organization
Whistleblowers
individuals who publicize instances of fraud corruption or other wrongdoing in the bureaucracy
agency capture
a process whereby regulatory agencies come to be protective of and influenced by the industries they were established to regulate
What are the powers the president holds with the bureaucracy?
Appointment power, the budget proposal, and powers of persuasion
iron triangles
the phenomenon of a clientele group, congressional committee, and bureaucratic agency cooperating to make mutually beneficial policy
issue networks
complex systems of relationships among groups that influence policy including elected leaders, interest groups, specialists, consultants and research institutes
citizen advisory councils
citizen groups that consider the policy decisions of an agency; a way to make the bureaucracy responsive to the general public
sunshine laws
legislation opening the process of bureaucratic policymaking to the public
freedom of information act (FOIA)
the 1966 law that allows citizens to obtain copies of most public records
privacy act of 1974
a law that gives citizens access to the government’s files on them
adversarial system
trial procedures designed to resolve conflict through the clash of opposing sides, moderated by a neutral, passive judge who applies the law
inquisitorial system
trial procedures designed to determine the truth through the intervention of an active judge who seeks evidence and questions witnesses
substantive laws
laws whose content, or substance defines what we can or cannot do
procedural laws
laws that establish how laws are applied and enforced-how legal proceedings take place
procedural due process
procedural laws that protect the rights of individuals who must deal with the legal system
judicial review
the power of the courts to determine the constitutionality of laws
Marbury v Madison
the landmark case that established the US Supreme Court’s power of judicial review
senatorial courtesy
the tradition of granting senior senators of the president’s party considerable power over federal judicial appointments in their home states
strict constructionism
a judicial approach holding that the Constitution should be read literally, with the framers’ intentions uppermost in mind
judicial interpretivism
a judicial approach holding that the Constitution is a living document and that judges should interpret it according to changing times and values
How are members of the supreme court selected?
merit, political ideology, reward, representation and confirmation by the senate
writs of certiorari
formal requests by the US Supreme Court to call up the lower court case it decides to hear an appeal
Rule of Four
the unwritten requirement that four Supreme Court justices must agree to grant a case certiorari in order for the case to be heard
solicitor general
the Justice Department officer who argues the government’s cases before the Supreme Court
amieus curiae briefs
“friend of the court” documents filed by interested parties to encourage the Court to grant or deny certiorari or to urge it to decide a case in a particular way
judicial activism
the view that the courts should be lawmaking policymaking bodies
judicial restraint
the view that the courts should reject any active lawmaking functions and stick to judicial interpretations of the past
