gov chapter 10

what is permanent campaign

the continual quest for reelection that is rooted in high cost professional campaigns that are increasingly reliant on consultants and expensive media campigns

pork barrel

projects that kinda are extra with the aim of helping local representation to win elections

what is descriptive representation

representation in which a member of congress shares the characteristics such as gener, reace, religion, of their constituents

what is substantive representation

representation in which a member of congress serves constituents interests and shares their policies concerns

what is a trustee

votes independent based on their opinion

delegate

member of congress who will vote for what what their people want even if its against their opinion

politico

goes for what the people want on more important issues and goes on their choice when its less important

what is electoral connection

idea that congressional behavior is motivated by members designer to get re elected

what is casework

what members of congress spend time on such as fixing passports or social security checks

what are constituencies

they are the collective group or district

example for texas senate their constituencies is texas

what are constituents

the individual voter

what is an incumbent

person who is currently in the seat

what is the incumbent advantage

they have more recognition more chance to get reelected

more staff to help them promote and more money too

pork barrel, log rolling, anf earmarks

what is franking privilege

incumbents have this as they can send mail and newspapers to promote they cant exactly campaign but they can show off all the stuff they’ve done

what are earmarks

federally funded local projects attached to bills

what is log rolling

temporary political alliance between 2 political people to support each others policy rules

apportionment

process of assigning 435 seats in the house to the states based on increase of decrease in state population

what is redistricting

happens every 10 years, redrawing the geographic boundaries of legislative districts

what is reapportionment

calculates how the new population data will be and how many of the 435 seats each state will get

what is gerrymandering

redrawing of district lines to give advantage to a political party

what is a safe district

gerrymandering creates this meaning that it is sure that that party will win that district

what is cracking

you cut up city and add it to another area to make sure that one political party will win

what is packing

you put districts together to have one seat instead of multiple

what is gridlock

the inability to enact legislation bc of partisan conflict within congress or with congress and the president

what is seniority

the informal congressional norm of choosing the member who has served the longest on a particular committee to be the committee chair

seniority system

the system is where privileges power and assignments are based off how long members have continuously served such as which committee you wanna be and ranks such as ranking member

what is ranking member

minority party member with the longest service

who is committee chair

majority party member with the longest service

who is speaker of the house and what do they do

the elected leader of the house of representatives

decides where the bill goes and made into laws, speaker says when they put it out into the floor

what is the majority leader and minority leader

the elected head of the party holding majority or minority of the seats in the house or senate, helps manage majority/minority party

majority party is second to speaker

what is the whip system

work to promote party unity and get them to vote the same by providing information on how to vote

majority/ minority whip

tells them how to vote, keeps them in line, and get the vote counts, and prepares summaries on bills

what is president pro tempore

symbolic position usually held by the most senior member of the majority party in the senate

what is roll call vote

a recorded vote where members vote yes no or present

what is party vote

a vote in which the majority of one party opposes in the position of the majority of the other party

what do committees do/ committee types

they make policies, dictates how fast or slow it is,hold hearings, investigate problems, guide legislation

standing and subcommittees, select , joint and conference

what are standing committees and subcommittees

committees that are permanent part of the house or senate and have more importance and authority over the other committees and

they have subcommittees which is where the bills go too

what are select committees

committees in the house or senate that are created just to address specific issues for one or 2 terms, they dont make bills

what are joint committees

committees that contain members from the house and senate for example the joint budget bill

what is conference committee

temporary committees to negotiate differences between a bill that has been passed

what is discharge petition

way to force bill on the floor if committee is holding on to it if majority of the house signs it

what is omnibus legislation

take a bunch of little bills and put it in a big bill so it can pass fast, but this means they can stuff whatever they want and people will agree without really knowing whats inside

what is contiuning resolution

agreement to operate on last years budget until passing a new one

what are markups

when a committee or subcommittee meet to debate amend or make up a piece of drafted legislation, they have a draft version and mark it up to make it the final version before getting on the floor

what is cloture

a procedure in which the senate can limit the amount of time spent debating a bill if a majority of 60 senators agree