Studied by 6 people
Standing Committee
permanent committee addresses legislation in specific subject area (budget)
joint committee
includes members from house & Senate
conference committee
joint committee that makes a compromise version of a bill b/t house & senate.
special/select committee
temporary committee for investigation & ended when complete
speaker of the house
most powerful person in the house
president of the senate
VP casts tie-breaking vote
Whip
ensures party loyalty b/t members & counts party votes ahead of time to make sure their party will win important votes
house rules committee
bills are sent here to set rules for floor debate, time limit & whether amendments are allowed
open-rule bill
can be amended
closed-rule bill
can’t be amended
germane
all speech must be relevant
discharge petition
forces a bill out of committee by a majority vote of full house
committee of the whole
the house acts as a committee to expedite passage of legislation
filibuster
long speech intended to delay action & prevent a vote
silent filibuster/ double tracking
filibustered bill is shelved & no long speech required
hold
prevents a bill from being discussed or voted upon until senator releases hold
cloture motion
vote to end debate on a bill, requires 3/5 supermajority
riders
unrelated amendments to a bill
unanimous consent agreements
allows legislation to be brought to floor & passed w/o debate if Senators all agree
power of the purse
congress in charge of establishing fed. budget & gov. spending
mandatory spending
spending required by law
entitlement programs
provide benefits to ppl (social security & medicare)
social security
old age pension
medicare
insurance old ppl
medicaid
insurance for lower income
means tested program
provide benefits on income
non-means tested programs
provide benefits regardless of income
discretionary spending
must be approved annually as part of budget bills
party polarization
greater division b/t reps & dems
party-line voting
most or all party members vote w/ their party on a bill
policy gridlock
slow, difficult to pass legislation or confirm nominations
divided government
different parties control house, senate or presidency - partisanship
unified government
same party controls house, senate & presidency
reapportionment
changing # of seats each state has in house to reflect pop shifts (every 10 years)
redistricting
redrawing congressional district maps (by state legislatures)
gerrymandering
drawing congressional districts in bizarre shapes
cracking
dividing a constituency across multiple districts to reduce voting strengths
packing
concentrating the opposing party’s votes into as few districts as possible to reduce their voting strength
baker v. carr
led to 1 person, 1 vote principle of voting equality in house elections
malapportionment
banning of drawing districts of very unequal pops.
(unconstitutional)
shaw v. reno
congressional districts cannot be drawn based on race
majority minority districts
majority of ppl in the district are racial majority
marginal district /seat
competitive each candidate of each party has equal winning power
safe district/seat
uncompetitive, devalues votes
open district/seat
no incumbent
constituents
the ppl being repped
trustee model
reps vote for what’s best regardless of constituents
delegate model
reps vote for what constituents want even if they disagree
politico model
sometimes a trustee sometimes a delagate
racial gerrymandering
used to decrease minority rep.
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Flashcard (22)