Congress (Poli Sci 311) Midterm Terms

Representation

link between constituents and their political agents (lawmakers) they elect to act on their behalf

Separation of powers

the idea that the federal government has different powers and authorities to prevent one central, unchecked authority

Checks and balances

through shared authority; Congress and the president share law-making authority.

Necessary and Proper Clause

Elastic clause; gives Congress its preeminent governing authority

“Textbook” Congress

idealized version of how Congress should work, I’m just a bill video

Unorthodox Lawmaking

contrary to the textbook process, no single, normal route. Many different possible paths for legislation

Bifurcated Process

Congress divided into two branches

Lame Duck Session

a short Congressional session after the November election. When those who were reelected and those who weren’t serve together.

Agency Problem

when a breakdown happens between elected officials and those they are meant to serve

Ideology

a way of measuring an individual’s preferences across policy areas

Polarization

ideological difference between the parties

Spatial Models

How ideology can be depicted across a single line, with liberal on the left and conservative on the right. A single dimension only.

Artificial Extremism

a consequence of using many interest group scores, where a small set of roll call voters with distinctly different ideological alternatives may make moderates appear to be more extreme (liberal or conservative) than they really are.

Electoral connection

the link between citizens and their representatives in congress, where elections provide accountability

Apportionment

the distribution of house seats among the states on the basis of population

Single-member districts

a district that sends one representative to Congress

Redistricting

the process of redrawing the lines for Congressional district boundaries, usually after the census

Malapportionment

when congressional districts are significantly uneven in population

Gerrymander

the process of manipulating district boundaries to provide a political advantage to a certain party or group

Majority-minority districts

a district where the majority of constituents are in a minority group (ie, not white).

Closed Primaries

a type of primary that restricts voting to only voters who register with the specific party prior to election day.

Semi-closed primaries

a primary that allows both affiliated voters and independent voters to participate

Open Primaries

primaries with no party registration requirements, voters can vote in either party’s primary

Top Two Primaries

primary where all of the candidates from both parties are placed on the same ballot, the top two advance (no matter what party they’re from).

Blanket Primaries

voters participate in the primaries from both parties, and the top finisher from each is placed on the top of the ballot.

Incumbency advantage

the increment of the vote that an incumbent running for reelection receives by virtue of being the incumbent, rather than the incumbent party’s nominee in an open-seat race.

Presidential Coattails

The tendency for a victorious presidential candidate to improve the election performance of all party members down the ticket in the year that president is elected.

Midterm Loss

president’s party almost always suffers a decline in its share of the congressional vote and a net loss of house seats. Strong historical regularity.

Split ticket voting

voting for candidates from both parties on the same ballot. Has significantly decreased due to the nationalization of politics.

Direct Democracy

a democracy where citizens make political decisions directly.

Representative Democracy

a democracy where citizens chose political agents to represent them in the government.

Delegate

a representative that votes on issues exactly as her constituents would

Trustee

a representative that votes based on what she believes are the best interests of her constituents.

Politico

a mix of both trustee and delegate representation.

Constituency Service (Coursework)

the various tasks that a member of congress can perform to fix problems for their constituents (problems with federal programs, problems in the district).

Credit Claiming

An activity in which a representative takes responsibility for producing something tangible—like casework or policy—for constituents

Position Taking

an activity in which a representative provides symbolic support, rather than something tangible for constituents.

Advertising

an activity where a representative describes who she is rather than what she has done

Geographic Constituency

every member of a representative district or state

Reelection constituency

the portion of a member of Congress’s geographic constituency that is likely to support them in the next election.

Primary constituency

the portion of a reelection constituency that actively supports a member of Congress (volunteering, donations).

Personal constituency

represents a member’s personal friends and family members.

National Representation

the idea that some congress members act more with the national scale in mind, rather than just their districts

Dyadic Representation

legislator representing his geographic constituency

Substantive Representation

consciously act for people and their interests

Descriptive/Symbolic Representation

legislator of same group as constituents

Policy Congruence

the degree to which a legislator’s policy positions align with what their constituents actually want

Collective Representation

Congress as a whole representing the American public

Standing Committees

committees that do the bulk of legislative work, and are present in every Congress.

Subcommittees

a smaller group inside of a committee that is more focused on a particular issue

Select or special committees

Temporary committees, without authority to consider or report legislation.

Joint committees

Includes both House Members & Senators. Usually no legislative authority & focused on minor issues

Conference committees

Includes both House & Senate. Temporarily created to reconcile differences between bills for a single piece of legislation

Jurisdiction

issue boundaries within which a committee can legislate

Committee property right

the idea that members who served on a certain committee will remain on that committee if they are reelected.

Positive/proposal authority

A committee’s authority to introduce legislation with the intention of getting legislation onto the congressional agenda and eventually to the final passage.

Chair’s mark

a bill introduced by the committee chair-– sometimes just before markup) that contains the chair’s preferences

Negative/gatekeeping authority

A committee’s authority to prevent unwanted legislative proposals from gaining traction and moving on to the wider congressional agenda.

Special rule

A resolution introduced by the House Rules Committee that defines the limitations on debate and amendment regarding a particular bill when it is considered on the chamber floor.

Closed rule

A special rule that prohibits any amendments from being attached to a bill being considered on the House floor.

Distributive theory

Committees governed by preference outliers, Gives lawmakers influence over policies critical to re-election, Public policy as giant log-roll

Informational theory

Committees governed by floor majorities, Committees provide lawmakers with specialized expertise

Partisan theory

Committees governed by majority party, Parties create committees to benefit party’s interests, Leaders make assignments to enhance party’s goals, Majority party dictates policies that emerge.

Pork Barrel Policies

legislation that directs federal spending to projects and programs in a particular lawmaker’s constituency

Party unity votes

A vote in the House or Senate in which a majority of one party opposes a majority of the other party

Speaker of the house

Only house position mentioned in the Constitution, elected by entire chamber

Senate Majority/Minority leader

most powerful leaders in the senate, elected via intraparty vote.

Bill Scheduling

House; majority leaders control through rules committee. Senate; Majority leader helps guide scheduling and crafts unanimous consent agreements

Whipping

keeping members informed, leaders informed, and persuading members how to vote

Campaign (hill) committees

committee that helps with fundraising and candidate recruitment from the party, collects dues from incumbent members

Party brand

The reputation that voters associate with a party—based on policies the party advocates, the values it stands for, and whether it has governed effectively—that they use when deciding how to vote

Collective action problem

a situation where members would benefit from working together, but individual interest discourages joint action, leading to a worse outcome for everyone involved.

Conditional Party government theory

parties sometimes wield influence, party power changes based on two conditions

Positive Agenda Control

getting bills on agenda, passed, and enacted into law

Party cartel theory

Parties always wield influence, and set an agenda that benefits the majority using negative agenda control.

Negative Agenda control

the blockage of bills the majority party doesn’t like

Hastert Rule

not actually a rule, but rather a norm; “thou shalt not aid bills that will split thy party”

Roll Rate

The percentage of times a majority of a given party votes to oppose a bill that ultimately goes on to pass, relative to all votes.

Preference theory

parties never wield influence; argument is that lawmakers vote based solely on their ideological preferences, not as a result of party pressure. Can look like powerful parties but actually reflects the fact that parties have similar ideological preferences.

Regular Order

What the House and Senate rules proscribe for the procedures of legislative deliberation and enactment

Insecure majorities

a weak majority in Congress. incentivize parties to act as team, highlight differences, and deny opposition victories. One of the main causes for polarization in Congress.

Suspension of the rules

also known as Consensual legislation; expedited floor consideration (requires ⅔ majority, debate is only 40 minutes and there are no amendments.

Unanimous consent agreements

negotiated by Majority and minority leaders, outlines the terms of debate for a bill (time, amendments, and vote timing). Only needs 1 objection to fail.

Discharge position

a bill being forced to come out of committee and onto the House floor.

Germaneness

limits bill’s amendments to the subject of a bill. (can’t have unrelated amendments). Only in the house, not the senate

Filibuster

Informal term for any attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter by debating it at length, by offering numerous procedural motions, or by any other delaying or obstructive actions

Hold

another name for objecting to a unanimous consent motion.

Cloture rule

The only procedure by which theSenate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter and thereby overcome a filibuster. Need 60 votes from the Senate.