AP Govt Congress Terms

Membership of House is based on

population size

17th ammendment

direct election of senators

House Rep requirements

25 YO, seven year citizen of US, citizen of state represented.

House of Representatives Term Length

2 years

Senator Term Length

6 years

Senator Requirments

30 years old, 9 year US Citizen, citizen of state represented

How often are representatives reapportioned among the states

every 10 years

Revenue Bills

must originate in HOR. tax policy, coining of money

Impeachment Power

HOR can charge the president vp and any other officer with high crimes or misdemeanors. Senate will conduct trials for impeachment but the house can only make the charge

Major Presidential Appointments are confirmed by

senate

Foreign Treaties

approved by 2/3 vote of senate

Speaker of the House

Majority party chooses their candidate. teacher of house

Majority Leader

subordinate to speaker of the house but they schedule bills

Minority Leader

Spokesperson of minority party

Party Whips

Go-Betweens for members and leadership and inform members when important bills come up for a vote, do counts, and pressure members to support leadership. Makes a house run and go. They make deals with people and makes sure their party members fall in line with the parties' agenda

Who breaks the tie of the HOR or Senate

The Vice President. Constitutional breaker, but usually not there.

Standing Committee

Representatives that commits all their time waiting to be called up

House Judiciary Committee

jurisdiction over all proposed amendments to the Constitution, and each of its subcommittees has roots in that document. Schedules vote and determine how much time is allowed for debate and is controlled by the speaker of the house and majority party. it is a major advantage of a political party in the majority.

Select Committee

A temporary representative group which deals with a contemporary issue that comes up

Malapportionment

different ratio of voters to reps in congressional (house) districts

Gerrymandering

redrawing a district to favor a political party (done by state legislatures = check majority party)

Baker V. Carr

Tennesee citizens alleged that a apportionment law was ignored- Does supreme court have jurisdiction over questions of legislative apportionment? Yes they do. Also Tennessee lacked proportional districts and violated equal protection and state constitution. 1 vote 1 person principle

Shaw V. Reno

North Carolina redrew there district and there was an African American majority (attempt to address lack of black majority districts). Verdict was there is no racial gerrymandering.

Senate Constituency

Whole state must have broader appeal

House

A smaller constituency who usually has similar issues and tends to be more extreme. More partisan

Discharge Petition

Simple majority of 218 can vote a bill out of committee (waiting)

Filibuster

Tacting of delaying a vote by taking it to death

Cloture Vote

3/5 majority to kill the fillibuster

Senatorial hold

bringing motion to floor requires unanimous consent for hold senator objects to party leadership and announces a potential filibuster but can be stopped with a cloture vote.

Enumerated Powers

Congressional powers that are listed in the constitution explicitly

Revenue bills come from

house of representatives

who approves tax policies and bills

senate

conference committee

joint committee which works out differences between similar house and senate bills by "marking them Uup"

approportiations

authorized money from Congress for executive programs

Budget Process

1. President/Executive branch produces, and Congress approves, then President signs or vetoes

Mandatory Spending

Entitlement Programs: Like social security, medicare, medicaid, good chunk of budget

Discretionary Budget

Left over money like education

Deficit

more spending less taxes

Pork

Legislation that allows Congressmen to bring $$ and jobs to their state/district in hope of gaining votes
Usually gained in the form of earmarks.

Earmarks

Funds that an appropriations bill designates for specific projects within a state or district.

Logrolling

Funds that an appropriations bill designates for specific projects within a state or district.

Delegate

Responsible to the constituents even if you disagree- doing whatever they want

Trustee

Make decisions based on your opinions of what you think is best for constituents. Why? Expertise, safe-seat, access to more information. We trust them to do what's best for us

Politico

Balance btwn needs of the party vs constituents vs trustee, whatever is politically best. They vote for party lines.

Who are fed appointments approved by

senate