Congress & The Presidency (Ch. 4 & 5) - Study Guide

Agenda

_ is a list of goals that the government wants to solve. An agenda can help leaders focus on problems that are important/ top priority. For example a president's agenda can include issues like lowering taxes and healthcare costs.

Advice and Consent

_ is a power that the senate has and is a constitutional power that allows for the senate to approve or deny certain presidential treaties. An example of this would be the senate voting to confirm a supreme court nominee.

Appointments

_ are the president's power to select people for important positions, but major appointments often need the senate's approval. For example the president can nominate someone to serve as secretary of state, and the senate has to approve the nominee.

Apportionment

_ is the process of distributing sets in the house of representatives based on a state's population, and is recalculated after every 10 year census. An example of this would be after each census a state might gain or lose a house seat.

Appropriation

_ is when there is approval for the government to spend money for a specific purpose. Congress uses this to fund programs and agencies, an example of this would be national parks.

Bicameral Legislature

_ is a legislature divided into two chambers for the U.S. it would be Congress and the House of Representatives. An example of the two chambers working together would be that a bill must pass both houses before it becomes a law.

Bipartisanship

_ is when there is cooperation between members of different political parties in order to work together to make a compromise. An example of this would be when democrats and republicans work together to pass a bill to help the common good.

Bully Pulpit

_ is when the president uses his own publicity/ actions to influence public opinion. An example of this would be if the president gave a speech to congress to encourage or discourage a bill.

Cabinet

_ is a group of people that assist and advise the president. Cabinet members outside of advising the president have their own roles and responsibilities. An example of this would be the secretary of education would inform the president on education policy and how to improve it.

Chief Executive

_ is the president's role in commanding the executive branch, and is responsible for enforcing laws and overseeing executive agencies. An example of this would be the president makes sure an agency enforces a federal law.

Commander-in-Chief

_ is the president's role as the leader of the U.S. armed forces, and the president directs the military as long as it's within his constitutional powers. An example of this would be the president sending out and ordering military operations.

Committee of the Whole

_ is a procedure in the House of Representatives where representatives have looser rules to consider legislation, and allows for the House to have more thought out debates.

Constituents

_ are people represented by an official, and these representatives are supposed to consider their constituent's needs, and assist when they can. For example the people of a district can contact their representative about an issue.

Cloture

_ is a method used by the senate to limit debate, and clotures require 3/5th vote of the senate or around 60/100 senators.

Conference Committee

_ is a temporary committee with both House and Senate members that work together to fix differences between their versions of the bill. For the bill to pass, both chambers must agree on the final version.

Deficit

_ spending is when the government spends more money than what they collect during a period of time, and when this happens the government tends to borrow money in order to equalize the debt.

Delegate

A _ is a representative that is elected by the people and votes in favor of them. For example delegates would vote against a bill if the people don't agree with it.

Discretionary Spending

_ is when spending that congress decides to split annually based on how much the government spent on each department. These can be departments like defense and education.

Discharge Petition

A _ is when the House of Representative forces a bill out of consideration by if they get enough House members to sign, and requires the majority of the House in order to do this.

Divided Government

_ is when different political parties control the presidency and one chamber of congress, this makes passing legislation longer because the two different parties often disagree.

Defense

_ is when the country uses protection against military threats, and the federal government spends money on forces, and equipment in order to do so.

Entitlement Programs

_ are government programs that provide care for people who meet the requirements for these programs. Entitlement Programs also land mainly in mandatory spending.

Executive Office of the President

The _ is a group of offices that help the president manage the executive branch. This also includes the Office of Management and Budget and National Security Council.

Executive Orders

A(n) _ is a direct order issued by the president to control operations of the federal government, but they must have a legal reason to do so and cannot override the constitution.

Executive Privilege

_ is the president's claim that some executive branch communications should be confidential. Though this privilege can be challenged and dropped in court if there are valid reasons.

Education Spending

_ is government money used to support school, and school related programs. This funding comes from both state and local governments.

Federalist Paper #70

_ argues that a single president could provide decisive leadership and accountability. It also explains that one president can respond better and faster to a problem compared to a cabinet of people.

Filibuster

A _ is a senate method that's used to delay an action by extending debate, but senators can end a filibuster with 60 votes.

Federal Budget

The _ is the federal government's revenue and how much is being spent each term. This also splits each category of spending into something.

Formal Power of the President

The _ is a power granted to the president by the constitution that allows the President to veto bills and to serve as commander in chief.

Gerrymandering

_ is a tactic used to draw electoral boundaries to give a political party an advantage, and can weaken the competition and how much representation the opposing party gets.

Gridlock

_ is when the government can't pass a law due to political leaders can't agree on a census. This often happens when different parties control different chambers.

House Rules committee

The _ determines the rules for debating while on the House floor. This allows the committee to set rules like time limits and what amendments are considered.

Hold

A _ is a Senate practice when a senator objects to move forward with a matter, a Hold is used to slow down or delay an action but it cannot always completely block a bill.

Infrastructure

_ are basic structures that are needed for society to function like roads, bridges, and public transit.

Informal Power of the President

_ is a power not directly listed in the constitution but gives power through political practice, and influence. An example of this would be to use the media in order to shape public opinion.

Logrolling

_ is the act of exchanging political support between law makers in order to pass each other's proposals, this often happens when voting for another's bill in order for them to vote for your bill.

Lame Duck

_ is the term for when an official is nearing the end of their term, this is also the period of time between an election and the next elected official coming into office.

Malapportionment

_ is when there is unequal representation in districts caused by there being different populations. This messes up the system of that each person should carry as much force as a vote from any other district

Mandatory Spending

_ is when the federal government has to spend a certain amount of money on programs like medicare and social security.

Majority Leader

The _ is the one who organizes the party's work in a part of Congress, while in the Senate the majority leader organizes and schedules legislation.

Minority Leader

The _r is the leader of the party with fewer members in Congress, and the minority leader organizes parties' responses on plans.

Minority Party

The _ is the party with fewer members in any chamber. They can still influence votes and passing laws but not as much as the Majority Party.

Majority Party

The _ is a political party with more than 50 percent of the seats in any chamber, and usually leads to the Majority Party being able to control and influence the outcome of bills and agenda.

Medicare

_ is the federal health insurance program for people over the age of 65, but there are some exceptions for people under 65 too.

Medicaid

_ is the program run by both the federal and state government to provide health coverage to low-income people and families. Though with this program eligibility does vary by state.

Oversight

_ is congress's power to monitor agencies and to see laws get carried out and enforced. An example of this would be investigating a federal agency to see how they spend federal money.

Pardon

A _ is the action that the president can take in order to clear someone of legal consequences, but this power does not apply to everything. For example a president's power does not apply to state crimes or impeachment.

Pocket Veto

A _ is a strategic way for the president to fail a law. By making a law sit for a set amount of days it automatically becomes a veto, and Congress cannot override this type of veto.

Politico

_ is a type of representation when a lawmaker acts like a delegate on issues and acts like a trustee on others.

Pork Barreling/Earmarks

_ is a government way of distributing spending in order to gain political support in a district, and this spending is meant for a specific purpose.

Power of the Purse

The _ is Congress's ability to borrow and control government spending, and allows congress to change aspects of the executive branch.

Partisan Voting

_ is when people vote based on political party or what party you're on. It makes it so lawmakers are less likely to support or even oppose laws proposed by the opposing party.

Polarization

_ is when two political parties' ideals become more divided, and can make compromising and passing laws more difficult than it has to be. For example these could be problems relating to immigration and such.

Enumerated Powers of Congress

_ are powers only listed in the constitution, these powers include power to tax, regulate interstate commerce, declare war, and to borrow money.

Redistricting

_ is when they redraw electoral boundaries after a census. Districts are drawn to make up for population changes, but these lines must follow legal rules.

Revenue Bills

_ are bills that raise money to the government usually through taxes, though under the constitution these bills must pass through the House of Representatives though the Senate can amend them.

Signing Statements

_ are statements issued by the president when they sign a bill into law, and this is a statement saying why they signed it and their views and opinions on the law.

Speaker of the House

_ is the top leader of the House of Representatives, and is usually chosen by the majority party but not always. The Speaker of the House is very influential, and helps guide the House agenda.

State of the Union Address

The _ is the annual speech that the president has to do, and answers and states his standing on the condition of the country and what his priorities are.

Social Security

_ is a federal program that gives retirement benefits to eligible people, and is funded through payroll taxes throughout one's life.

Trustee

A _ is a representative that uses their own opinion and knowledge to make a decision, and a trustee's opinion might go against their party if they believe that their idea is really better than the parties.

Unanimous Consent

_ is the agreement that allows the Senate to proceed with an action without going through the full process if there are no objections, this usually happens to save time.

Veto

A _ is when the president rejects a bill passed by congress, but congress can override it with a 2/3rd vote from both the House of Representatives and Senate.

Vice President

The _ is the second in command behind the President, and will assume the presidency if the president can no longer serve in office, the vice president also serves as the president of the senate.

22nd Amendment

The _t is the amendment that limits a person to serve as the president twice.