AG - Chapter 6 Study Guide

The Great Compromise created a what?

a bicameral legislature

The Constitution required a what every ten years to track population changes for House membership

a census

Census

counting the entire population

Apportionment

the process of allotting (distributing) congressional seats to each state after a census

Redistricting - (what happens after every census)

the redrawing of congressional districts within a state to reflect population shifts (controlled by state legislature)

(the process of redrawing the boundaries of electoral districts, which are the geographic areas represented by elected officials)

The Senate is the “upper house,” and each state has _____ senators

two

____ of U.S senators are up for reelection every ____ years

1/3

two

What did the Constitution give Congress?

enumerated powers

Enumerated powers

powers of the federal government specifically granted to Congress by the Constitution (most can be found in Article One; Section Eight)

No bill can become a law w/o the consent of

both houses of Congress

Revenue bills

(taxes) must begin in the House of Representatives

Who has sole power of impeachment with a simple majority vote?

The House

Impeachment

to charge civil officers with treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors

The Senate has the sole power to handle impeachment trails with a 2/3 supremacy vote, which would result in?

the removal of office

The Senate must approve __________ __________ (federal judges, cabinet positions, ambassadors, etc.) with a majority vote

presidential appointments

The Senate must approve treaties negotiated by the _____?

the president (with a 2/3 vote)

Trustee representation

involves representatives listening to constituents but using their best judgment to make policy decisions

(a model of representation in which elected officials, such as legislators, act according to their own judgment and conscience when making decisions)

Delegate representation

vote according to the demands of constituents, regardless of their own personal judgment

(representatives are expected to closely follow the preferences, opinions, and instructions of the people who elected them, rather than relying on their own judgment or opinions)

Politico representation

involves a combination of the trustee and delegate styles of representation

How many men and women serve in the House and Senate?

535

Gerrymandering

the process of drawing congressional districts in unusual shapes to favor one political party over another

(manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts to favor a particular political party, group, or individual)

Malapportionment

involves drawing congressional districts with unequal population sizes found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court)

(occurs when electoral districts have significantly unequal populations which leads to an imbalance in representation)

How Congress is Organized

political parties

Majority party

refers to the party in each chamber with the most members

Minority party

refers to the party in each chamber with the second most members

party caucus

formal gathering of all party members - to elect party officers, review the all- important committee assignments, discuss party policy, impose party discipline, and coordinate the party’s messaging to the media

how many house members?

435

how many senate members?

100

The Speaker of the House

is the chamber’s most powerful position and the only officer in the House specifically mentioned in the Constitution

Leadership Teams in the House

majority leader + minority leader + whip

majority leader

the head of the majority party in the House

minority leader

the head of the party with the second most members in the House

The whip

keeps up with the party membership, taking vote counts on key legislation, preparing bill summaries, and acts as a communication link within the party (both parties have whips)

(responsible for maintaining party discipline and ensuring that members of the party vote in line with the party's policies and decisions)

Leadership in the Senate

Presiding officer + Majority + Minority

President of the Senate

is the Vice President of the U.S. (the only member of the executive branch serving in the legislative branch)

The president pro tempore

is the official chair of the Senate (usually the most senior member of the majority party)

The Committee System

Committees are the infrastructure of the legislative branch (how everything gets done).

four types of congressional committees

Standing committees

Joint committees

Conference committees

Select committees

Standing committees

are permanent committees that receive all proposed bills

• Standing committees have the power to “kill” bills, dramatically amend them, hurry them through the legislative process, or slow them to a crawl

Joint committees

are standing committees that include members from both chambers of Congress

Conference committees

are special joint committees (members from both chambers) that reconcile differences between the Senate and House version of a bill before it is sent to the president

Select committees
Select committees

are temporary committees created for specific purposes (temporary investigation)

The House Committee on Rules (Rules Committee)

plays a major role in the House’s law-making process

(Determines how and when bills are presented and debated on the House floor)

A discharge petition

tool that forces a House committee to send a bill to the House floor for debate (majority vote required = 218 members).

Committee chairs

are in charge of their committee, select subcommittee chairs, call meetings, recommend party members to sit on conference committees, and can “kill” bills by refusing to schedule them for a vote or hold hearings

Powers of Congress

Makes laws

Regulate commerce

Establish rules for naturalization (how immigrants become citizens

Most legislation introduced in Congress fails…

to become law (most bills specifically “die” in committees).

It is exponentially easier to ______ a bill than to successfully ______ a bill.

defeat

pass

Floor Debate

The House and Senate will debate, and vote for or against, a bill that has been voted out of committee

Remember, in the House (not the Senate) the Committee on Rules must approve and give a _____ to all bills before they go before the entire House

rule

In the House, a Committee of the Whole

may be used allowing 100 members to deliberate a bill and expedite the bill’s consideration in the interest of time

Unlike the House, where the chamber’s size necessarily limits debate, the Senate can ____________ without limitations.

debate a bill

A hold

involves a Senator requesting to be informed before a bill reaches the floor, indicating to the bill’s author(s) that the Senator has a problem with the legislation and needs to be contacted

A filibuster

is a formal means of halting Senate action by using unlimited debate (literally “talking a bill to death”)

A cloture motion

can end debate in the Senate (ending the filibuster) if 60 senators vote for the motion

Veto the bill

rejecting the bill passed by Congress

Congressional veto overrides

can pass a vetoed bill with a 2/3 supermajority vote from both chambers (this is a high bar for Congress to meet and 96% of presidential vetoes are successful in the republic’s history)

Do nothing with ten days left until Congress adjourns (the bill is

“dead” through a mechanism called a _______ )

pocket veto

The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921

required the president to submit a budget to Congress

which would include:

 The prior year’s spending

 Projections for future spending

 Proposal for the next year

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

as created to aid the executive branch in its budget proposals

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974

established the congressional budgetary process in use today

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

was created as a nonpartisan agency to help members of Congress estimate future revenues and expenditures to lay out a plan for congressional action on the annual budget resolution, appropriations, reconciliation, and other revenue bills

Reconciliation

allows consideration of controversial issues affecting the budget by limiting debate to twenty hours, ending the threat of a Senate filibuster.

Continuing resolutions

can be used to allow the government to spend money at the last fiscal year’s rate if a budget resolution has not been agreed upon

Pork

refers to legislation that allows representatives to bring money and jobs to their home districts (or states for Senators) in the form of public works programs, military bases, or other programs

Programmatic requests (earmarks)

are funds that an appropriations bill designates for specific projects within a state or congressional district

Congress generally performs oversight of the executive branch by…

holding committee hearings where bureaucrats are questioned to determine if they are enforcing and interpreting the laws as intended by Congress.

divided government

different political parties control the presidency and at least one chamber of congress

United government

occurs when one party controls the president, the House, and the Senate

The War Powers Resolution

of 1973 was an attempt by Congress to reign in the war making power of the president (predominantly driven by a state of perpetual war culminating in the unpopular Vietnam War)

The Congressional Review Act OF 1996

allows Congress to exercise its oversight powers by nullifying agency regulations

Senatorial courtesy

refers to presidents deferring to the opinions of Senators regarding the appointment of district court justices withing the Senator’s home state (if a Senator from Georgia disagrees with a presidential appointee to a district court in Georgia, the president will generally pick someone else)

Impeachment

is the ultimate oversight Congress has on the executive and judicial branches

Constituents

the people who live in a representative’s district or state

Logrolling

occurs when representatives trade votes (you vote for legislation that I care greatly about, and I will vote for legislation you care about later)

The Congressional Research Service (CRS)

is a nonpartisan resource that helps congresspersons with information regarding potential legislation.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO)

is an independent regulatory agency that audits the financial expenditures of the executive branch

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

provides Congress with evaluations of the potential economic effects of proposed spending policies and also analyzes the president’s budget and economic projections.