Congress

The Great Compromise

Created a bicameral legislature

The Three-Fifths Compromise

Settled How slaves would be counted for represenatation

The Sectional Compromise

gave Congress the power to regulate commerce with a simple majority vote in exchange for permittting the slave trade for at least twenty years

Congress

100 Senators, two from each state

435 Representatives in the House

Two- year terms

Reapportionment

redistribution of representaive amoung the states, based on population change ( occurs every 10 years)

Shares duties

make laws, Declare war; raise an army/navy, Borrow & coin money; collect taxes, Regulate interstate commmerce, Create federal courts

House duties

Originate revenue bills, power to impeach- formally charge a government official with “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeranors

Senate duties

Approve presidential appointments, Approve treaties with foreign nations (2/3 of Senate must approve treaties), Act as a court to try impeachments

17th Amendment (1913)

popular election of Senators

Incumbents ( current officeholder)

are reelected at a high rate

Redistricting

The process of redrawing legislative districts to reflect population change

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Set the standard that House districts must contain equal number of constituents

Gerrymandering

Redrawing a congressional disrtict to interntionally benefit one political party

Franking privilege

The right to send mail free of charge

Casework

Solving problems for constituents, especially problems involving governemt agencies

Descriptive represenation

The view that a legislature should resemble the demographic characteristics of the population it represents

Racial gerrymandering

Drawing legislative districts to maximize the chance of a minority candidate to win an election

Veto

President’s disapproval of a bill that has been passed by both houses of Congress

Pocket veto

The president does not sign the bill and Congress adjourns within ten days of the bills passage

Standing committees

A permanent congressional committee that specializes in a particular legislative area

Joint committe

Made up of members of both the Senateand the House

Select committee

A temporary committe created for specific purposes

Conference committee

Temporarily created to work out differences betweenn House and Senate versions of bill

Legislative Reorganization Act (1946)

Reduced the number of standing committess

Seniority

Years of consecutive service on a committee

Markup sessions

The meeting at which subconmmittees and committees actually debates and amend legislation

Oversight

The process of reviewing the operations of agency to determine whether it is carrying out policies as congress intended

Speaker of the House

The presiding officer of the House of Representative ( Mike Johnson)

Minority Leader

Not a consitutionally created post, but an important poltical postiton

President pro tempore

President “for the time'“ of the Senate in the vice-president’s absence

Senate Majority leader

The head of the majority party in the Senate

Unainmous consent agreements

are used in the Senate to determines the length and nature of debate

Filibuster

A delaying tactic, used in the Senate, that involves speechmaking to prevent action on a pices of legislation

Cloture

The mechanism by which a filibuster is cut off in the Senate

Logrolling

Supporting a legislator’s bill in exchange for supports of one’e own bill

Pork-barrel legislation

legislation that benefits one state or distict

Political parties

Party leaders can help or hinder sucess of rank -and - files members and their appointment to committees

The President

Uses national endorsement to influence legislative process

Constitiuents

People who live and vote in a government official’s district or state

Interest groups

Forward a particular issue and are valued by legislators

Trustee

A respresentatice who is obligated to consider the views of constitiuents but is not obligated to vote according to those views if he/she believes they are misguided

Delegate

A legislator whose primary responsibility is to represnt the majority view of his/her constituents, regardless of his/her own view

Informed Voter Law

Instruct members of Congress to support 3 term limit; procedure for informing voter if their instructuions are disregarded