ap gov buzzwords unit 6

representational view

representative votes based on view of his/her constituents

attitudinal view

representative votes based on his/her personal views

organizational view

voting as the party/caucus wants

politico view

representative votes as he/she believes unless constituents have a strong belief

cup and saucer

House is the cup and senate is saucer

marginal districts

a district that could swing left or right depending on election

safe districts

a district voting historically one way and that is sure to be either red or blue

cloture

vote in senate to end a filibuster (60/100)

hold

senator informs floor leader of his/her wish that the bill not make it to the floor action

pork-barrel legislation

legislation that gives benefits to constituents in hopes of winning votes

joint resolution

formal expression of congressional opinion that must be approved by both houses of congress

discharge petition

member of the House may request to have a bill moved out of committee to the floor

rider

provision added to a piece of legislation that is not germane to the bill’s purpose

earmarks

provisions within legislation that appropriate money to a specific request

logrolling/reciprocity

legislative agreeing to vote for a bill to get a fellow legislator to agree to vote for a different bill

line-item veto

an executive’s ability to block a particular provision of a bill passed by the legislative

oversight

act of investigating or checking actions of another branch

baker v. carr

TN hadn’t redrawn district lines, redistricting is justiciable issue, violated 14th amendment equal protection clause

shaw v. reno

bizarrely shaped electoral districts to separate voters by race violates 14th amendment equal protection clause

most important person in house of reps

speaker of the house

most important person in the senate

senate majority leader

president pro tempore

presides over senate presidency, usually senior member of majority party

standing committee

permanent legislative committee

conference committee

examines details of proposed law/bill

pigeonhole

refusing to act on a bill and therefore killing it so it is never considered by full legislature

bill of attainder

legislative act declaring person or group guilty of a crime and imposing punishment without a judicial trial

hatch act

prohibits executive federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity while on duty

FOIA 1966

grants public right to request access to records from federal government agencies, promoting transparency and accountability

war powers act 1973

check US president’s power to commit military to armed conflict. president must notify congress within 48 hours of deploying armed forces

gramm-rudman-hollings bill

mandated automatic across the board spending cuts to reduce federal defecit

USA patriot act 2001

designed to helped US detect terrorist cells, disrupt terrorist plots