APGOV unit 2 vocab review

Incumbents

Those already holding office. They usually win in congressional elections

Pork barrel

Federal projects, grants, and contracts available to state and local governments, businesses, colleges, and other institutions in a congressional district

Bicameral legislature

A legislature divided into two houses. The U.S. Congress and all state legislatures except Nebraska's are this

House Rules Committee

The committee in the House of Representatives that reviews most bills coming from a House committee before they go to the full House

Filibuster

A strategy unique to the Senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the Senate from ever voting on a bill. Sixty members present and voting can halt this

Speaker of the House

An office mandated by the Constitution. This person is chosen in practice by the majority party, has both formal and informal powers, and is second in line to succeed to the presidency should that office become vacant

Majority leader

The principal partisan ally of the Speaker of the House, or the party's manager in the Senate. This person is responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes on behalf of the party's legislative positions

Whips

Party leaders who work with the majority leader or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers whose votes are crucial to a bill favored by the party

Minority leader

The principal leader of the minority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate

Standing committees

Separate subject-matter committees in each house of Congress that handle bills in different policy areas

Joint committees

Congressional committees on a few subject-matter areas with membership drawn from both houses

Conference committees

Congressional committees formed when the Senate and the House pass a particular bill in different forms. Party leadership appoints members from each house to iron out the differences and bring back a single bill

Select committees

Congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose, such as the Watergate investigation

Legislative oversight

Congress's monitoring of the bureaucracy and its administration of policy, performed mainly through hearings

Committee chairs

The most important influencers of the congressional agenda. They play dominant rules in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees, and managing committee bills when they are brought before the full house

Caucus

A system for selecting convention delegates used in about a dozen states in which voters must attend an open meeting to express their presidential preferences

22nd Amendment

Number of Presidential Terms

Impeachment

The political equivalent of an indictment in criminal law, prescribed by the Constitution. The House of Representatives may impeach the president by majority vote for "Tyranny, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors"

Watergate

The events and scandal surrounding a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972 and the subsequent cover-up of White House involvement, leading to the eventual resignation of President Nixon under the threat of impeachment

25th Amendment

Presidential Disability and Vice Presidential Vacancies

Cabinet

A group of presidential advisers not mentioned in the Constitution, although every president has had one. Today it is composed of 14 secretaries, the attorney general, and others designated by the president

National Security Council

The committee that links the president's foreign and military policy advisers. Its formal members are the president, vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense, and it is managed by the president's national security assistant

Council of Economic Advisers

A three-member body appointed by the president to advise the president on economic policy

Office of Management and Budget

An office that prepares the president's budget and also advises presidents on proposals from departments and agencies and helps review their proposed regulations

Veto

The constitutional power of the president to send a bill back to Congress with reasons for rejecting it. A two-thirds vote in each house can override this

Pocket veto

A type of veto occurring when Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president simply lets the bill die by neither signing nor vetoing it

Presidential coattails

These occur when voters cast their ballots for congressional candidates of the president's party because they support the president. Recent studies show that few races are won this way

War Powers Resolution

A law passed in 1973, in reaction to American fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia, that requires presidents to consult with Congress whenever possible prior to using military force and to withdraw forces after 60 days unless Congress declares war or grants an extension. However, presidents have viewed the resolution as unconstitutional

Legislative veto

A vote in Congress to override a presidential decision. Although the War Powers Resolution asserts this authority, there is reason to believe that, if challenged, the Supreme Court would find the legislative veto in violation of the doctrine of separation of powers

Crisis

A sudden, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous event requiring the president to play the role of crisis manager

Budget

A policy document allocating burdens (taxes) and benefits (expenditures)

Deficit

An excess of federal expenditures over federal revenues

Expenditures

Government spending. Major areas of federal spending are social services and national defense

Revenues

The financial resources of the government. The individual income tax and Social Security tax are major sources of the federal government's revenue

Federal debt

all of the money borrowed by the government over the years that is still outstanding

Tax expenditures

Revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions allowed by federal tax law

Social Security Act

A 1935 law intended to provide a minimal level of sustenance to older Americans and thus save them from poverty

Medicare

A program added to the Social Security system in 1965 that provides hospitalization insurance for the elderly and permits older Americans to purchase inexpensive coverage for doctor fees and other medical expenses

Incrementalism

A description of the budget process in which the best predictor of this year's budget is last year's budget , plus a little bit more (an increment). According to Aaron Wildavsky, "Most of the budget is a product of previous decisions"

Uncontrollable expenditures

Expenditures that are determined by how many eligible beneficiaries there are for a program or by previous obligations of the government and that Congress therefore cannot easily control

Entitlements

Policies for which Congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients. Social Security benefits are an example

House Ways and Means Committee

The House of Representatives committee that, along with the Senate Finance committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole

Senate Finance Committee

The Senate committee that, along with the House Ways and Means Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole

Congressional Budget and Impoundment

Advises Congress on the probable consequences of its decisions, forecasts revenues, and is a counterweight to the president's Office of Management and Budget

Control Act of 1974

Modified the role of Congress in the federal budgetary process. It created standing budget committees in both the House and the Senate, established the Congressional Budget Office, and moved the beginning of the fiscal year from July 1 to October 1

Congressional Budget Office

Advises Congress on the probable consequences of its decisions, forecasts revenues, and is a counterweight to the president's Office of Management and Budget

Budget resolution

A resolution binding Congress to a total expenditure level, supposedly the bottom line of all federal spending for all programs

Reconciliation

A congressional process through which program authorizations are revised to achieve required savings. It usually also includes tax or other revenue adjustments

Authorization bill

An act of Congress that establishes, continues, or changes a discretionary government program or an entitlement. It specifies program goals and maximum expenditures for discretionary programs

Appropriations bill

An act of Congress that actually funds programs within limits established by authorization bills. They usually cover one year

Continuing resolutions

When Congress cannot reach agreement and pass appropriations bills, these resolutions allow agencies to spend at the level of the previous year

Bureaucracy

According to Max Weber, a hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality

Patronage

One of the key inducements used by party machines. A patronage job, promotion, or contract is one that is given for political reasons rather than for merit or competence alone

Pendleton Civil Service Act

Passed in 1883, an act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage

Civil service

A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create a nonpartisan government service

Merit principle

The idea that hiring should be based on entrance exams and promotion ratings to produce administration by people with talent and skill

Hatch Act

A federal law prohibiting government employment from active participation in partisan politics while on duty or for employees in sensitive positions at any time

Office of Personnel Management

The office in charge of hiring for most agencies of the federal government, using elaborate rules in the process

GS (General schedule) rating

A schedule for federal employees, ranging from GS 1 to GS 18, by which salaries can be keyed to rating and experience

Senior executive service

An elite cadre of about 9,000 federal government managers at the top of the civil service system

Independent regulatory commission

A government agency with responsibility for making and enforcing rules to protect the public interest in some sector of the economy and for judging disputes over these rules

Government corporations

Like business corporations, they provide a service that could be delivered by the private sector and typically chargers for its services. The U.S. Postal Service is an example

Independent executive agency

The government agency not accounted for by cabinet departments, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations. Administrators are typically appointed by the president and serve at the president's pleasure. NASA is an example

Policy implementation

The stage of policymaking between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of the policy for the people affected. Implementation involves translating the goals and objectives of a policy into an operating, ongoing program

Standard operating procedures

Better known as SOPs, these procedures for everyday decision making enable bureaucrats to bring efficiency and uniformity to the running of complex organizations. Uniformity promotes fairness and makes personnel interchangeable

Administrative discretion

The authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem. Discretion is greatest when routines, or standard operating procedures, do not fit a case

Street-level bureaucrats

A phrase coined by Michael Lipsky, referring to those bureaucrats who are in constant contact with the public and have considerable administrative discretion

Command-and-control policy

The typical system of regulation whereby government tells business how to reach certain goals, checks that these commands are followed, and punishes offenders

Iron triangles

Also known as subgovernments, a mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship between bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees. They dominate some areas of domestic policymaking