Legislative branch

Bicameral Legislature

Bicameral Legislature

2-house legislature. All U.S. and state legislatures = bicameral but Nebraska. Protects against tyranny; Acts as a moderating effect on partisanship (strong opinions on one side, not giving the other side support), and prevents gov from steamrolling ahead & infringing on rights

Committee of the Whole

committee of the house where representatives serve and meet in the house chamber. They consider measures from the union calendar. Revenue bills and other bills are discussed.

Caucus

party members gathering formally. Each caucus has special committees to fulfill certain tasks. nominate party officials, review committee assignments, discuss party policy, set party themes, coordinate media, etc.

Rules Committee

House; lays key role in law-making process; reviews most bills after they come from a committee and before they to to full chamber for consideration; “traffic cop” and gives each bill a rule (date bill will come up for debate and time for discussion) and specifies the amendments that can be offered

Closed Rule

does not allow for amendments to bills up for vote on house floor (unless recommended by committee reporting the bill); sets time limit on debate

Open Rule

allows for amendments to bills up for vote on house floor

Standing Committee

where proposed bills go to; 1st & last place bills reach; also conduct investigations; permanent, oversee exec branch

joint committee

speeds up business between the houses and focuses public attention on maj things (economy, taxation, scandals). include ppl of both houses who conduct investigation on specialized studies

Conference Committee

Temporary joint committee that solves differences between senate & house versions of legislation; amends different bills from house & senate; made up of both houses. After sends a bill back to each house, no amendments allowed, bill usually passes. “third house of congress”

Select Committee

temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose; conducts special investigations/studies and reports back to the chamber that established them; can kill bills, amend them, speed them through process. made up of both housesC

Voice Vote

Both houses; congressional voting procedure where members vote by shouting yea or nay.

Roll-Call Vote

congressional voting procedure; members answering "yea" or "nay" to their names

Filibuster

formal way of stopping action on a bill through long speeches/unlimited Senate debate. No rules of filibuster content, as long as senator talks continuously. Senators take turns speaking hoping for the bill to be killed. Cloture must be involved to end this filibuster.

Cloture

procedure for ending a debate; 16 senators must sign for cloture and 60 must vote to end debate. If cloture invoked, no more than 30 more hours can be devoted to debate before the legislation is voted on.d

Dischange Petition

gives a maj of the house authority to bring an issue to the floor in face of committee inaction; bills forced out of a House committee; rare

Gerrymandering

redrawing districts every 10 years to reach a party advantage

Reapportionment

the redistribution of the 435 seats in the House on the basis of changes of state population. Number of reps per state determined by population; Census conducted every 10 years Shows population changes in states, these changes must be reflected in state representation in the House

Marginal Districts

tight elections; candidates elected to house win in close electrons, (less than 55% of the vote)

Speaker of the House

only officer in the house mentioned in constitution. they are elected at the beginning of each new Congress by the house (usually member of maj party)

Majority Leader

2nd most important in the House; most powerful in Senate; controls the most seats in the House/senate; helps speaker schedule proposed legislation for debate on the House floor

Minority Leader

second most number of elected representatives in House/Senate

party whips

representatives that are close with all members and take counts on votes, summarize bills, communicate links within the party. elected by party members in caucuses. Originated in the British House of Commons

President Pro Tempore

Chair of the senate; selected by maj party and presides over senate in absence of vp; Manage things going through, most senior person from maj party; no real authority; stays in office until change in maj party in senate

Concurrent Resolution

same as a simple resolution but passed by both houses; used every year to signal start of the budget process signaling to everyone that both houses will take up the task of working on our nation’s budget on this particular date; no real force of law, but it signals start of something official.S

Simple Resolution

made by only one house of Congress; may be a statement about how they are going to conduct an investigation/a statement that gets on record that they disagree with pres on a matter; no force of law, but it is a statement about something that they want everyone to know about.; one in that house would write up that resolution, given some time for debate, then would be voted on; goes through basic parliamentary procedures to be official.

Incumbent

current holder of the elected office

Franking Privilege

send mail through signature instead of postage

Casework

process of solving constituents’ problems that deal with the bureaucracy. Caseworkers deal with individuals, businesses, or groups including a problem.

Constituent

ppl who live & vote in home district/state (in member’s mind when casting a vote)

joint resolution

expression of congressional opinion; approved by both houses & pres; deals w/unusual temporary matters; can be used to propose amendments (no need for pres approval); become laws like bills doco

congressional budget office

fed agency within legis branch; provides budget and economic information to Congress

General Accounting Office

"the investigative arm of Congress" and "the congressional watchdog."; investigates agencies & policies and makes recommendations many governmental aspects

Mark-up

congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, & rewrite proposed legislation; take place after hearings are done; amendments may be offered to the bill

Descriptive Representation

belief that constituents are represented better by legislators who are similar to them: race, gender, ethnicity, or religion.

17th Amendment

changed how senators are selected; voters of each state directly elect their senators (instead of state legislatures)

Oversight

congressional review of agency, department, or office activities. Since 1960s, inc in oversight of exec branch. Oversight committees gres in 70s and 80s to promote investigation & program review (check responsibilities). Checking on possible power abuses by govt officials.

Baker v Carr

“one man, one vote” principle applied to state legislative districts to correct overrepresentation of rural areas Districts must be equal in population; equal representation Violation of equal protections clause, led to redrawing districts

Incumbency favor

being in office helps one to stay in office b/c of benefits

Legislative veto

one/two houses can disallow an act of an exec agency by simple maj vote

War powers act

1937, pres limited in deployment of troops overseas to 60 day period in peacetime unless congress explicitly gives approval for longer period; congressional approval before committing forces to combat zone & notify congress within 48 hrs Passed over Nixon’s veto Limits presidential rights as commander in chief

Congressional Review

another method of exercising congressional oversight; congress can nullify an exec branch regulation by a resolution jointly passed in both houses within 60 days of announcement of the regulation & accepted by the pres. Congressional Review Act of 1996 allowed for this process

Line item veto

chief exec can delete part of bill passed by legislature that involves taxing and/or spending. Legislature may override veto (⅔ vote each chamber)

Hold

senator asks to be informed before a particular bill is brought to the floor (stops bill from coming to floor until hold removed)H

House rules committee

plays key role in law-making process; reviews most bills after they come from a committee and before they to to full chamber for consideration; “traffic cop” and gives each bill a rule (date bill will come up for debate and time for discussion) and specifies the amendments that can be offered

trustees

representatives should listen to the opinions of their constituents and then can be trusted to use their own best judgment to make final decisions

delegates

vote the way their constituents would want them to, whether or not those opinions are the representative’s

politicos

representatives change from trustees to delegates and vice versa depending on the issues