Congress Quiz

Senate (upper house)

100 members, 2 per each of the 50 states, 6 year terms, 30 age limit. Leadership has decentralized power

House (lower house)

435 members, 2 year terms, 25 age limit. Elected according to district population; each district elects one representative. Anything to do with taxes/money must start here. Movement to impeach someone must start here. Centralized power (leadership has great power)

Bicameral legislature

Congress is made up of one house by the senate and one house by the people (as decided by the founding fathers)

Speaker (of the house)

has the most power in the House of Representatives chamber, is second in line to the presidency after the VP

Majority/minority leaders

Speaker’s assistants on the floor for their respective party

Majority/minority whip

Majority and minority leaders’ assistants. The majority ___ counts votes ahead of crucial legislation to ensure that the majority party has enough votes to pass a bill. They track which members are likely to vote for/against specific pieces of legislation. They persuade members to support their party’s agenda, communicate about upcoming votes, and enforce party discipline and loyalty.

Vice President

President of the senate with no power to vote in the senate.

President Pro Tempore (senate only)

Calls on people with the gavel, traditionally goes to the longest serving senator of the majority party, third in line for the presidency

Incumbency Advantage

The various benefits that congress members who are already in office hold when running for re-election.

Safe seats

drawing the district’s lines so that the majority of the district will reelect the incumbent (knowing the district is highly republican/democratic)

Money/war chest

Money in the incumbent’s camp that has rolled over from election to election

Staff/franking privilege

incumbents already have staff and are allowed free postage

Casework

Assistance that members of congress provide to their constituents including helping with problems related to social security, veteran’s benefits, and immigration issues

Pork Barrel Legislation

Government spending on projects that are allocated specifically to benefit a particular district or state, often to gain political support for a bill. These projects are a way for lawmakers to deliver tangible benefits to their constituents to enhance their chances of re-election. Examples: building a local bridge/road, funding a local park

Single member district system

One representative in each district

Baker v. Carr

In Tennessee, the state’s legislative districts hadn’t been updated since 1901, despite significant population shifts. This meant some districts were overrepresented while others were underrepresented. Baker (a TN resident) sued Secretary of State Carr for the state’s “disproportionate representation” which deprived his vote of equal weight. The Supreme Court ruled that one man: one vote, everyone’s voice had to have around the same power in each state under the Equal Protection Clause.

Wesberry v. Sanders

Congressional districts in Georgia had unequal populations, violating the principle of equal representation. The Supreme Court ruled that congressional districts must be roughly equal in population; enforcing the one person, one vote principle established in Baker v. Carr.

Gerrymandering

redrawing district lines to gain an advantage. The goal is to influence election outcomes by concentrating or dispersing certain voting populations in ways that benefit one side. Racial gerrymandering is prohibited but State legislatures are in charge of redrawing districts (they are controlled by either Republicans or Democrats) and are allowed to redraw lines for their party’s advantage. California is one of the few states that doesn’t engage in partisan gerrymandering, we have a non-partisan commission that redraws lines

“Cracking” Gerrymandering

attempt to draw district lines in a way that divides the opposing party, while gathering their own party’s population together

“Packing” gerrymandering

attempt to draw district lines in a way that collects the opposing party together in specific areas

Trustee/Attitudinal View

The congressperson is seen as the person who is entrusted to do the right thing for the people. They have more knowledge/info, so they do not need to consult the people, they will just do what they think is best

Instructed delegate/Representational View

The congressperson is being instructed as a delegate to do what their constituents want. They consult their constituents to try to represent them.

Logrolling

Exchange of votes amongst congress people as favors

Iron triangles for policymaking

Congressional committee, interest group, bureaucratic agency (ex: Social security administration or Centers for Disease control)

Politico representation

Congresspeople are called “politicos” rather than trustees or delegates due to the many influences on their voting

Authorization

when we want a bill to become a law, we need to get it___. This is the formal process through which congress gives the program legal standing.

Appropriation

When a bill requires money we need to get it____. This provides the funds for the program to operate.

Bill introduction

Step 1 of how a bill becomes a law: Bill is introduced by a member and assigned to a committee, which usually refers it to a subcommittee. The bill can be introduced through either the house or senate but if it regards taxes it must start in the house

Subcommittee

Step 2 of how a bill becomes a law: these committees perform studies, hold hearings, and make revisions. If approved by this committee, the bill goes to full committee.

Full Committee

Step 3 of how a bill becomes a law: These committees may amend or rewrite the bill before deciding whether to send it to the House/Senate floor, to recommend its approval, or to kill it. If approved by this committee, the bill is reported to the full House/Senate and placed on the calendar.

Rules Committee (House) and Leadership (Senate)

Respective Step 4s of how a bill becomes a law: Rules committee issues the rules and procedures under which bills will be debated on the House floor (ex: amount of time allocated, order of which bills are brought up). Leadership: Senate leaders of both parties schedule Senate debate on the bill.

Full House/Full Senate

Step 5 of how a bill becomes a law: Bill is debated by full house or senate, amendments are offered, and a vote is taken. If the bill passes (and if the other chamber has passed a different version of the same bill), the bill is sent to a conference committee.

Conference committee

Step 6 of how a bill becomes a law: committee composed of members of both House and Senate meet to iron out differences between bills. The compromise bill is returned to both the House and Senate for a vote.

Full House/Full Senate (pt 2)

Step 7 of how a bill becomes a law: Full House and Senate votes on conference committee version. If it passes, the bill is sent to the president

Presidential decision

8th and final step of how a bill becomes a law: President signs or vetoes the bill. Congress may override a veto by a 2/3 vote in both the House and Senate.

Types of actions within a committee

Legislative action (reviewing bills) investigative action (investigating events such as January 6th storming of the capitol) and oversight power (overseeing the handling of something such as the IRS)

Standing committee

permanent

Joint committee

both members of the House and Senate

Select committee

To review select events such as the January 6th select committee

Pigeonholing a bill

deliberately ignoring a bill to prevent it from advancing through the legislative process. This can happen when a bill is set aside in committee and not given a hearing, vote, or further consideration. This can effectively kill a bill without needing to explicitly vote it down.

Discharge petition (House of Representatives)

allows members to force a bill out of committee and bring it directly to the House floor for consideration, even if the committee has not acted on it. This can be used to overcome a pigeonholed bill. It can be filed after a bill has been in a committee for 30 days by majority vote of the House (218 signatures)

Open Rule

(Decided by the Rules committee) The House can amend a bill while debating it

Closed rule

(decided by the rules committee) No changes can be made to the bill after it comes out of committee

Committee of the Whole in the House

A way to bypass the committee system, expediting the consideration of a bill. It allows the entire house to sit as one large committee for the purpose of debating and amending legislation. (Requires only 100 members to present rather than the quorum of 218)

Filibuster

a tactic used in the Senate (because the Senate, unlike the House, has no strict time limits on debate) to delay a vote on a bill by engaging in prolonged speechmaking. Traditional filibusters involve senators speaking for hours, sometimes reading from books. The primary way to end a filibuster is through a cloture vote which requires a supermajority of 60 out of 100 senators.

Law pocket veto

the president ignores the bill but at the end of a congressional term no action has been taken, and congress adjourns. Thus, all the bills die.

Line item veto

When congress gives a bill to a president and rather than signing or vetoing it, the President crosses off one part of it and signs it into law

Shaw v. Reno

Supreme Court ruled that race-based redistricting could be unconstitutional.

Rider/ nongermane amendment

An amendment to a bill that is not related to the subject matter of the original bill. Riders are often used as a bargaining tool or as a way to pass controversial measures that might not otherwise pass on their own.