Module 4 - DE US

What is the minimum age to serve in the House of Representatives?

25 years old

What is the minimum age to serve in the Senate?

30 years old

How long must a House member have been a U.S. citizen?

7 years

How long must a Senator have been a U.S. citizen?

9 years

What is the residency requirement for both House and Senate members?

Must be an inhabitant of the state they represent

How long is a term in the House of Representatives?

2 years

How long is a term in the Senate?

6 years

How many members are in the House of Representatives?

435 (capped in 1929)

How many members are in the Senate?

100 (2 per state)

How are House members elected?

By voters in their specific congressional district

How were Senators originally elected, and what changed?

Originally by state legislatures; the Seventeenth Amendment (1913) allowed for popular vote

Are there term limits for members of Congress?

No — U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (1995) ruled state

Who is the presiding officer of the House and leader of the majority party?

Speaker of the House

What are the duties of the Speaker of the House?

Presiding officer; administrative head; assigns bills to committees; decides when bills go to the floor; rules on procedures; appoints committee members and chairs; creates select committees; 2nd in line to the presidency

What is the role of the House Majority Leader?

Serves under the Speaker and helps set the agenda

What is the role of the House Minority Leader?

Leader of the opposition; makes strategy decisions

What is the role of a whip?

Enforces party discipline; tells members the leadership's position and rounds up votes

Who is the President of the Senate?

The Vice President; can vote only to break a tie

Who is the President pro tempore?

Usually the most senior senator of the majority party; presides in the VP's absence; largely ceremonial

Who is the most powerful leader in the Senate?

The Majority Leader (functional leader and chief spokesperson for the majority party)

What is a standing committee?

A permanent committee that meets regularly; first stop for bills; 20 in the House, 16 in the Senate; most bills die here

What is a joint committee?

A committee with members from both chambers; informational only; no bill

What is a conference committee?

An ad hoc committee that reconciles different House and Senate versions of a bill into one

What is a select (or special/ad hoc) committee?

A temporary committee created for a specific purpose, often investigations; disbands afterward

What powers do committee chairs have?

Control the committee budget, meetings, and hearings; decide whether to consider a bill; can kill bills; oversee markup; send bills to the floor with a committee report

What is apportionment?

The process of distributing House seats among the 50 states based on population (census every 10 years)

What is bicameralism?

Dividing a legislature into two separate assemblies

What is a bill?

Proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature

What is cloture?

A process to end Senate debate; needs 3/5 (60 votes); adopted in 1975

What is collective representation?

The relationship between Congress and the U.S. as a whole; whether the institution itself represents the American people

What is constituency?

The body of voters represented by a particular politician

What is the delegate model of representation?

Representatives act on the specific stated wishes of their constituents

What is the trustee model of representation?

Representatives act on what they believe is best for their constituents

What is the politico model of representation?

Members act as either delegate or trustee based on rational political calculations about who is best served

What is descriptive representation?

The extent to which a body of representatives reflects the descriptive characteristics of their constituencies (race, class, ethnicity, gender)

What are enumerated powers?

Powers explicitly given to Congress by the Constitution (tax, declare war, coin money, regulate commerce)

What are implied powers?

Powers not detailed in the Constitution but inferred as necessary (necessary and proper clause)

What are inherent powers?

Powers neither enumerated nor implied, assumed because the country exists (control borders, expand territory, defend against coups)

What is a filibuster?

A Senate maneuver to extend debate to obstruct or kill a bill

What is markup?

The amending and voting process in a congressional committee

What is oversight?

Congress's right to review and monitor other bodies, such as the executive branch

What is pork

barrel politics?

What is representation?

An elected leader's looking out for constituents while carrying out the duties of the office

What is the Speaker of the House's place in succession?

Second in line to the presidency, after the vice president

What is the surge

and

What is gerrymandering?

Manipulating legislative district boundaries to favor a particular candidate or party

What is redistricting?

Redrawing legislative district boundaries every 10 years after the census

What are majority

minority districts?

What is the incumbency effect (incumbent advantage)?

The advantage current officeholders have: more money, name recognition, and casework publicity

What is an earmark?

Funds appropriated for specific projects (banned by Congress in 2011)

What is an omnibus bill?

A large packaged bill covering many items, often passed through the budget process

What is a super PAC?

A group that can raise and spend unlimited funds but cannot give directly to a candidate or party

What is the necessary and proper clause?

Grants Congress implied powers to make laws necessary to carry out its enumerated powers

What is the commerce clause?

Congress regulates commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with Indian tribes

What did the Seventeenth Amendment do?

Allowed for the direct popular election of senators (1913)

What was the War Powers Resolution intended to do?

Strengthen congressional war powers, but it ended up clarifying presidential authority in the first 60 days of a conflict

What was the Great Compromise?

The Connecticut Compromise: bicameral Congress with Senate (equal representation) and House (proportional to population)

What is the equal proportions method?

The mathematical formula used to allocate House seats based on Census population data

How many standing committees are in the House and Senate?

20 in the House, 16 in the Senate

What is a bill's first stop after introduction?

The relevant committee (or subcommittee)

What is the role of the House Committee on Rules?

Establishes rules of debate, such as time limits and limits on amendments

What happens if the House and Senate pass different bills?

A conference committee reconciles them into a single bill

How can a presidential veto be overridden?

A two

Where must revenue (tax) bills originate?

The House of Representatives

What is a pro forma session?

A short Senate meeting held so no work is done, keeping the Senate officially in session while functionally in recess

What is the nuclear option?

A procedure allowing a simple majority to break a filibuster of a nomination

Who said "All politics is local"?

Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House

What event pushed congressional approval to 84 percent?

The 9/11 terrorist attacks (October 2001)

What was the lowest congressional approval rating mentioned?

9 percent (November 2013, after the government shutdown)

What did the Federal Election Campaign Act do?

Created the FEC, required disclosure, limited individual contributions, and provided public financing of presidential campaigns

What did the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain

Feingold) do?

What did Citizens United v. FEC (2010) do?

Removed spending limits on corporations, opening the door to soft money and super PACs

What is soft money?

Money raised for party

What is hard money?

Money contributed directly to a candidate; heavily regulated and limited

What did the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) grow out of?

A Democratic select committee formed in 1969; founded in 1971

Who was the first Asian American woman elected to Congress?

Patsy Mink (D

Who was the first African American woman elected to the House?

Shirley Chisholm

What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 do?

Cleared final hurdles to voter registration and voting for African Americans

What was the three

fifths compromise?

What are the three kinds of powers granted to Congress?

Enumerated, implied, and inherent

What is the most important enumerated power of Congress?

The power to levy and collect taxes ("the power of the purse")

What is constituent casework?

Sitting congresspersons helping constituents solve problems, such as federal benefits or immigration issues

What is the difference between the House and Senate in leadership structure?

The House has stronger, more structured leadership; the Senate is more flexible with unlimited debate and the filibuster

Why does the House tend to be more partisan?

Members serve short 2

Why is the Senate more deliberate?

Longer 6

What is a "safe seat"?

An uncompetitive district where one party consistently wins, so the real decision happens in the primary

What are the total numbers for the 119th Congress?

435 House members and 100 Senators

What does Article I of the Constitution describe?

The bicameral Congress, minimum ages, meeting requirements, members' pay, and powers to tax, borrow, and regulate commerce

What was Shays' Rebellion?

An armed revolt by Revolutionary War veterans in western Massachusetts over losing their farms; showed the Articles of Confederation were too weak

What did the Virginia Plan propose?

A bicameral legislature with representation by population in both chambers

What did the New Jersey Plan propose?

A single

What is the "power of the purse"?

Congress's power to levy taxes and appropriate funds

What is a bill's path after committee approval?

It is printed and goes to the full chamber (House or Senate)

What happens at the markup stage?

The committee amends and votes on the bill

What is tabling a bill?

Deciding not to advance it; typically means the bill is dead, though it can be brought back

What is the modern filibuster?

Requesting cloture before a bill gets a vote, effectively raising the threshold from 51 to 60 votes

What is the classic legislative process?

Bill drafted, introduced, sent to committee, hearings, markup, floor debate and vote, then the other chamber, then conference committee if needed, then president

What is the modern legislative process?

Large omnibus bills passed through the budget process, with expanded party leadership power and multiple referrals

What did the 1974 Budget and Impoundment Control Act do?

Gave Congress a mechanism for making large, all

What is a deficit?

What results when Congress spends more than it has available