AP Gov Congress Almost Full Term List - Klein

Gerrymandering

Manipulation of congressional districts in order to favor one party over the other

Minority-majority districting

Districts designed to make a minority group the majority.

Racial Gerrymandering

Drawing districts in order to suppress the vote of a race or minority

Malapportionment

Districts having very large differences in voter to representative ratio.
i.e. One district having 100,000 members and another having 10,000

Baker v Carr

Federal Courts can review redistricting issues- one man one vote

Shaw v Reno

Creates racial standards for redistricting-- race can not be to only factor, but may be one of many

Speaker of the House

Presiding Officer over the House. Duties include calling House to order, administering oath of office to members, preserving order in the chamber, and making rulings on procedures. Administrative head, determines what legislation gets passed to what committees. Determines House agenda.

Majority Leader (House)

Works to advance the interests of the Party. Schedules legislation for consideration.

Majority Leader (Senate)

Acts as main spokesperson for majority party. Voices party opinion, and Calls bills to the floor for discussion.

Minority Leader

Voices the opinion of the "loyal opposition". Represents the desires of the minority party in the chamber.

President Pro Tempore

High Ranking senator, presides over the senate in the VP's absence.

Vice President

Second in chain of succession to the presidency, presides over the senate. No real congressional duties other than breaking 50/50 ties.

Whip

Maintains order within the party. Makes sure party members vote in accordance to the wishes of the party. Gathers votes on issues.

Safe Seat

A seat in congress that is in no danger of being lost due to the large majority carried in an election.

Marginal District

Districts in which candidates win by a close margin, not a landslide.

Incumbency

The state of being in office.

Franking Privilege

Congressional ability to utilize the postal service without using stamps, with their signature in place of it. Stipulations are added in order to prevent franking for election's sake.

Sophomore Surge

The surge of votes a member of congress obtains after their first term in office.

Privileges of the Majority Party

Setting the agenda, able to strong-arm the minority party out of amending bills (more in House), more seats on committees, easier to pass bills

Committee on Committees

Senatorial committee responsible for nominating other senators to various committee positions.

Steering Committee

Assigns congressmen in the House to various committees and advise on policy.

Rules Committee

Committee responsible for determining the rules of the chamber- House only!

Standing Committee

Permanent committees- lots of oversight power

Joint Committee

Committees with members from both houses of Congress

Special Committee

Committee appointed to perform a special function outside the bounds of a standing committee, usually investigative in nature

Select Committee

Small committee appointed for a special purpose

Conference Committee

Committee designed to resolve disagreements on bills (members of both the House and Senate)

Ways and Means Committee

Chief tax writing committee, carries jurisdiction over taxation, tariffs, and other revenue raising measures. Regulates income. Only found in the House of Rep.

Appropriations Committee

Committee with jurisdiction over appropriation spending bills. Regulates spending.

Filibuster

Obstructing action in the Senate by prolonged speech. Can be overridden by a 3/5 vote. Now, silent filibusters allow the Senate to not waste time talking for hours on end.

Cloture

Procedure for ending a speech through vote, breaking through a filibuster.

Senatorial Courtesy

When Senators make recommendations or advice on a position, if their advice is taken, the Senators help the process along. Analogy: If you make a recommendation for a restaurant to your friends, you generally arrange for transportation, make the reservation, etc.

Rule 22

Limit allowing for cloture - Limits the Senate to 30 additional hours of debate once the cloture is enacted.

Johnson Rule

One person cannot be on two committees at once when there are still members that are not placed on any committee. A person may run for 2 political offices at the same time.

Open Rule

House state on a piece of legislature allowing for amendments to be made to it on the floor.

Closed Rule

House state on a piece of legislature barring any amendments to be made to it on the floor.

House Debate Limitations

No unlimited debate - Time to debate is set by the bill itself.

Multiple Referral

Process by which a bill is referred to a second committee at the same time it is in another committee

Mark-up

Process by which committees debate, amend, and rewrite legislation

Authorization/Appropriating

Devotion of funds to various federal activities and agencies by Congress

Riders

Additional, unrelated provision are added to a bill so that it will "ride" with the bill to success- often used to force the hand of the president to sign or veto legislation.

Pork Barrel Legislation

Appropriations of gov spending for localized district usage, designed to bring money towards a representative's district.

Log Rolling

Legislator supports a piece of legislation in return for support on their own bill.

Discharge Petition

Means by which a piece of legislation is removed from consideration by a committee and pushed to the floor without a committee report- only the house

Line Item Veto

Ability of the president (not an ability anymore) to strike out specific lines of a bill before allowing it to pass.

Pigeonholed

To set a bill aside in a committee without considering it, effectively killing it

Divided Government

One party controls the executive branch, the other controls the legislative.

Sunrise

When a bill or law starts to take effect

Sunset

When a bill or law ceases to be in effect

Omnibus

Bill that covers a wide array of unrelated objects for passage.

Congressional Oversight of Bureaucracy

Confirmation/rejection of appointees, legislative veto, power of the purse, committee hearings, ability to conduct investigations- power of congress to check agencies under the president since congress has the power to write legislation and to allocate funds.

Congressional Investigations

Ability of congress to gather information needed for future bills and legislation, test effectiveness of current bills, inquire into qualifications of others, and lay groundwork for impeachment proceedings.

simple resolution

a statement adopted to cover matters affecting only one house of Congress

joint resolution

a resolution that is passed by both houses of Congress (has the ability to become a law)

concurrent resolution

An expression of opinion without the force of law that requires the approval of both the House and the Senate, but not the president

Why does the House of Representatives have so many rules?

There are 435 members, so to keep order- there needs to be rule( 25 year olds picked by the people, may need more structure)

Limitations on debate

Senate-unlimited
House- limited (open rule, allows some, closed does not)

Christmas tree bill

A bill that has many riders and amendments, it may cause it to topple over and fail